UKC

anyone climb with a full body harness, because of a bad back, I need to do something, as the last twice I have fallen off,i have spent the next two days in bed unable to get up, any tips apart from don't fall off,

In reply to mgb:

I climb with a spine injury and due to its nature & location, a full bod wouldnt make any difference.

have you been properly assessed by the Dr?

In reply to WildCamper:

its an old injury I slipped a discs about 25 years ago, 3 weeks in hospital and 3 months off work, sort of ok until 18 months ago, then another 3 weeks off work, and now 3 times since March, its a discs problem, I am now 62 year old, and have been climbing for over45 years,

In reply to mgb:

Thats what ive done, im currently waiting for surgery.

the only things that help me are my meds and keeping in my grade so there is less risk of falling and less acrobatic moves unfortunately.

hope you get it sorted

In reply to mgb:

Thanks for your reply, you are correct, keep the grade down so there is less chance of falling off, but its hard to keep to that, getting old and knackered is even harder to admit to,

In reply to mgb:

Had to have operation on L5/S1 two years ago after herniating a disk. Nearly a year off exercise all told. That you are needing 2 days in bed after falls would suggest to me you need to stop.

A herniated or slipped disc (the same thing btw) could cause permenant nerve damage if not sorted. Mine was so bad a thumb sized piece had to be taken out to release the nerve.

What you have to know is that the pain you are feeling is due to the nerve being compressed at whatever joint is bulging. The pain feels like it is elsewhere because of the nerve sending strange messages. Real damage can be done.

In most people the bulging disc will sort itself out within 6 weeks. If you are having repeated periods of pain, which I used to, you are in danger of doing damage. I was glad to see the mri scans in the end to be able to say "thats it".

Post op, recovery has been slow for me, but thats down to work commitments and the weather mostly!

Core exercises the only way to avoid more damage.

Take care, Mark

In reply to mgb:

Hi

I can empathise with you as I have along term back issue.

Ok I am an engineer so I veer towards fixing the route cause and not the symptoms. I would go and see a physiotherapy or chiropractor and get your back assessed and get treatment and exercises to stabilise / strengthen.

Imho you need to scale back your grades, ie stop Falling off, And just enjoy climbing, ie at a lower grate.

HTH Davey

In reply to mgb:

+1 for the sports physio. Don't know much about disc( only one I've ever prolapsed was in my neck) but when you get older your core strength/ stability can drop which might put more stress on a tetchy disc. So learning (the right) core exercises might help.

If you're near Glasgow the National Sports Injuries Clinic at Hampden has brilliant facilities and a great team.

In reply to mgb:

Get yourself seen by a doctor.

In reply to mgb:

I had 10 years of on off back trouble,had MRI scans,physio and lots of different medication now I have sports massage and it's fantastic,it cured the problem enough for me to be able to work on strengthening my core, physio exercises are all well and good but when your in too much pain to do them it doesn't help.i also used an inversion table which really helped but you should seek medical advice before using it because of your age.i took tramadol for 6 months at one point due to s1 compression and still get cramps in my right leg occasionally due to nerve damage. The body is a marvellous thing but you need to give it what it needs to heal.good luck hope you get it sorted.