I was wondering if any one else has this problem.
I have this problem, and had it for many years.!!
My back is slowly being fused and the old Scania seat aint helping much.
Eventually i will have to pack up driving as my back and neck will fuse…
I will be starting a series of spinal injections in july and then it will be the traffic office for me!
You have my sympathy, they thought I had it but it seems to be arthritis.
Cheers mate
sorry no idea what your on about i think ill look it up. 
I was diagnosed with this recently in my case its connected to Psoriatic Arthritis. I had lower back pain when I was younger but my biggest issue is with the neck and thorasic area now and has been for a few years ( un diagnosed). When its playing up I can’t turn my head so obviously driving is out of the question. I see the physio a couple of times a month to work on my posture ( I stoop with the top of my back) . At the moment its being treated with NSAIDs and exercises though I only work part time at the moment. Simon (the moderator) has it too, he will be back at the weekend. He is an Inspiration, he still stands straight and tramps full time with minimal drug intervention. I will have the results of bloods and xrays at my next hospital appointment.
I thought you were practicing your Polish… 
I will let you no about my injections mate. And i would be interested to speak to simon about his condition… And how he gets through the spasms!!
I get through using indometicin,tramadol, prednisolone and small doses of valium (never when i m driving)
Come to think of it when i jump up, i rattle…
Jimboy,
not sure if its the same thing but basically I have been able to crack my neck bones like a rattle for many years but only recently its started to stiffen after long periods of driving and become painfull.
I have used all the regular drugs and to be honest its a temorary relief, more recently I have been visiting a physio and its improving not perfect but improving.
The physio says they have seen many truck drivers with the same condition and that it points to the bad ergonomics of the driving position and seat etc. something which has been almost erradicated in the office but seems to miss us drivers out. Many offices now employ consultants to sit with employees and identify the best posture position for them to ease back problems. How many drivers are afforded the same luxury (a small few or maybe even none is the answer) about time the H&S type guys concentrated on this rather than silly arse falling off trucks whilst sheeting up etc.
I’m a fellow sufferer, and I found driving full time arrgovated the symtoms so much that I made a decission to stop driving all but on the odd occassion.
Funnily enough, they diagnosed it through a problem I had with my eye. I went to the Eye hospital with what I thought was grit in my eye, the doctor asked if I ever got a bad back, when I said I did, he sent me for X-rays. Turns out the eye problem is called Iritis and is a common symtom of AS.
Exercise helps me tremendously, and does a great deal for my general health too!
I think i might have it. I’ve just spent over a week off work (go back tommorrow). Been to physio and got to go back. Mine has been building gradually over a few years until i was so bad i had to go to the docs. I’m not a big fan of self diagnosis but after reading the link Jessics Dad put up that sortof confirmed it for me, i could of wrote the symptoms myself. I had the problem with my eyes for the two days before i went the docs, i never mentioned it as i thought my eyes where going funny because of the hot weather. On the bright side my Doctor now has grey hair instead of black hair and he told me i was only half a kilo difference in weight since last time i was weighed by him in '93. I didn’t ask which way!!!
Mike-C:
I think i might have it. I’ve just spent over a week off work (go back tommorrow). Been to physio and got to go back.The best way to tell if you have it mate is by doing a blood test and they will test for the antigen HLA-B27
If you have that in your blood i think its about a 85-90% chance you have it mate, do that first before you self diagnose…
My Father has it so does my sister… what a lucky family i have.
Simon will be home at the weekend, its such a coincidence that we were talking about this last weekend. Do you use the chat room?
I wil be about probably on Sunday afternoon for a good old chat about anky spon!!
jimboy124:
I wil be about probably on Sunday afternoon for a good old chat about anky spon!!
Sorry, I’ll be on the boat, shipping out by then.
From what I understand, from years ago, what happens is that your spinal vertebrae grow small bony hooks on the inner side which interlock with the next vertebrae. As long as everything stays in line its a nuisance. If a hook gets knocked out of line, the surrounding muscles go into spasm causing severe pain.
I had been having lower back trouble for years. When my back went into spasm they would to put me on yet another course of Brufen (slow release aspirin), then later on other NSAID’s (None Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs) . I can’t take aspirin in any form now.
I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondilitus after a session on the shooting range knocked my spine out of line. I self diagnosed more back pain, took NSAID’s for a couple of weeks, to no effect, so went to see my army doc.
He told me to stand up straight, to which I replied, “I am”. He told me to turn and face a full length mirror on the wall. I could then see that my rib cage was several inches over to one side of my pelvis instead of being in-line. He sent me off for x-rays and the technician showed me the hooks growing on my spine.
Quite a few years later, after leaving the army, I was offered a position with BRS Taskforce, based in Airdrie. One of their main contracts was to supply dray men to Tennants depots in Central Scotland. My first day with them was training on manual handling of beer kegs and barrels, (this hadn’t been mentioned previously). At the time, I was thinking ‘great, just what I need, with my back trouble’. I now believe it was exactly what I needed for my back trouble.
A beer keg is actually the size of the container. A keg holds 11 gallons, that’s 110lbs of beer plus the weight of the keg.
If you don’t lift that kind of weight properly, bearing in mind that you can be handling over 20 tonnes of beer per day, you will really hurt yourself. Lifting and moving weights like that properly will strengthen your back muscles, which then supports your spine much better. Doing that work for several days a month for several years strengthened my back and since then I’ve had very little trouble.
Of course I am now extremely careful about how I lift and move anything, but keep my back strong by doing things which will help keep it strong. I absolutely detest doing exercise though, so I don’t.
Things I watch for, to avoid.
Keeping anything in my back pocket. Tips your pelvis which then puts pressure on your spine.
Acidic foods and drinks, like rhubarb (stuff that, I love rhubarb crumble with custard) or orange juice. Can’t remember why.
Putting uneven pressure on my spine. Obvious really.
Bad posture. Obvious really
I think the orange juice (acid) will have some thing to do with the ibruprofen and the long term high doses that damage the stomach lining and can eventually cause internal bleeding but are also a common first line of defence against this disease. As I understand (though I could quite easily be wrong) damage is done to the bone during a flair up in my case if my skin is bad then the bones are deteriorating, then its after this that the bone fuses or grows hooks to repair the damage. My left hand is affected (psoriatic arthritis is the primary disease) this year, which started with both my hands swelling alot and they were weak and painful, when the swelling had stopped one of my joints is a different shape and has been a liability ever since.
Ladytrucker679:
I think the orange juice (acid) will have some thing to do with the ibuprofen
No, it wasn’t that Ladytrucker, although that will have a bearing on it too of course…
Better rephrase that last post 
.
They believed there was a direct co-relationship between the amount of acidic foods and/or drink consumed and the severity and/or frequency of flare ups. This was over 20 years ago, so they may have changed their mind on that.
I didn’t see it mentioned on the NASS site that Jessicas Dad posted.
Maybe you could ask about it next time your in LT?
Rhubarb and orange juice where just a couple of obvious examples. If you look into the acidity thing further you’ll be surprised at some of the things which we should avoid eating.
2 more which may surprise you (or not). Tea and coffee 
.
Like I did, with Rhubarb crumble n custard, you then decide how much you want to cut out each item on the list. I can live without orange juice, but to never have rhubarb again , nah, I’ll live with the extra pain 
No Coffee 
? No chance