I suffer from a bad back the doctor says it is a trapped nerve in the base of the spine
And there is nothing they can do. Had it a long time it comes and goes been all right for the last 2 years got out of bed Sunday morning felt a sharp pain in my bottom Of my spine now can hardly walk let alone drive is it old age (60) in July or
Do you know eney better? Suggestions will be appreciated
I just lost a weeks work over a bad back - climbed in my truck on the monday morning “click” it went and two weeks later it was something approaching servicable again.
Like you, its a reccuring problem usually happening at least once a year. Its in my lower back , just above my pelvis in the curve of my spine and when it goes it feels like little golfballs sticking out the side. Also I cannot stand straight - develop a sideways bend when I face up to a mirror naked (not a pretty site!).
I’ve been to specialists who seem to beat you up on a couch but do little good so now I try and keep moving as much as possible and have plenty of "anasthetic 
" to try and relax.
My back troubles started at 21, I’m now 38 and have been driving trucks all that time - could there be a connection?
Rule 1 of back pain. DO NOT just lie down and hope it will get better, IT WON’T.
Go and see an osteopath, chiropractor or physiotherapist, and see one ASAP, doctors know stuff all about backs.
Your back needs to keep moving, unless you have had an operation on it, the worst thing you can do is lie down.
For the pain, you need a pain reliever like Brufen, or a homeopathic remedy like Arnica 30c.
The most common cause of back pain is weak musculature, common in drivers due to the fact we are sat down all day, also vibration plays a part, transmitted from the road.
Having too hard or too soft a bed can exacerbate the problem.
I know something of what I am saying having been an Army medic and a qualified nurse for some 20 odd years.
I’ll echo what’s already been said. I’ve had back problems for years.
I used to go and see an osteopath and that helped a lot. Although, I also found that some osteopaths will go through the motions, give your back a click, and send you off with the job half done so as to string out the treatment, and the money.
All I do now is to go for a looong walk, and I’m not talking about an amble. Firm level surface, minimum junctions (so as to avoid twisting to look round), brisk pace with wide strides (almost marching but keep your arms still or you will look a right idiot 
). Aim for a couple of miles with somewhere at the end to sit down, either a wall, a bench, or a pub, because by now it SHOULD be hurting like hell, and if you have a couple of pints, then that will also help to relax the muscles.
Having got your breath back. Walk home again in the same manner.
The following day it will probably feel a bit easier, so DO THE SAME AGAIN.
It always works for me.
Another habit I have developed over the years, is to NOT park as close as I can to the supemarket doors (or indeed, anywhere else I am going) as the walk between getting out of the car and then acquiring the supermarket trolley with the wonkiest wheel in christendom, helps to correct posture.
I have been having treatment for a while now, painkillers, physio, exercise, hydrotherapy and they are trying to give me steroids which im refusing on the advice of my orthopaedic surgeon. I had a hip replacement in 2000 and my bones could suffer by using steroids apparently. Its a short term cure anyway.
The best thing I have got is a Gym Ball, or Swiss ball, its a 65centimetre inflatable that apparently will stand a weight of 500kg. I have to sit on it, roll it about under by back and do all sorts of exercises with it.
Im using it as a computer stool at the moment. 
Dratsabasti:
The most common cause of back pain is weak musculature.
I too have suffered from back pain over the years, but I can usually cure mine by wearing a broad leather belt done up as tight as I can stand, the support of the belt seems to help, as without the back being subjected to the usual work load of keeping the upper body upright during normal activities. the muscles are able to relax and repair themselves.
I did my back in when I was only a kid, with yet another high speed horse riding accident and my job aggrivates it but I have also found that activity helps and I swear by arnica to shift deep seated bruising and inflamation the metal work in my legs is a bigger probem and i find some trucks cause more pain than others but with sensible management and not giving in helps a great deal.
Hi Powershot.
When I was younger,I fell about 18 ft, straight on to my back.
Although I did not go to hospital at the time, later on I found out that I may have trapped a nerve in my back.
This nerve is called the Sciatic Nerve.
Very, very painful, hard to diagnose by a doctor,and hard to get your breath when the pain comes.
Luckily in the last few years it has not troubled me,but as other people have said,see an oesteopath or painkillers.
Cheers,
Niall.
Sciatic problems are easy to spot, a hot pain that can be ignored but when your legs go from under you when you bend over to couple up, you are in trouble!
I have had a form of arthritis in my back since I was 21, its called Ankylosing Spondylitus(sp?). It causes hooks to grow from the invertebrae which hook into the one below, when they are in-line its no problem, but if something causes a hook to catch, out of line, I’m in deep trouble and severe pain.
When I started working with an agency, my first day was training on manual handling of beer kegs, barrels and cases. Oh no I thought, just what I need with a dodgy back. It became apparent that it was exactly what I needed for my dodgy back. A keg of beer contains 11 gallons (a barrel 36), which weighs 110lbs plus the weight of the keg itself. That kind of weight has to be handled correctly or you will kill yourself by the end of your shift (we would routinely handle 20+ tonnes of beer a day). Handling that type of weight a day properly, strengthens your back muscles so that the muscles support your spine better. Not that I’m recommending you become a dray man, but exercising your back to strengthen the muscles is my recommendation.
I also get sciatica, if I jump down off the back of a wagon too often, so I’ve stopped jumping off wagons (or jumping down from anything else). I used to get a pain running in a definite line down my buttock and down the back of my leg. The pain got worse if I put weight onto that foot or took all the weight off it. Standing still would ease the pain slightly, but moving around at all made it worse. I have forgotten the last time I had a sciatic pain, so I’ll be getting trouble with it in the next few weeks at some point, now that I’ve tempted fate 
. Your right Ladytrucker, about it being a hot pain, but not necessarily about being able to ignore it .
I was told at 19 yrs old, that if I didn’t go to hospital and be fitted with a ‘steel jacket’ that I would be in a wheelchair when I got older. Of course, at that age, I knew best and didn’t go. Years later, I had to give up hairdressing because I couldn’t stand for very long and over the years things have got worse. A while ago, I had a trapped nerve in the right side of my spine, at the bottom, and the pain went round into my hip. It also goes down my right leg. The docs thought my hip had gone and sent me for x-rays. By the time it was found, the nerve had been trapped for so long it was damaged. If that pain shoots round into my groin, it can stop me dead. Add to that the pleasure of the left side sciatic nerve trapping and releasing at will, which goes down my left leg. Some days, if anyone offered to chop both my legs off, I would let them do it. When it is really bad, it gets my back, my hips, and both legs. I can’t walk any distance now, one isle of the Truckfest show had me limping and wishing I could sit down. Two isles had me nearly in tears. When that point comes, I cannot physically lift my right leg to get into my mates van, I have to lift my leg with my hand. Now the truck driving has gone because I can no longer do the loading/unloading and the sitting long distance.
Now I start to drug myself up early evening, taking more just before bed so that I’m knocked out by the time I try to sleep.
Sometimes, if I get a bit down, I think it’s no sort of life. But then, cos of the job I’m doing now, I count myself lucky, cos there’s a lot worse than me out there. x
Simon:
. Your right Ladytrucker, about it being a hot pain, but not necessarily about being able to ignore it
Reading your post I am lucky most of the back pain I have can be worked through, I have to pay attention to my sciatica when I can’t bend over to couple up the suzi’s and I have to wind the legs up standing on one leg but in general anti inflamatorys, sensible exercise and enough rest tends to bring everything under control. Threads like this make me realise how lucky I am and I am sorry to hear about everybody’s troubles.
How much liquid, of the non dehydrating variety, that you drink can also effect the back.
My wife has to do a yearly update on her Physical Intervention training, this as the name suggests is very physical & demanding, & is not only about the safety of those being held, one issue that was apparently pushed very hard by the physio was, dehydrate yourself & you remove the fluid needed to protect your back.
Probably not enough liquid because I suffer from regular headaches too.
The discs are made up of 90% water anyway and if you dont drink or eat properly, these dry out too quickly and shrink.
They shrink anyway, so the older you get the shorter you become as the spine compresses. Sciatica is certainly worse than a stiff back as it can ■■■■■■■ you for days on end, or even months.
We’re a right bunch of sickies on this thread, I also suffer with back pain, mild fortunately and I’ve also got knackered knees(chondromalacia patellae), caused by cycling and then joining the army and marching around a lot in boots carrying weight.
My advice remains the same, see a physio or one of the others, a good one will not rip you off, after all, a lot of them work through word of mouth, maybe thats the best way to find one.
An anti-inflamatory, such as Brufen(nurofen) or homeopathic Arnica 30c.
If you are in the Manchester area, I can put you on to my sister, she is a homeopath and she would also put you on to a good physio.
Simon:
I have had a form of arthritis in my back since I was 21, its called Ankylosing Spondylitus(sp?). It causes hooks to grow from the invertebrae which hook into the one below, when they are in-line its no problem, but if something causes a hook to catch, out of line, I’m in deep trouble and severe pain.When I started working with an agency, my first day was training on manual handling of beer kegs, barrels and cases. Oh no I thought, just what I need with a dodgy back. It became apparent that it was exactly what I needed for my dodgy back. A keg of beer contains 11 gallons (a barrel 36), which weighs 110lbs plus the weight of the keg itself. That kind of weight has to be handled correctly or you will kill yourself by the end of your shift (we would routinely handle 20+ tonnes of beer a day). Handling that type of weight a day properly, strengthens your back muscles so that the muscles support your spine better. Not that I’m recommending you become a dray man, but exercising your back to strengthen the muscles is my recommendation.
I also get sciatica, if I jump down off the back of a wagon too often, so I’ve stopped jumping off wagons (or jumping down from anything else). I used to get a pain running in a definite line down my buttock and down the back of my leg. The pain got worse if I put weight onto that foot or took all the weight off it. Standing still would ease the pain slightly, but moving around at all made it worse. I have forgotten the last time I had a sciatic pain, so I’ll be getting trouble with it in the next few weeks at some point, now that I’ve tempted fate
arh good old back pain… si i’ve sent you a pm hun
Smashed me back up a when i was 14… didn’t become apparent that i had done any damage until i was about 19, went to get out of bed one day and i couldn’t move. Wierdest feeling ever. I hadn’t fallen or done anything strenuous to bring it on the quacks said that it just went…!!! typical! anyway, ostepaths and physio’s and the like all poked and prodded… traction three times a week for something like 6 months… i wanted to move but simply couldn’t. Anyway, after joining the waiting list to see the specialist, he basically had a look, took some xrays had another look and said, if you were a ■■■■■■■ and couldn’t walk i’d operate to try and correct it, but the risk is to great with the mobility you have. He basically sent me away and said that there was nowt he could do. From then on in it was down to a private physio and myself who worked extremely hard together to strengthen my back up… with traction and the alexander technique (thorough recommend it) and very strong pain killers i was back on the road to walking if ya like… anyway me ol fella calls me one day and says here, do you fancy going horse riding… i laffed and said that i don’t think i better just incase anything might happen, anyway, i checked it with my physio and believe it or not she said it would be a great idea as the rocking motion of being sat on a horse and walking is pretty much the same as traction, so off i went. it hurt like hell the first couple of times, but once everything got used to it i noticed a difference, i was able to do more and more.
sorry rambling or what… oh yeah and arnica 30c is fantastic, used that when i was giving birth to my lil one, can’t praise homeopathy enough.
I sometimes get back pain. Kate’s Mum (bless her) got me a massaging back suport for my truck, you fit it to your seat back, plug it in the 12v output and adjust the rate of massage. The afore mentioned device is about 10" x 12" with velcro straps to fit it in the right spot, once installed you plug it in a 12v outlet and switch on.
One day i took the device to work and while beeing loaded I spent the time installing the ‘Damm thing’, it is quite thick and is basicaly ‘A pain in the back’ I have long legs and recline my seat slightly, so with the seat as far back as it goes and reclined untill it hits the bed side dresser in the sleeper apart for my contact with the thing the rest of my body was inches from the seat back and my legs were pushing down onto the peddles as oposed to them stretching out in front of me, the acual massage felt like someone was hitting me in the back with a pannel pin hammer. There I am sitting and trying the thing out when one of the guys loading shouts for me to move my truck. When I went for my notes there were all laughing, “What you sitting all crunched up for Pat ? you look like you’ve just filled your pants”
The device is now up for sale. 
HI All
Thank you all for your adivice and will try some of your remedies
all ready started on Arnica 30c and seem to be walking a little better
again thanks a lot
regards powershot