A help with arthritis and lower back pain

[Rodney Mills]

I have degenerative disks in my second and third vertebrae coupled with a damaged piriformis muscle, which in non-medical jargon is a long muscle that runs from the cheek of your butt to down your back of your thigh muscle and is a pain in the ass.

I tore it attempting to tilt up a water logged pontoon type dingy. My wife said "At your age you should know better, and I thought you were a "cook in the navy and experienced with boats." Yeah, gravy boats and sauce boats maybe.

Anyway, I saw my orthopedic surgeon, and she told me there is only a forty per cent chance of success with back surgery, so I said forget-about-it. She gave me a three spaced series of steroid shots for the piriformis, but my tough luck, they didn't work. So she said its just a slow recovery, it'll take time.

She asked me if I had had physiotherapy sessions with deep muscle massage...again "Yep, and that didn't work." So I had "dropped my drawers" and she started prodding the muscle real hard, and I suddenly jumped...she had hit the spot.

On the drive back from Charleston to home—an hour and a half—it suddenly dawned on me that the pain (in the butt) if it had not gone had lessened. It came back gradually to full pitch over a two hour period.

Nights for me are murder, I cannot sleep on my left side as I imploded five ribs in boating accident and though they have healed, three are not connected and never will be. Once I hobble out of bed and do my morning exercise and bike ride I'm good to go for a while.

I got to thinking about that deep prodding maneuver the doc did and I had a brain wave. My wife used to play racquetball and she still had her old equipment. In her bag was a racquetball. Its a small, hard hollow ball, bigger than a golf ball, but smaller than a tennis ball. I laid down on the floor placed the ball between my butt cheek and the floor and pushed down as hard as I could for a count of ten, then moved it around the area of the piriformis. While I was at It I wondered if it would do my back any good. I did three sets of a ten count up my spine covering my second and third vertebrae and one either side, five in all plus five around that butt muscle. It bloody worked! It sure helped through the day. So I incorporated it into my morning exercise program.

Now for the arthritis part. I have it moderately in each hand and it's slowly getting worse. So I wondered if this magic racquetball would help...it works like a charm! Here's what I do. Part of my exercise program is to strengthen my lower back muscles. I get on all fours on the floor (weight on knees and hands.) I lower my head and arch my pack, just like a "pished off" cat for a count of ten, then I lower the small of my back as far as I can push my spine down and look UP... again for a count of ten. This time on the cat part I clutched the ball in my hand holding it between the palm of my hand and fingers and thumb joints where the pain is, lean forward, weight on the ball and on my joints and push down, trying to flatten the ball that is held in my hand as I slowly count to ten, then change hands and do the other exercise. it works, it really has eased up the pain, and has loosened my knuckles. I do it a few times a day. It's not a cure, but hopefully as well as easing the pain it may slow the degeneration.

Some nights the back pain is so bad I cannot sleep, so now I get up go in our den and do the back and hand exercise always using the ball, it's a bummer doing it in the middle of the night, but at least I can get back into bed and sleep and not toss and turn.

So if you have muscle, back, or arthritic pain and the ball can fit on the painful part, give it a try. I'm sure you can buy them at any descent sports store, or if there's a racquetball club in town ask them if the have an old one.

Good health, Rodney

[Braid Anderson]

Cappy will probably sue you when he falls off the ball.