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[Wan Qingyi Care]Be careful to hurt your back when you run with your back or your posture is not upright.

[Wan Qingyi Care]Be careful to hurt your back when you run with your back or your posture is not upright.


Text: Liang Wanfu “Ming Pao”

I have seen many cases of elderly people who were caused by “forgetful looking after their grandchildren”. Most of them do not understand why they suddenly have backaches.

The old wife suffers from low back pain, but every time she sees her grandson, she feels that she can carry a heavy weight, carrying and hugging her back, turning herself into “a thousand years of human flesh”, “arch bridge tunnel”, “lifting platform”, … in short, just watch It was startling every step of the way.

Geriatrics Dr Leung Man Fook

(Hong Kong News) Lao Huang and I met more than 20 years ago. We participated in the promotion of support services for community caregivers, and we had many opportunities to meet each other. But since he retired at the age of 60, everyone has seen less, especially during the three years of the COVID-19 epidemic, there was no contact at all.

So it was a bit of a surprise to get a call from him that night.

Sudden foot pain, unable to walk

“Dr. Fuge (he always likes to call me that), my wife’s foot hurts so much that she can’t touch the ground or walk, what should I do?” Lao Huang asked at the beginning.

I have never met Mrs. Huang. If I want to understand the condition, I have to ask: how sudden is it suddenly? Have you ever had a fall or injury before? Is there swelling in the ankle joint? Have you ever suffered from gout? Lao Huang knew Tai Zuo’s situation very well, and replied one by one: My wife has never suffered from gout, although the joints are painful but not red and swollen, she must have never fallen or injured before. The pain started 3 days ago, the location is from the left knee to the lower calf. It was very painful at the beginning, and it was getting more and more painful; now it is so painful that I can’t move, and I lie on the bed and croak.

Although the symptoms were described, but I couldn’t see the patient in person, I still found it difficult to diagnose the disease. So I said: “Depending on the situation, Mrs. Zun should be suffering from ‘sciatica’. But everything can be confirmed after the MRI examination. How about I make an appointment for an MRI examination for her tomorrow morning. Okay?”

In this way, early the next morning, I returned to the clinic and told the nurse to make an appointment for Mrs. Huang to check up as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, the nurse came back quickly and told me: “Mrs. Huang said it was too painful to go to the clinic for an examination.”

If the patient is suffering from severe pain, it is best to stay in the hospital first, and then do the examination after adequate rest and pain relief. I informed Lao Huang of my opinion, and he and his wife came to the hospital soon after discussion. Mrs. Huang completed the spinal MRI examination in the afternoon.

Less muscle support in the spine is prone to accidents

At that time, I met Mrs. Huang for the first time, and she was about the same age as Lao Huang; both were in their late 60s and early 70s, a young old who was no longer young, but she was still very active. As soon as I met her, I sighed: “Oh, doctor , I have to go out on the street every day to be happy, but now I can’t even take a step, it’s so miserable!”

Looking through the medical records, apart from antihypertensive drugs, Mrs. Wong does not need to take other drugs. Obviously, she has no long-term illnesses. However, in 2015, she went to the doctor for back pain and received 6 months of physical therapy. “Yes.” I responded.

Mrs Wong added: “I used to have a back pain, but it has recovered. This time is different, it is a pain in my calf.”

Even so, I suspect Mrs Wong’s pain this time is the result of old illnesses. In order to determine the location of the pain, I performed a clinical examination for her, and the pain was unbearable even with a slight leg lift. The spinal magnetic resonance examination report showed that the patient’s spine was severely degenerated, and the herniated disc was pressing on the nerve line. Looking at the medical records, clinical symptoms and MRI reports, Mrs. Wong is all affected by old problems, that is, spinal degeneration. Therefore, I think it is necessary to explain the symptoms to Lao Huang and Mrs. Huang.

Nine out of ten modern urbanites suffer from back pain or sciatica to some extent. Tiredness from work, muscle tension, and long-term lack of exercise are the triggers. If the problems accumulated in youth are not dealt with, they will be faced in old age. Because the back muscles and abdominal muscles will lose with age, if the spine lacks muscle support, it is prone to problems. Now that degeneration is a foregone conclusion, the key is how to prevent muscle loss and protect the spine and back.

Only by protecting the spine can we have a healthy body

“Protect the spine and protect the back”, we must protect the spine, let it have good support and adequate rest, so that we can have a healthy body.

Second, strong back muscles maintain spinal support. As people age, their muscles will automatically atrophy. If you want to slow down the rate of muscle atrophy, daily activities alone are not enough. We must do exercises for the back muscles and abdominal muscles frequently. There are few more convenient exercises than: stretching, stretching and fitness; these exercises can be done at home 24/7. If you get the guidance of a fitness coach, the effect of muscle gain will be better, because the coach can train according to the individual physical conditions of the students. Of course, in addition to fitness, swimming is also a very good sport. It is not easy to be injured, the tendons are not compressed, and it will strengthen the muscles. Especially freestyle and back swimming have a significant effect on the back and abdominal muscles. In addition to the above two key points, the third…

Speaking of this, Lao Huang yelled impatiently: “Doctor Fu, don’t talk about taking care of your back! Now she is in so much pain that she can’t walk, why don’t you tell her if she can be healed!”

“Old Huang, don’t be impatient!” I responded.

“Why can’t it be treated? Of course there is. However, daily protection is very important!”

That being the case, I will get straight to the point and explain the condition first. Mrs. Wong suffers from acute sciatica, hospitalization is the right decision. After admission, it is best to stay in bed first, so that the spine can have a full rest, and then take medicine and physical therapy. Appropriate amount of nerve analgesic drugs and vitamin B can reduce the pain immediately, and supplemented by physical therapy, the damaged spinal nerves can be expected to recover to a certain extent within 5 to 7 days.

Pay attention to daily posture and do not hold heavy objects

“At this stage, there is no rush.”

My advice: “Patiently accept medication and physical therapy first, and the sciatica will be greatly improved. But if the situation does not improve, surgery can be considered.”

Surgery can repair the severely damaged spine. The MRI report has shown that Mrs. Wong’s spine is severely damaged, but the extent of the damage to the nerves cannot be found. If you want to know, it is best to do a lower limb nerve conduction test. Once the nerve cord is found to be severely damaged, patients may consider early surgical treatment, as it is difficult to recover with medication and physical therapy due to nerve cord damage.

I share a case. The patient is my college classmate. She suffered from sciatica for many years. She was restless and miserable. Finally, she underwent minimally invasive surgery to treat the damaged nerve cord. After the operation, she was completely different. Now every time I see her, I always say: “If I knew it, I would have had the operation earlier!”

Therefore, surgery is also an option, I told Mrs. Huang.

“I don’t want to have an operation!” Mrs. Huang replied firmly.

“Doctor, why don’t you continue to talk about the third key to back protection!” I almost forgot that in order to keep the spine healthy, in addition to paying attention to the supporting force of the mattress and exercising frequently to improve the supporting force, you must also avoid spine damage. People who are under pressure, especially those with low back pain, must always pay attention to their posture, try to avoid bending over to lift heavy objects, and do not carry heavy luggage on their shoulders. Because carrying heavy objects puts pressure on the lower back, if you are not careful, it will cause trauma.

Muscle loss – muscle loss with age, without muscle support, bone problems are prone to problems.

Do what you can—it’s human nature to cherish your grandchildren, but whether it’s fun to hold grandchildren, parents-in-law should also do what they can, and be careful not to hurt your back, back, hands and tail.

An old patient with low back pain took his granddaughter upstairs and had an accident

I asked Mrs. Huang to recall, had she done anything that put pressure on her back recently? Such as lifting luggage, carrying heavy objects, falling, collision injury? “Oh, I don’t know, is it… pick up the grandson from school!”

Mrs. Huang suddenly realized. It turned out that the servant of Mrs. Wong’s son had returned to her hometown on vacation earlier, and she acted as a nanny for her 3-year-old granddaughter, taking her to and from the school bus every day. Originally, the granddaughter could walk with Mammy, but the little one sometimes fell asleep in the school bus.

Children and grandchildren grow up and can’t hug

“I couldn’t bear to wake her up. I had to hold her and walk up the stairs from the outside of the estate. It was very difficult. The more I carried her, the heavier I was. Several times I almost wanted to leave her schoolbag on the side of the road, and I went back to pick it up. , because I really can’t bear it.” Mrs. Huang admitted.

In this case, how can it be considered that I have never done anything that puts pressure on the waist! I realized that Mrs. Huang and my wife are actually “difficult sisters”. If the two know each other, they must cherish each other. Because the old wife is also an old patient with low back pain, but she is also desperate to take care of her grandson. Every time I see my grandson, I feel that I can carry a thousand catties. Besides carrying and hugging her, she will be a “human flesh for thousands of years”, and sometimes become an “arch bridge tunnel”, “lifting platform”, “stop mule”. Aberdeen”, “Live like a Tyrannosaurus”… In short, it is shocking every step of the way.

However, it has to be said that “Gu Sun forgets shape” is not the only crime committed by my wife. Because during the consultation period, I have seen many cases, especially the new grandparents. Most of them don’t understand why they suddenly have backaches.

Every time, I would advise: “When children and grandchildren grow up, they can’t be hugged. Be careful not to hurt your waist.”



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