• Lower right side back and hip pain is gone. It disappeared shortly after I started taking these supplements.
• My sleep problems seem to have vanished. Read my sleep problem posts to see what I am talking about here.  No stiffness in the mornings. No early morning aches or pains to wake me. No problems sleeping on my shoulder.
• Little or no back pains of any type. And I have done some sort of foolish things (for a 51 year old) in the last 6 months, like play full-court basketball with 16-year old kids for 2+ hours or move a tree weighing hundreds of pounds by myself. We will see if this holds up over the summer.

Interestingly enough, I recently read an article in Reader’s Digest titled 5 Vitamin Truths and Lies where the only vitamin they suggest has any merit as a supplement is vitamin D. I disagree with their conclusion that Vitamin C has no value in preventing colds as Vitamin C continues to help me avoid colds that every other member of my family of 7 gets. It is almost 3 years now that I have observed a greatly reduced frequency of colds coinciding with my taking Vitamin C in both natural and supplemental form. I would agree with the article’s conclusion that taking mega-doses of Vitamin C after one already has a cold is fairly useless since I had tried this myself with no success years back in my “sick days”.

My recommendations: Take a Calcium and Vitamin D supplement daily. Also, exercise daily, eat healthy, take a multivitamin, and keep swigging down the orange juice.

Calcium - Get It!

As a precaution, I have been taking calcium supplements along with my multi-vitamins. And in fact, I read at www.calciuminfo.com that after age 75 one half of all osteoporosis cases are among men! I chose to take the generic supplement, as I believe it is probably as good as its pricier name-brand counterpart.

Since I have been taking this supplement, I have noticed that the lower right side back pain I had all summer and into the fall has virtually disappeared! This may be coincidental since I have been doing less of the kinds of work around the house (like digging and gardening) that seemed to set off this pain. Or, perhaps the calcium supplement is preventing my body from robbing calcium from my bones, as suggested at the calciuminfo.com site mentioned and that was somehow connected. The site states “When men don’t get adequate amounts of dietary calcium, their bodies meet their calcium needs by stealing the mineral from their bones.” So maybe the calcium supplement is helping with the lower right back pain, maybe not. But at any rate, I will keep taking it for other very good reasons.

Arthricream Rub

While in a pharmacy, I noticed a product called Aspercreme, which is an odorless analgesic rub that also features anti-inflammatory ingredients from aspirin. So you can get the stimulating effect of the rub along with the anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin without the stomach damaging effects of aspirin or ibuprofen. Then, I noticed that there was a generic form of this product called Arthricream at a little over half the cost. So I thought why not give it a try.

The results were just amazing! Stiffness and lower right back pain simply vanished! And there was no heavy odor that one normally associates with an analgesic rub. Also, I found that the effect of the rub was fairly long lasting through the day and into the next. Take note of all warnings on the product package, do not take if you are allergic to aspirin, and see a doctor if your condition persists for more than 7 consecutive days. This generic form of Aspercream costs as little as $3 or $4 a tube and is available at most any pharmacy section where equate products are sold.  More information on Arthricream is given here.

asics running shoes

This has happened a few times now: I get to the point where my running shoes are worn to a frazzle and I find myself getting all sorts of back problems, aches and pains after running. And then, as soon as I get new shoes, the pains and back problems subside or go away completely! How soon I forget that pounding on pavement for nearly 4 miles is not the greatest for an aging back.

So I went to Athlete’s Foot and got another pair of Asics running shoes. Cost about $100, but well worth it. I have tried other shoes in the past like Nikes, New Balance, and Saucony, but Asics work the best for me. I need a fairly wide shoe to prevent tipping and uneven wear and Asics makes one of the wider running shoes.  I am thankful for the Athlete’s Foot store in our area! See The Athletes Foot for stores near you.

So if you are a jogger that is experiencing back problems (or knee problems) and your shoes are a bit worn, start by getting a new pair of quality running shoes. It might go a long way toward helping your situation. And if you have minor foot problems, many athletic shoe stores now have diagnostic machines to diagnose problems like pronation. If you are having severe foot problems, see a podiatrist.  See Foot Problems for more info.

What occurred to me was that my body was out of whack from the overuse of the left leg. And, this imbalance, in addition to an imbalance created by all my garden digging, just plain messed up my back muscles as well. And this does seem to be more a muscle problem and not a nerve-induced sciatica problem. I don’t get the sciatica tingling, just a back pain in my lower right side if I sit in an overly soft chair.

If you have any thoughts, please post. Or send me an email at feedback@sciaticabackpainrelief.com .

What to do? One thing I have tried that seems to help is change hands. It seems quite awkward, but if I grab the handle with my left hand in stead of the right, I can even out some of the muscle strain and thus reduce specific strain in an area.

Another solution? Get one of these. My uncle who is about 85 years old and grows produce to sell owns one of these. I think he has the right idea!

I checked around a little to see if I could find any other unbiased opinions. At this backpain forum post on the BackJoy, a poster states “my lower back doesn’t have that achey feeling I used to get after sitting for a longish time”. So it seems like this device would be worth a try. Brand new, this Back Joy goes for about $80. There is no legitimate BackJoy Coupon that I could find to save you money on this price, but I did see this product listed at ebay for about $40.

I may have gotten this by sledding with my 6-yr old daughter. There were some bumps and we literally flew through the air on a few of them. Not the best for the back for a 50-year old man like myself! The pain is really not bad – I only feel it when I am walking about on our field through the snow where there is uneven footing. And I can still run my 3.75 miles just fine and have no problems sleeping.

Advice to those with back problems or anybody 50 or older – don’t go sledding down a hill with jumps!

Sometimes I just go a bit nuts.

I don’t know what is going on, but I am glad. The lower back pain is gone. For now.

So what happened?  All I can think of is that I have not been sitting in my basement office chair for long periods like I was last year and even last summer. My work assignment was a special project that I worked on from home. Now, I am back at the office, commuting, sitting in my office chair, and also doing a fair amount of moving around and standing. So I go through a variety of sitting, standing, and walking motions rather than sit, sit, sit in the same chair. Actually, I believe I have read that it is a good idea to take breaks from constant sitting in the same position, so perhaps this new variety of movement and sitting position is helping.  As a side note, my running is going better than ever as well. I run 3.75 miles every other day at a pace of between 7 and 8 minutes a mile.

So if you are having back pain, try a variety of chairs, and take frequent breaks. It could prove to be quite helpful.