Electronics4u, na dr Luther

Thanks for your get well msgs saa hii niko poa. atleast am 80%
fyi it was no cholera, twas one of those freak afflictions that even docs cant explain.
Two weeks ago i git a tire burst along msa mld road near nakumatt nyali and after fixing the spare tire my back refused to staighten up, i felt a sharp pain on my spine and i couldint stand upright, my mugogongo was locked at inverted L position, somehow i got in the car and how i drove home only God knows. i was in so much pain.
When i got home lay down on the corridor and asked someone to massage my back, niliskia nikama kuni invunjua, i heard like five clicks and the pain subsided and i was able to sit upright allbeit there was still a bit of pain, hapo hapo nikajua nisaa ya kueda pandya hosp for xray, on the way i called our gd doctor and told him of my predicament and misery, daktari alisema tugojee scan tuone nini mbaya, kufika hosi doc alinilaza kwa tumbo na akafinya spine tena nikaskia nikama anavunja kuni had no idea mgongo inaeza lia hivo, everything that was out of place ikarudishwa but my back was still weak i walked out stooping getting a helping hand from wife, walking stick nilikataa. pride nayo. kufika home ndio nilipata ma dr google who knew everything about back problems, nikaambiwa ohh kwani wife hakuandalii mzigo coz mtu ana DFHKMBHBL hana problem ya mgongo, from hosp nilikua nimepewa pain killer peke yake lakini home wale wathii walicome kuniona wakaja na concortions na madawa zao za kienyeji.
nikapewa thabai ambae iko unga unga eti ina stengthen bones, nikapewa subiri, a black rock i dont know from where eti inosha damu, you dilute it in a glass of water and drink it very fast, its so bitter ni kaa thosand pilipiis, ata ikifika kwa tumbo bado waiskia, to cut long story short nimeskia nafuu lakini by Doctors orders siezi inua kitu chochote till my back heals.
sasa @Luther12 how comes a healthy person gets a back problem all of a sudden, hio sijaelewa

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Good to hear you are OK. Wishing you quick full recovery. Mashida za mgongo sio all about Dfhkm, but it’s all about your spinal cord. Make sure you get a second opinion by visiting another real doctor. All the best.

Get well soon

2 years ago a man I knew threw his back lifting something heavy. He was in so much pain that he had to go in to see his doctor. The doctor ran some tests and what he came out with was the worst news a man could ever wish to hear from their doctor. It turned out that the man had Stage 4 cancer. Stage 3 & 4 cancers are most of the times beyond earthly hope. He died a few months later. His wife has never been the same. It seems she’s aged the equivalence of 10 years.

You never humiliate this fellow. He will come back with a vengeance.

Eti ulikataa walking stick? Maringo (what’s pride in swa?) nayo? Hehehe…as you’re well aware, I was once in your predicament and have used crutches for quite a while in the past.

Back problems have a variety of causes even though they manifest similarly. One cause has been elucidated by our very own @Owuadn up there. Back in my days in physiotherapy (which I had to religiously attend daily for over 2.5yrs) I often met a gentleman who had metastatic prostate cancer who also used to be brought in for physiotherapy. Lakini si semi una hiyo, la hasha.

Another very common cause in our context especially is trauma. Very many spinal injury patients at the NSIH are there due to road accidents (and increasingly, bodaboda accidents). Often times, there’s not any direct hit to the spine (as in my case, there wasn’t) but the forces of the impact, the violent shaking na kurushwa huku na kule can conspire to bring you untold misery. Of course there’ll be other cases of trauma such as attacks by thugs (a pal’s dad is only just recovering now after one such attack), workplace injuries (e.g masons) and other types of falls.

By far perhaps the biggest cause is our poor posture. This often takes many years to do the damage and when it does we often think the back injury happened that very instant lakini sio hivyo. The damage will have been done progressively over a period of time, coming insidiously until that one moment that it just snaps. We really need to be careful about our posture fellows.

Of course there’s also the small matter of age. As we age and stiffness sets in other joints, the back is similarly affected and is no longer as flexible as it used to be in our younger years.

The idea, ultimately, is to avoid straining your back unnecessarily even as you go on with your day-to-day activities. That’s what I partly sought to address in the email I sent you @Meria Mata. The importance of physiotherapy cannot be ignored towards this end. Most people, medics included, only thing of tablets/injections/syrups/surgery as treatment options. Well, physiotherapy is equally an important treatment option especially in such cases.

Incidentally, I don’t buy into that argument of bibi kutokuandalia mzigo vizuri as a cause of back problems.:slight_smile:

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A drowning man will clutch at straw… Yaani u took all those concortions?

Ati thabai?
Uzee inaingia… Make exercise ur daily routine. Feel well soon.

In his defense, @Meria Mata is a very physically active gentleman, running an active cycling club (I believe he’s posted pics of his ‘cheki maneno’:slight_smile: bike previously), amongst a myriad of other physical activities that include walks and climbing onto roofs to instal and adjust satellite dishes.:slight_smile:

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Some years back i was have back spasms. Pain would radiated out my lower back and it would be so bad sleeping or do anything was almost impossible. So after like 2 days of this i figure i needed to get checked. I go to aga khan hospital and after while doing the initial checkups for temp, body weight, the nurse tells me i have a fever. I tell her she is mad coz its my back destroying my life.

When i get to see the doc, he asks me how i fikad the hospital? I tell him i drove. And he needs to sort out my back. He tells me that i have a fever thats at 38 degrees and climbing. He wants to admit me i tell him no. Eventually they give me some pain killers but refer me to a specialist.
I go see the specialist (blood) and he tells me my bloodwork is looking very strange. I have elevated things and he cant understand whats going on.
I went to see him one more time and by then my back was miraculously self repairing by then.
When he told me i needed to come back for another consult i never returned. I decided im probably the kenyan version of wolverine.

Waah na vile sometimes i work from my bed. Kutoka leo nimeacha. Will forever be sitting.

Not just sitting but sitting upright. The ideal seat is the dining kind of seat/chair whose back is upright. Those who drive for long might want to consider a pillow to support their lower backs.

Doc, relatively heavy deadlifting with good posture ni vibaya?

Lakini hata wewe unajua ni ukubafu ulifanya hapo, sio?

relax boss, take note on what @Luther12 says, avoid lifting heavy objects na usisahau kukunywa supu.

I know. Lakini its frustrating to keep going to a guy and he is not giving you answers. Plus im paying for all this blood work and there’s nothing he was telling me.

Doc, i read somewhere that sitting upright is an unnatural position for the spine (because of its curvature) so shouldnt be encouraged. Even exercises like sit-up put a lot of undue pressure at a specific points on the lower back.
Im trying to find the site for better reference

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@kijanamrefu and @Luther12 here is the article on exercises. Still looking on the one about sitting upright. It might have been hekaya from my bro who has back problems.
http://io9.com/popular-exercises-to-avoid-at-all-costs-unless-you-do-t-1702870104

The info will be highly welcome. Na uchunge usiitwe Dr. Google na yule msee :D.

Meantime, have a look:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/ns_overview/hic_Posture_for_a_Healthy_Back

Do those kienyeji concoctions work?

Appreciated. We’ve had a similar discussion in a different online forum.