Not a good hunt......Any advice

m bryan · Oct 5, 2011

Went out Saturday for the first time in over a month. Started digging a few targets and my back locked up on me. Pain was terrible. Was on the ground trying to get a grip and fire ants started stinging me....no cell phone service.....finally got up and used my shovel and my md for cruthes and made it back to the truck. It's finally getting better after a trip to the doc. I'm sixty years old and I'm in good health as far as I know.........not asking anybody to shed a tear

but does anyone else have this problem at times? Is there an easy way to get up and down when digging targets? something that would protect the back?

Georges Minelab Safari · Oct 5, 2011

Im 49 and I have the same problem. I dont know a remedy for it.

fishbone3d · Oct 5, 2011

I am 32, and have had my back broken in the past. My legs stopped working at 17. Surgery was really painful. I had a lot of rehab. This is what I do. Do some leg stretches, by pulling your heels toward your chin while laying down. Pull them until you feel a little pain. Keep doing that in the morning, and any other stretches you might enjoy. I also do it before going out hunting. It makes a lot of difference after a while. It will help your muscles get used to different positions, so you will not strain them as much. :icon_thumleft:

m bryan · Oct 5, 2011

fishbone3d said:
I am 32, and have had my back broken in the past. My legs stopped working at 17. Surgery was really painful. I had a lot of rehab. This is what I do. Do some leg stretches, by pulling your heels toward your chin while laying down. Pull them until you feel a little pain. Keep doing that in the morning, and any other stretches you might enjoy. I also do it before going out hunting. It makes a lot of difference after a while. It will help your muscles get used to different positions, so you will not strain them as much.

Good idea....The doc told me the same thing.....

BornOnFire · Oct 5, 2011

fishbone3d said:
I am 32, and have had my back broken in the past. My legs stopped working at 17. Surgery was really painful. I had a lot of rehab. This is what I do. Do some leg stretches, by pulling your heels toward your chin while laying down. Pull them until you feel a little pain. Keep doing that in the morning, and any other stretches you might enjoy. I also do it before going out hunting. It makes a lot of difference after a while. It will help your muscles get used to different positions, so you will not strain them as much.

Agreed, stretching....lots of stretching. You need to find the technique that works for your particular condition. Took me months to find a stretch technique that opened the vertebrae just enough to get the blood flow to the nerves and calm them down. Without that technique, I'd be a doomed man. Lots and lots of Ibuprofen too. My best advice is to see a doctor and get it looked at, you may have some issues developing that can be corrected now rather than later. Getting old sucks man. Best of luck to you and watch out for those pain killers! They can make life worse than the back pain ever will! $:-\$

scaupus · Oct 6, 2011

camp stool

Take a small 3-legged stool, the camping type with a canvas or nylon seat and aluminum legs. It weighs almost nothing and some have a shoulder strap, which you can add if it doesn't. Then, when you want to dig a target, sit. You can use your free arm - your forearm resting across the top of your thighs - as you lean forward for added support. Hopefully, this should keep the strain off your back, and make the entire experience more comfortable.

savant365 · Oct 6, 2011

Vodka therapy :thumbsup:

audigger53 · Oct 10, 2011

OK, before going out and after soak in a Tub with the water as hot as you can stand it.
When the water cools down, get out, dry off, and lay down on a carpeted floor.
The "trick", Prop up your knees with pillows so that you have no "Gap" between the floor and your lower back.
This allows your back muscles to cool down and set to a back that is straight.
Second, wear the most comforable shoes that you have and go to JCPenny's or Sears and put on a pair of Hush Puppies.
Walk around the store, if they are not better, don't buy them.
Use those to take a walk every day a little more each day.
The foam heal on the Hush Puppie absorbs more of the heel strike shock than other shoes.
So it does not go up the leg to the knees and small of the back.
The walking also helps the back realign itself.
Grain of salt.
Except for the shoes and the price of heating the water, this is fairly inexpensive to try.
If you have degenitive disc disease, then nothing really helps, but you can cut down on some of the pain without drugs.
If it works for you, Great! If not, you didn't spend that much and you checked out the shoes before buying them.
And yes I "blew out" my back but got lucky. After 7 Years and a cortizone shot in my foot from pushing off on the right foot, due to wiping out the left leg and lower back, I'm back to 98%.