Imagine yourself on April Fool's day, ready to prank your friend with a classic "pull the chair out from underneath him" trick. Then try to imagine yourself in the ER room crying because you know it was your fault your friend has to have back surgery. I try the trick at school the other day, but was very fortunate not to have injured my peer. As a punishment I was told to write a report about the dangers of the trick. What I learned was very interesting to me so I thought I would share it with you.
Yesterday when I thought I was being funny by pulling a chair out from underneath my peer, I was unaware of how dangerous my actions were. I was very fortunate no one was injured.
While doing research, I discovered some frightening things, especially when most of what I read were personal experiences. One teenage girl had to under go back surgery just because she was the victim of a similar event.
If you have had the same experience and are having back issues too but you are not sure if you have major problems, look out for these symptoms: your pain may become worse with activity. If you are often playing actively in sports and games but feel pain, you may need to see a doctor. If you are a sitting down for a long time and feel back pain, I would request you visit your doctor. For example, if you are in the middle of a long car trip you would be sitting still for a long time.
Some treatments you can provide yourself with are to sleep or lie down with a pillow between your knees. This will comfort and help your back relax. Even though it is said that sitting in a massage chair, placing hot stones or relaxing in a hot tub help you recover, you are receiving false information. These exercises do not work but do increase damage and decrease recovery speed.
There are some non-prescription medications you can try. Advil or Motrin are possibilities for short term relief. Tylenol can also possibly be used and is equal in effectiveness as Advil or Motrin.
Some people benefit from ice or heat packs but they are both mostly personal preference. Do not however, place ice directly on the skin (place the ice pack in a wet cloth) or place the heat pack on HIGH. Heat and ice are not proven to be effective but are not harmful.
There isn't much information on the web but what there is will teach you to THINK before you DO.
-Baxierox-
