having had a occupation that involved a lot of bending ,shoing horses, and having near constant back pain and thoracic tightness it was thought to be occupational, after years it has been diagnosed as Ankylosing Spondylitis .
This sounds well dodgy, and not to be recommended in public. First interlock your fingers around the back of your neck and bend your head forward. Then get a close "friend" to lift you up by the elbows and pull them in slightly and give you bit of a jerk (read into that what you will). This can sort out vertebrae sometime. Works for me anyway, although I haven't had any hassles with it for a while.Usual disclaimers apply.
Quote from: SA Chris on May 24, 2006, 07:46:01 amThis sounds well dodgy, and not to be recommended in public. First interlock your fingers around the back of your neck and bend your head forward. Then get a close "friend" to lift you up by the elbows and pull them in slightly and give you bit of a jerk (read into that what you will). This can sort out vertebrae sometime. Works for me anyway, although I haven't had any hassles with it for a while.Usual disclaimers apply.Arrrgh!!!!! I know you have kind of qualified this with your disclaimer but it needs to be reiterated quickly (cos you know how literal some people take things from the net) that this sort of 'trick' can mark the start of all sorts of chronic long term problems with your neck! The term for manouvers like this in physio is 'manips' short for manipulations and there are all sorts of courses you need to go on to qualify to be able to do this stuff. The spine is a pretty stable structure but the many ligaments, tiny muscles, facet joints and nerves are all potentially vulneralble to damage when doing manips. They are not the answer and only offer a short term solution to the probem as someone else has already said. Need regular prescribed exercises from a good sports physio ideally. I know of people with AS who've seen dietitions for a while which apparently helped witht he inflammatory nature of this condition (all have been early stage as far as i know).
This thread has been a real eye opener - I've been going to physio once or twice a year for tight Thorassic Vertebrae and Fascia manipulation. I've found that adjusting my sitting posture to a concave lower back rather than slouching really helps. However, the AS symptoms were scarily similar to other aches and pains and things that have been going on... perhaps I should see a Doctor..