Back pain May 27, 2006
Posted by dorigo in astronomy, personal.trackback
I have to be careful with the new scope… Bringing it out and in almost every night has caused my back to ache a bit. I know vertebrae may cause a lot of problems if they get squeezed.
The base of the scope containing the mirror is a wooden square box, 20" across. It weighs 78 pounds. And lifting it with the legs is not trivial, since the handles are 12" away from my body – so the back has to work quite a bit to lift the base up.
Today I have been thinking at ways to reduce the amount of wrestling I have to do in order to set up my scope. I already improved matters a bit a few days ago by using a plaid over which I slide it from the place where I store it to the door leading to my terrace. Next, I constructed a square flat base with rotating wheels, to move the scope around the terrace effortlessly.
I now need an idea to move the box up a step through the door leading to my terrace, and lying it on top of the moving base. The step is 7 inches tall, the moving base adds four more inches. To complicate matters, the telescope box handles barely make it across the door. And it cannot be tilted in any way, for safety of the mirror.
I believe I could design something fancy, like a ramp of some kind, such that I would then use the wheeled base to go through the door. But I wonder if there is an alternative.
Actually there is one - although I am unwilling to adopt it. The mirror itself weighs 30 lb, and it can be removed from the scope box by just lifting it off. By bringing out the base and the mirror separately, the work would be much less straining. But… The mirror is a sacred thing! The idea of touching it (from the sides!), let alone carrying it around, gives me goose-bumps.
Any suggestion ?
Thank you for your very good site! Back pain is the largest single reported cause of absence from work and leading cause of disability in UK,There are same problem in China.
China Charity Federation (CCF) launched a program to help children with curvature of the spine. Curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, may lead to chronic back pain and pinch internal organs such as the lungs or create an too-large cavity for the heart to fill. This program, a joint effort by the CCF, an orthopedic company and several hospitals, aims to help more than 100 children who suffer from scoliosis in 2006, with a budget between 5 million yuan (625,000 US dollars) to 7 million yuan (875,000 US dollars)
There are many charity hospitals offering free treatment for scoliosis children in UK and west country, but none in China.
Bristol Chinese backcare from XINHUA
http://www.backachetherapy.co.uk
Hi Tomasso, can you use a car jack at the center of two boards guided by vertical shafts? This would make the work easy, and would be slow and gentle.
Better still use wheelbarrow handles like the big scopes:
http://www.galileo.cc/images/rep_boutique/grandes/Obsession/wheelbarrow.jpg
Michael, that is a good sugestion – I think I will investigate the availability of cheap car jacks.
Alexei: yes, wheelbarrow handles are fine for loading the thing in a car or for general transportation, but I already have a cart now, what I need is to go past a step and around a tight corner – wheelbarrows would not do.
I agree with the wheelbarrow handles. It’s all about leveraging. I’ve had the same problem myself and lifting other things around the house. My doctor did the famous Furshpan Maneuver on my bulging discs and they’ve been very cooperative since. I still am very careful and invent all types of leveraging handles to prevent any relapse in my back.
Hi Ronald,
thank you for your experience. I think I have decided I need both wheelbarrows and a ramp.
I have designed the ramp already, the wheelbarrows can wait until I will need to load the thing onto my car…
Cheers,
T.
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Hi,
I went see many specialist in the last years and what help me the most is stretch every morning and evening! Since i’m doing that, my back is getting better and better!
You Sould Try!
(Find the right stretching and be sure to feel it!)
here’s an informative site on that subject:
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Hi Charles,
thank you for your suggestion, I will look into it… However, since I wrote this post my back got better… And the fact that I did little telescope lifting has also helped a lot
Cheers,
T.
Help me,please?
My backpain is too sever to tolerate,it is chronic also.
I am from Ethiopia,i am 25
You should be cautious with those things because the back pain is something very unpleasant and you may find it difficult to find the best cure for you.That’s why protect your back as much as possible.
Hey Dorigo,
Anytime you lift a weight away from your body you put enormous stress on the erector muscles that support the spine. It is easy to lock them up and then end up with a chronic back condition. I provide a free b e book on my site so people can better understand all the things that contribute to back pain and the deterioration of the muscles. You might want to check it out.
http://www.backpain.com.au