Owwww, my back.....

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Today we had a revolting development in the men's restroom. A handicapped gentleman drove his motorized scooter into the handicapped stall, got out and then sat down on the toilet to do his business, and then grabbed the safety rail behind the toilet to lift himself back up.

Except the safety rail fell right off the wall, and handicapped gentleman went with it.

I came into the restroom to find him crawling around the floor, unable to unlatch the door, so I had to shimmy under the wall and open it. Then I had to enlist the help of a co-worker to lift him back up and into his scooter. He wasn't light either--I'd guess he weighed as much as myself, and I weigh 220.

He took it in stride. He mentioned he had had falls at other places and we were the most helpful.

Only thing is, my back is just about killin'. And this happened over 5 hours ago. At least I get tomorrow off so I can spend tonight with Tylenol and the heating pad.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Don't use a heating pad! Reason why your back hurts is because of Inflammation (Chiropractor's on my case about stuff like that), and heat will only irritate it. Use a cold compress wrapped up in a cloth and some pain medication like aspirin or whatever works for you.

Glad the gentleman's okay and I hope you get better, too.

[Naaman]

Don't use a heating pad! Reason why your back hurts is because of Inflammation (Chiropractor's on my case about stuff like that), and heat will only irritate it.

Depends on the cause. Actual damage - yeah, cold packs are good (but should seek professional advice anyway, back problems can be a bitch). If it's just the ache of muscles not used to being twisted 'that' way then a heat pack\hot bath are the good thing to do.

As always if in doubt see a medical practitioner

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Go on to the doctor. I'm suprised your boss didn't send you. You need to fill out a report, even if you think you are not hurt badly. This is a workman's comp issue and later down the line, you could have a real problem and need some medical help with it.

You dont' want to play around with your back. Injuries like this can show up much later after the accident. I'm not trying to borrow trouble, I'm just saying you need to protect yourself.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Actually, I feel better today. I did keep the heat on so I guess it was just something being pulled the wrong way.

[bainsidhe]

I'm with the others here. Even if you are feeling better, I really hope you filled out an incident report at work. If not, do it now and have others sign off on it that helped you with this gentleman. Just on the off-chance that your back continues to hurt, you want your company to pay that doctor bill.

[Seshat]

Agreed. Go see a doctor.

Also, have someone close to you poke your back gently. Give it a massage, making sure he/she prods every bit of every muscle. If there are places which hurt like hell - much, much more so than neighbouring muscle - you may have done some serious muscle damage. It's called 'trigger points', and it's basically bits of the muscle fibre which have got stuck and can't unlock. If you want the doctor to look into it, tell the doctor it's trigger points, as described by Travell and Simons in "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual".

The good bit is that your friend who gave you the massage can fix it. Stroke the sore point (yeah, I know, it hurts), five or six times, always in the same direction. Do that as often as possible - three or four times a day if possible - until it stops hurting when poked. When it no longer hurts at all, it's cured.

If left untreated, it can do lots more damage. And it's so easy to treat.

[gunsage]

Don't know if this will help or not, but it might be worth checking out.