OUCH!

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 43, 5 November 1952, Page 7

OUCH!

WHAT ABOUT LUMBAGO? In the course of his B.B.C. talks on rheumatism "A Boctor ' said: "Lumbago is a rather common condition in this country. It may come on after using that part of the back harder than usual, for instance after a Sunday afternoon spent mowing the lawn at the beginning of the season. It may occur as a regular thing in people like miners and quarrymen whose job entails using a pick whilst snuatting in an awkward position. Or it may come on for apparently no good reason — in you or me as we jump out of bed one morr» ing . In what ever way it comes on, it results in a good deal of pain and genemlly lays us up for a day or two until the a*anp in thp muscles of the back subsides; for it is that which causes the acute pain in lumbago.

"The besf way to try to relieve this snasm, as. it is called, is firstly with the help of the homely aspirin. Take two (that is to say ten grains) at o.nce, and lie still for an hour or two flat on your back. If this is not enough the next thing to try is heat to the back, and probably the simplest way is to take a very hot bath and then go back to bed. There are other ways of applying heat to the muscles . of the back though, all of which have their advocates. In the country where baths are not always so easy to arrange as in towns, the old-fashioned but effective method is to place the patient on his face ad put a pie^e of thick brown paper over his back. With this to protect his skin a really hot domestic iron can then be run over his back to "iron out the pain" as theyv say. Other methods are hot water bottle, bags of sand or salt heated in the oven, electric pads which can be plugged into the bedside light, right down to the romparatively expensive radiant heat cr infra-red, ra;; lamp vwiicli can be bought for Lorne use. If the pain does not completely disappear it niay I be necessary to go on to other more ) professional methods like . massage j or electric al treatment. "When the pain gpes, but atifr- j 1 ness remains, it m often useful to j ; get some one to strap your back with | ! ordinary adbesive plaster and keer I this on for a few days; or hetfcer still to use a Leljadonna* plaster which can fee bought for the purpose."