I like Gavin's so far, roasted nuts have always been my favorite!
+1
My story was removing several machines from an upstairs location. There were car games, pinballs, a Soccer Table and one Bally Bingo. The stairs went two levels with a short landing half way down. My Father was in his 60's at the time, and I was in my low 20's. Everything was removed except the Bingo. We removed the head and got halfway down, when I forgot about the landing and slipped. Correcting myself, without falling down the stairs, with almost the full weight of the Bingo head momentarily on one leg.. I felt a stabbing pain in my back. We finished loading, and I sat in the truck, with some discomfort. We unloaded. The following day, I could not get out of bed until i had pain killers. Even then, straightening my back was impossible. Off to the Doctors and then hospital. The result was two "mild to moderate" herniated disks (L2-L3, L3-L4), and one "mild" herniated disk (L4-S1). No surgery as they simply don't perform surgery unless you are immobile or can't use the toilet ! It took years of physio and Pilates to build up the back and now it is fine. I aggravated it in 2001 and had follow up scans. No pain killers, just anti inflammatory medication which was addictive and blocked the messages to the brain with caused the muscle spasms and then finally sciatic pain which was sudden and extremely painful. Abandoning the anti inflams, I had regular physio and excersize to build up the pelvic floor muscle and surrounding muscles. I "manage" the back and learnt how "thinking" about lifting something is the most important way of protecting the back. The brain "prepares" the muscle groups to protect the area from strain. I can lift heavy items without any issue - otherwise i would not be working in this industry. But it takes a lot of knowledge about what your back can and cannot do. Having said that, the last two episodes where my back gave me trouble was simply "coughing" and the last time was reaching across a coffee table to pick up my empty cup. But even those episodes were minor. When I was in the IT industry, it was harder due to being seated more often than standing.
I can do almost anything except contact sports, trampoline (tried it once any it ended up BAD) and bungy jumping. That's it - everything else is ok.
When it comes to lifting - I've seen some utterly stupid people that are one lift away from serious back injury. But it is amazing how the back recuperates if managed responsibly.
