Quick qu thread!

Get it diagnosed if you can, @ViewAhead ....not that it'll make much difference if it's something like lumbar spondylosis - good old osteoarthritis of the lower back. Physio might help strengthen core muscles, but I think it's a case of putting up with that awful acheing stiffness, because they've still not invented a WD40 for human joints.

 

Find a tennis ball, stand with your back to a wall and put the ball between you and the wall at your lower back, move gently pushing against the ball to massage the back and hips. I have osteoarthritis in spine, pelvis and one hip still waiting for a new one! This does help but be firm !!

 

I’ll give the tennis ball a try, though it sounds a bit painful.

I’d had lower back freeze-ups at intervals since my 20s. Then, the last freeze-up never unfroze properly. (I’m very prone to frozen shoulders too.) Heat helps a lot. Cold is bliss while applied, but then movement is more difficult afterwards. I do occasionally indulge just for the brief relief. Hot summers are very tricky, cos hot water bottle therapy becomes unbearable.

My GP says never see a GP about a bad back unless you have urine trickling down your legs! (Her exact description!) Suffice to say getting past the receptionists with anything less serious than life threatening needs more guile and stamina than I can rustle up. The chances of being referred on - nil or less.

@Michael Hewett, do you go to a class or just practise some specific movements that suit you?

WD40 is exactly what I need, @Tinkerton.

 

I went to a class several years ago and remember the first two thirds of the form.

 

Get a new GP, obviously a dinosaur, I had one like that until he decided to retire at the very beginning of covid.
Some of them are just idiots, some are good.