Monday 15 October 2007

Life with Back pain-to iron or not to iron!

I am going to do a few posts here and there about how to tackle the simple household tasks we all need to do , but if you have backpain or sciatica can be very difficult.

Please bear in mind that these are generalisations and are things that I found useful, you may need something different. If you are very restricted by back pain you may need to seek professional support or adaptations.

Any ideas you have or things that work for you that make your life easier with back pain please feel free to post :)

To start with Ironing- Thought I'd get my least fav job over with first!

OK people who have known me recently will be surprised to hear that I used to do a lot of ironing! However with the onset of my back problems even simple standing and walking was difficult so all the standing, bending etc involved with ironing was out of the question. I was simply in too much pain with my back. Good job hubby could iron!

However we eventually just about abandoned it. Apologies to people who feel ironing is essential but we did what worked for us. It didnt seem fair to me that hubby was having to do all the ironing, as well as most of the housework. So we realised ironing could be let go...

So some simple tips if you have back pain and find ironing difficult and dont want to do it.

1.After washing clothes get them out the machine quickly and either put in a tumble dryer until damp or hang up immediately on hangers or pegged on the line neatly.

2.Keep clothes in your wardrobe on hangers separated neatly not tight up against each other. That way they wont crease so easily.

3.Dont tumble dry until bone dry as this tends in my experiences to leave creases. Take them out when slightly damp still. Hang up neatly until dry.

4. When buying new clothes look for "do not iron"!!or "easy iron" type labels. I LOVE do not iron labels :) They are the back pain sufferers friend :) ( Hmmm maybe thats an overstatement but you know what I mean)

If you want to /must iron1. Break up the ironing in to small chunks, do not try to do a huge load at once.

2.Prioritise your ironing. Do what is essential first so if you do not feel up to the less essential things it really wont matter.

3.If you are standing you may find it useful to have a small stool or footrest to alternately put one foot up on. See if that works for you. On the occasions I ironed I found it helped relieve some pressure in my lower back.

4.If you can sit and iron again watch your posture and do not sit for too long.

5. Could another member of the family do the ironing for you?

6.If you want to pay someone to do your ironing there are often good people who can be located to do it for you each week or even several times a week.

7. If you do it yourself then try to get the best quality lightweight iron you can to ease strain on you.

8. Take regular breaks and stretch and move.

...and if you are looking for a way to try to help you with back pain and sciatica symptoms you may want to take a look at my Personal Review Of Lose The Back Pain System

If you liked this post do consider joining our Facebook Page Sciatica Solutions.



Lose The Back Pain System
Lose the Back Pain, is a system of self assessments to determine what physical imbalances you may have that may be causing your pain, then specific and targeted exercises to follow to address the imbalances, along with pain reduction strategies. 

For useful information and suggestions there is a Free Back Pain Book Written by the Healthy back Institute-

7 Day Back Pain Cure
This free book (there is a small shipping/handling fee for physical book) will give you a good starting point for taking back control of your back pain covering reasons for pain, pain relief, possible treatments, action plans and many other things you will find useful.
Follow Jasmine Ann Raintree's board Back And Sciatic Pain Strategies. on Pinterest.

No comments: