Aching back

How do you, my fellow Archons, keep from getting sore, aching backs/hips/feet/necks after a long day of tabletop war? I'm just now trying out Superfeet insoles. Hopefully they'll do the trick.

Do you have any tips, tricks, or advice for alleviating gametime agony? Pain is for the enemy, not for us!

As a guy that deals with this every day:

I can offer a couple of pieces of advice. First, bend your knees slightly when at the table. This places your head/torso more evenly over your hips and feat taking pressure off of any disks that may be a bit iffy. When your legs are stiff and you spend the time bent over a table you put more pressure on you r spine. You can try elevating your feet when lying down (on a couch or bed) after you play. This takes pressure off of the lumbar section of your spine. You can also try stretches such as lying on your back, pull your knees to your chest and hold.

Hope this stuff helps!

Feel pleasure from pain... =)

On a serious note go do some sport on a regular basis, developed muscles will prevent you from standing in an unnatural for human body way, where most of the wieght goes to your bones, not to your muslces.

Developed muscles that surrounds your spine are also what allows you to stand for prolonged periods of time without fatigue.

I recomend that you do hyperextension excersice with wieght and do some pull ups.

Thats one of the things that prevent me from getting games in. I've had a spinal fusion and it hurts to stand / sit for any period of time and local game store is about 30 min car ride away. So I feel ya man.

In one word: Yoga

I used to get bad lower back pain. Yoga (in this case Hatha Yoga) sorted it out.

I've good stuff about Pilates too but never tried it myself.

Good pair of shoes is a god send, especially for tournies.

As my spine looks very similar to ESE I echo his comments as well!

Im tall and the only problem I have is that I have to constatnly bend over.

Invest in a folding stool....

Seriously though, everything said before plus copies amounts of advil and whisky always works for me...

good shoes are a must, massaen hit that on the orthotic insert... I had a knee replaced last year (rugby can do that to you) and I find if I wear sandals in the summer and try to game, my back/knee/attitude get very sore.

When I built my table at home I purposely built it at a height of 36 inches, so the bending over is at a minimum.

Cost was minimal, time was well spent with friends pizza and beer, and it makes things easier all around.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. ESE: ouch! Man, sorry to see that.

I'm actually pretty fit, cyclist and runner, and I work at a neuro hospital on a stroke unit, so I'm constantly lifting and moving the obese. I could use more work on my core, but so say we all, right? I definitely need to try yoga, not just for gaming but for life. But geez...it's so freaking BORING! Plus, my pain isn't lower, it's mid. Around T5. Working on an ambulance for years does a brutal number on your back. So does getting hit by cars half a dozen times while working as a courier. Any question as to why I picked DE?

I got some otc orthotics (the aforementioned superfeet), which I'm going to be trialing at a local tourney next weekend.

EoE: Ibuprofen and bourbon is a huge part of my coping strategy, but man...those third round decisions...

You guys know nothing about back pain if you haven't played a six player game for eleven (eleven. Ee-leh-vunn. 11.) hours. Without a table. On the floor. Sitting on your knees.

Kinnay wrote:

You guys know nothing about back pain if you haven't played a six player game for eleven (eleven. Ee-leh-vunn. 11.) hours. Without a table. On the floor. Sitting on your knees.

I've done that! (Seriously)

Ditto!!!

Tony Spectacular wrote:

I definitely need to try yoga, not just for gaming but for life. But geez...it's so freaking BORING! Plus, my pain isn't lower, it's mid. Around T5. ...

A final word on that, try a few different teachers and/or styles - they are all different (my regular guy is 70+ and hilarious, we have a hoot every class) and talk to the teachers about your back before the class. Don't be put off by the image!

Good luck.

...And I've done those marathon games kneeling on the floor, but not since I was a teenager, I like my creature comforts too much

Mushkilla wrote:

Could you please repeat that?

Ha! Scottish. Finally I know where the guys of Beasts of War are from! I couldn't figure out for the love of Flash Gordon what their accent was.

Kinnay wrote:

Ha! Scottish. Finally I know where the guys of Beasts of War are from! I couldn't figure out for the love of Flash Gordon what their accent was.

Their from Northern Ireland. If you youtube "Belfast accent" you should get something that sounds like Darrell from Beasts of War.

Moving this to GW General....