Wee Tip for Your Back
Feb 17th 2009GailHandy Hints
Once again it is snowing in Les Gets and within school holidays, sun is due tomorrow. I am reliably informed that there is over 2m of snow on the piste now, so should be enough thankyou until the end of the season.
However, with all this snow and the “flat light”, i.e. where you can’t see the piste in front of you because everything is white, take care on these days if you have a history of back pain, especially if you know you have a slightly bulging disc, (herniated disc), in your back. I am finding is that on these days people do not see little dips or bumps in the piste, they are not ready to take the shock and contract their muscles as usual and hit the hole, resulting in a shock being transmitted through the body and often pinching the disc. I can almost predict that the next day I will be getting calls from people with spasm in their backs and unable to move very easily.
Of course take care, and help yourself also by buying goggles which have firstly a double layer of plastic in screen, in order to reduce misting up and they should also have a yellowish or slightly orange tint, this greatly increases what you can see on the piste, (or course you can find all these at Nevada Sports in Les Gets). We are also lucky here in Les Gets as we have piste’s with trees either side of the piste, not only very pretty, but you will be able to see more in a flat light with the trees next to you as they create shadows.
Finally, if you are unlucky enough to have your back spasm like this, please get the cold onto it as soon as possible, i.e. ice pack wrapped up in a damp towel for 5-10 mins and repeate regularly, this will greatly reduce the inflammation and get you straightened up quicker. Of course you should quickly too, I will probably Acupunture it also, as this is one of the best treatments to reduce inflammation, spasm and is a natural painkiller.