Farmers stoop

just do it

Anyone find farming is s**t for your posture. I find myself walking through the fields with the wellies on, my arse out and head leading the way!

Conmaicne Mara

just do it wrote: »

Anyone find farming is s**t for your posture. I find myself walking through the fields with the wellies on, my arse out and head leading the way!

Have to walk that way here half the time with the wind

Sam Kade

just do it wrote: »

Anyone find farming is s**t for your posture. I find myself walking through the fields with the wellies on, my arse out and head leading the way!

Nope, 49 now and still walking straight What age are you, if it is fair to ask?

munkus

Sure the farmer's strut is half the reason the women are mad to bag a farmer. Other half being our remarkable personal hygiene.

Conmaicne Mara

munkus wrote: »

Sure the farmer's strut is half the reason the women are mad to bag a farmer. Other half being our remarkable personal hygiene.

A light crust of well aged and cultured dirt, dung, and sweat, mixed in careful proportions by natural selection, keeps 99.9% of known virus' & diseases at bay*. Frequent and unnecessary washing, particularly with products containing soap, leads to a sort of chaotic degradation of this vital layer leaving the poor creature underneath highly susceptible to all sorts of bugs and ailments. It is not a measure to be taken lightly, or without due consideration to the resulting aftermath.


*May or may not be true.

MFdaveIreland

Early twenties and find myself hobbling for no reason than habit, have to stop it before it becomes normal!

munkus

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

A light crust of well aged and cultured dirt, dung, and sweat, mixed in careful proportions by natural selection, keeps 99.9% of known virus' & diseases at bay*. Frequent and unnecessary washing, particularly with products containing soap, leads to a sort of chaotic degradation of this vital layer leaving the poor creature underneath highly susceptible to all sorts of bugs and ailments. It is not a measure to be taken lightly, or without due consideration to the resulting aftermath.


*May or may not be true.

Our personal ozone layer!

Cavanjack

Walking with a stoop and a bit of a limp is the image a lot of old lads like to have IMO. Easier to cry the poor mouth that way and gives off the impression of a man that has worked himself into the ground. I know there are genuine cases too. Caused by poor clothing, wearing weeklies too much and letting injuries nearly kill them before going to a doctor.

Timmaay

Bloody pit in the parlour is wayyy to shallow, my hip and back are in bits from milking for the last 18months, my dad had serious lower back issues before, I'd hazard a guess the milking was a good part of it also!

But anyways, construction etc use to have serious issues with poor H&S, but they have seriously cleaned up their act last 10/20yrs, with manual handling etc etc, how long before it becomes the norm with farming?, as much of a pain in the arse that whole racket might sound, I'd rather go through it all than be crippled by the time I'm 40!!

tabby aspreme

Lads and Ladies if your having back trouble give Pilates a go , have done it before and its on my list for the New Year

onyerbikepat

I know of a guy that started doing Pilates recently. The only guy in the class.:D It's supposed to be great for your core strength alright. A lot of the top rugby guys supposed to be at it too.

just do it

Yes the lower back has "given" 3 times this year. Was never an issue before. Numerous reasons but lack of core strength is definitely one of them. Have a gilmore's groin for the last 9 months which I'd hoped rest would sort out but it hasn't. Will be getting the letter from the GP to go to the specialist surgeon in the new year. And then get fit again! It's a pain not being even able to play with the kids.

bogman_bass

I always thought it was like the gangsta limp

lefthooker

just do it wrote: »

with the wellies on, my arse out and head leading the way!

The farmers twerk perhaps???

Bactidiaryl

Observe at any farmers agm or where there is a vote a see all the broken arse farmers hobbling up to collect their ballot papers.

delaval

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I know of a guy that started doing Pilates recently. The only guy in the class.:D It's supposed to be great for your core strength alright. A lot of the top rugby guys supposed to be at it too.

What's core strength?

bbam

Core strength referrs to the groups of muscles that wrap round your abdominals and round your back.

The theory is if you strengthen these well then they act as a natural belt protecting you from damaging your back.

It definitely helps but it's hard to keep up the exercises on an ongoing basis.


My own back is shot.
Appart from accident damage to discs in my neck and upper back, I have a degenerative condition where fluid leaks out of the discs causing nerves to be irritated easily.

I don't stoop too much but walk with a limp regularly, sometimes quite pronounced.

onyerbikepat

It's all well and good talk about health and safety and all that on a farm , but it's very hard avoid lifting stuff. I've lower back trouble too. Only yesterday, I was walking across two fields lifting a tractor battery I use on an elctric fence. No other choice, fields too wet for tractor. What can you do?

Conmaicne Mara

onyerbikepat wrote: »

It's all well and good talk about health and safety and all that on a farm , but it's very hard avoid lifting stuff. I've lower back trouble too. Only yesterday, I was walking across two fields lifting a tractor battery I use on an elctric fence. No other choice, fields too wet for tractor. What can you do?

ATV

onyerbikepat

delaval wrote: »

What's core strength?

I didnt know what it as till recently too. Farmers do tend to have very good core strength from all the lifting they do. But it can be off balance if you like, leading to stooping. :rolleyes:

delaval

onyerbikepat wrote: »

It's all well and good talk about health and safety and all that on a farm , but it's very hard avoid lifting stuff. I've lower back trouble too. Only yesterday, I was walking across two fields lifting a tractor battery I use on an elctric fence. No other choice, fields too wet for tractor. What can you do?

Have a charged one already there when you set up fence the first time???

Mulumpy

Did a manual handling course other day think it should be compulsory for farmers. Instructor was saying that despite training courses being brought in 20 years ago, manual handling accidents have increased

agriman27

I think farmers build up a strong powerful upper body, graping silage, dosing cattle, shovelling stuff and general pullin and woolin. The problem is that the upper body strength passes out the lower body. I find I have built up a big upper body but I know my legs wouldn't be the equivalent. I think this is the reason why so many farmers hips and knees give up. I hope to build up my lower body in the new year to match my upper body might join a gym:pac:

Bizzum

bbam wrote: »

Core strength referrs to the groups of muscles that wrap round your abdominals and round your back.

As some of the conditioning coaches will tell ya:
Ya can't fire a cannon from a canoe!

Conmaicne Mara

Bizzum wrote: »

As some of the conditioning coaches will tell ya:
Ya can't fire a cannon from a canoe!

They've never heard of punt gunning then

Bizzum

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

They've never heard of punt gunning then

A punt gun is a fair baste of a gun, but I dunno does it equate to a cannon?

just do it

Think of your pelvis as being the centre of your body. The legs muscles come up and the upper body muscles come down. There is a line of major muscles starting from the bump on the back our head down through the back and legs via the achiles to the back of the foot. The abdominals wrap around your centre/core and all twisting/ bending involves them. If they're not strong, as others have said your body will be out of balance and regardless of muscle strength elsewhere, you're prone to injury.

Another way to think of it is it is the link between the tractor and the trailer. No point having a 150hp tractor pulling a 10t trailer with baler twine holding the two together!

Pilates and yoga are good for it. Generally as we get older we should be stretching. Watch a dog get up in the morning and they stretch every muscle in their body.

delaval

just do it wrote: »

Think of your pelvis as being the centre of your body. The legs muscles come up and the upper body muscles come down. There is a line of major muscles starting from the bump on the back our head down through the back and legs via the achiles to the back of the foot. The abdominals wrap around your centre/core and all twisting/ bending involves them. If they're not strong, as others have said your body will be out of balance and regardless of muscle strength elsewhere, you're prone to injury.

Another way to think of it is it is the link between the tractor and the trailer. No point having a 150hp tractor pulling a 10t trailer with baler twine holding the two together!

Pilates and yoga are good for it. Generally as we get older we should be stretching. Watch a dog get up in the morning and they stretch every muscle in their body.

Thankfully my days of watching dogs getting up in the morning are over!!!!!!

Sorry

just do it

delaval wrote: »

Thankfully my days of watching dogs getting up in the morning are over!!!!!!

Sorry

When the beer goggles have worn off.....

delaval

just do it wrote: »

When the beer goggles have worn off.....

Yea and all you can think of is "what do you want from the shop?"

just do it

delaval wrote: »

Yea and all you can think of is "what do you want from the shop?"

All those poor D4 girls when they call delaval to find out it's a milking machine company

just do it

Ah those were the days

jfh

just do it wrote: »

Think of your pelvis as being the centre of your body. The legs muscles come up and the upper body muscles come down. There is a line of major muscles starting from the bump on the back our head down through the back and legs via the achiles to the back of the foot. The abdominals wrap around your centre/core and all twisting/ bending involves them. If they're not strong, as others have said your body will be out of balance and regardless of muscle strength elsewhere, you're prone to injury.

Another way to think of it is it is the link between the tractor and the trailer. No point having a 150hp tractor pulling a 10t trailer with baler twine holding the two together!

Pilates and yoga are good for it. Generally as we get older we should be stretching. Watch a dog get up in the morning and they stretch every muscle in their body.

Good advice, yoga for farmers, I'd love to see that!
A lot of it can be habit, go to any mart, & in a lot of cases you'll see the young grandson trudging alongside the grandfather, same walk. Same limp. It takes constant correction to walk properly, guilty of fall over myself, was unaware until it was pointed out to me

tabby aspreme

If you hurt a muscle in your back the muscles around it go into spasm to protect it and as a result of not been used it gets weaker and the corresponding muscles on the other side of your back get stronger from doing extra work, over time this causes your back to curve left or right and this puts pressure on the discs and causes them to bulge or pop out

redzerologhlen

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I know of a guy that started doing Pilates recently. The only guy in the class.:D It's supposed to be great for your core strength alright. A lot of the top rugby guys supposed to be at it too.

I know a lad doing the very same thing!! Are his initials DM by any chance?

tabby aspreme

I was the only lad in my pilates class but I don't mind been surrounded by sweaty girls

DK man

There was a letter in the farmers journal during the year which I think was an important contribution to this debate.

Guy was remarking how many farmers suffer with back problems and that this was evident by a visit to any mart. He questioned why fertilizer bag hadn't been halved in sized for the same reason cement bags had a number of years ago.

Of all the jobs I do on my smallie lifting fertilizer is the only one that I feel is putting serious strain on my back! Snap pop!

The ifa and other farmers groups need to sort this out if a bag of cement was an occupational hazard for builders then farmers need to be valued and respected equally...

jaymla627

Timmaay wrote: »

Bloody pit in the parlour is wayyy to shallow, my hip and back are in bits from milking for the last 18months, my dad had serious lower back issues before, I'd hazard a guess the milking was a good part of it also!

But anyways, construction etc use to have serious issues with poor H&S, but they have seriously cleaned up their act last 10/20yrs, with manual handling etc etc, how long before it becomes the norm with farming?, as much of a pain in the arse that whole racket might sound, I'd rather go through it all than be crippled by the time I'm 40!!

I"d safely say that's the cause of 90% of dairy farmers hip/back problems, what lads where thinking the first day when they put in their pits beats me, proper deep pit here its thy only job wouldn't suit a small lad milking though need a pair of hair heels.

agriman27

DK man wrote: »

There was a letter in the farmers journal during the year which I think was an important contribution to this debate.

Guy was remarking how many farmers suffer with back problems and that this was evident by a visit to any mart. He questioned why fertilizer bag hadn't been halved in sized for the same reason cement bags had a number of years ago.

Of all the jobs I do on my smallie lifting fertilizer is the only one that I feel is putting serious strain on my back! Snap pop!

The ifa and other farmers groups need to sort this out if a bag of cement was an occupational hazard for builders then farmers need to be valued and respected equally...

I mentioned in an earlier post that farmers lower body strength doesn't match up with upper body. Any manual handling course teaches you to lift with your strong leg muscles not your back. 50 kgs isn't really that heavy on the scale of things, I know I'd often lift more than I should. I'm goin to try and build up leg strength to save my back and hips

Conmaicne Mara

DK man wrote: »

There was a letter in the farmers journal during the year which I think was an important contribution to this debate.

Guy was remarking how many farmers suffer with back problems and that this was evident by a visit to any mart. He questioned why fertilizer bag hadn't been halved in sized for the same reason cement bags had a number of years ago.

Of all the jobs I do on my smallie lifting fertilizer is the only one that I feel is putting serious strain on my back! Snap pop!

The ifa and other farmers groups need to sort this out if a bag of cement was an occupational hazard for builders then farmers need to be valued and respected equally...

If you talk to some older farmers at marts, my ould man included, they will actually lament the passing of the 100kg bags, never mind getting rid of the 50kg.

I've carried 50kg bags across some very rough terrain, not far off a kilometer in some parts of the farm and it's pure punishment.

onyerbikepat

50 kgs is too much to lift. You could be spreading up to 2 tonne at a time . That's 2 tonne lifted by your lower back - MADNESS.

BTW, it was one of the guys on here that wrote that letter to the Journal.

agriman27

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

If you talk to some older farmers at marts, my ould man included, they will actually lament the passing of the 100kg bags, never mind getting rid of the 50kg.

I've carried 50kg bags across some very rough terrain, not far off a kilometer in some parts of the farm and it's pure punishment.

Ya must be a horse of a man:D. Lads should be fit ta get 50kg bag into a fret spreader without straining the back IMO

Conmaicne Mara

agriman27 wrote: »

Ya must be a horse of a man:D. Lads should be fit ta get 50kg bag into a fret spreader without straining the back IMO

Only thing worse I carried was 100 meter rolls of 3 foot high sheep wire. Don't know what they weight but most of the problem with them is their shape and they are rigid so won't mold in any way to your shoulder like a bag of fert or feed will.

Quads are a gift.

onyerbikepat

Ah lads. The damage you do to your back is gradual. You don't notice it. I did all that crack when I was younger. I used to lift 12 ft gates across fields on my own etc. Now I have a bad back to proove it. Younger people need to be educated about the damage they are doing to themselves, without realising it. Manual handling courses and all that.

Conmaicne Mara

I'm still doing that with the 12 foot gates Though it is easier to more drag them than lift

Kovu

My back is screwed already. Fell off a horse going over a jump when I was younger and landed on the upright, never went to a doc but I couldn't bend for 2 months after it. Couple that with lifting bags of meal all the time, plus fertilizer when the season kicks in and you get one achy back when you overdo it.

I did yoga for a year when rock climbing to HVS level, but soon worked out that the climbing is pretty much yoga in itself as you use the core muscles to balance out your weight evenly.

Sharpshooter82

onyerbikepat wrote: »

50 kgs is too much to lift. You could be spreading up to 2 tonne at a time . That's 2 tonne lifted by your lower back - MADNESS.

BTW, it was one of the guys on here that wrote that letter to the Journal.

what is the story with the 50kg bags anyways when all others are 25kg

Conmaicne Mara

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

what is the story with the 50kg bags anyways when all others are 25kg

I don't know, but it's probably Larrys fault

Sharpshooter82

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

I don't know, but it's probably Larrys fault

sure why not

bbam

onyerbikepat wrote: »

50 kgs is too much to lift. You could be spreading up to 2 tonne at a time . That's 2 tonne lifted by your lower back - MADNESS.

BTW, it was one of the guys on here that wrote that letter to the Journal.

When me and the da were busy we could handle 12tonne of 50kg bags off the truck i in less than an hour. It would keep ya warm.
Not much wonder I'm a cripple. Was doing it from a young age.

feartuath

I did all that when I was younger ,lifting square bales of hay at 12 into silage trailer when aunts husband from USA could not.Making trams reeks and cocks of hay,cutting turf by hand etc.motorcross and enduro racing and working in heavy industry made sure my back is in bad shape.
I had back surgery on 09 and was sucessful but swimming cycling and trying to stay fit,Now I never lift anything I cannot lift by mechanical means ,pay lads to cover silage pit ,fencing etc