Recently I mildly tweaked my back. It's just a muscle thing, but I've had a weak L5 all my life and so need to be careful. For the past 4-5 weeks I've been rebuilding a small retaining wall at my house, lifting 85-pound wall blocks, digging dirt, moving gravel, all without trouble. I lift a half-shovelful of dirt the wrong way, and Bam!
At the moment I need rest, so anything more than 3 or 4 pounds cannot be lifted in front. I can lift 15-20 pounds if I hold it behind my back, since different muscles are used. in a week or three I'll be fine I think.
Meanwhile, I'm almost out of beer, with about 2 gallons of the Ukrainian Belgian left in the keg. Brewing involves lifting, sometimes just 9 pounds of grain, or an empty pot. How do you manage these tasks? I can actually manage the big stuff - pulley system for the spent grain, a friend for the full fermenter - but what about the smaller stuff?
Thoughts include large doses of ibuprofen, my TENS machine turned up to 10, or bribing the friend to handle most of it (he is a homebrewer too). Smaller batches don't buy me much, almost all of it weighs the same either way.
At the moment I need rest, so anything more than 3 or 4 pounds cannot be lifted in front. I can lift 15-20 pounds if I hold it behind my back, since different muscles are used. in a week or three I'll be fine I think.
Meanwhile, I'm almost out of beer, with about 2 gallons of the Ukrainian Belgian left in the keg. Brewing involves lifting, sometimes just 9 pounds of grain, or an empty pot. How do you manage these tasks? I can actually manage the big stuff - pulley system for the spent grain, a friend for the full fermenter - but what about the smaller stuff?
Thoughts include large doses of ibuprofen, my TENS machine turned up to 10, or bribing the friend to handle most of it (he is a homebrewer too). Smaller batches don't buy me much, almost all of it weighs the same either way.