The middle aged thread

I would try some simple stretches. This helped my lower back:

https://youtu.be/CmsOFIc6DH8?si=NCIxyXSfQe2RWnIQ

I have been doing lower back stretches in bed before I even get up for about 10 years based off advice from a physio I saw after sciatica and every move is in the OG Jane Fonda workout video. My wife has never stopped laughing at me

My wife has never stopped laughing at me

I try to do it when mine is not at home to avoid this.

Luckily she hates milk so hopefully her spine will collapse into dust before mine.

Pulled my hamstring really badly running the line for U16 football :(

Seen an advert today for local over 50s walking football, did not know this was a thing, glad I have a few more years before it being an acceptable option

Sign me up!

40-odd year old knees are exactly that. Welcome to the club.

Lower back and shoulders can be helped hugely by being stronger. I do body weight workouts and a few moves with a couple of 5kg dumbbells, a few of times a week.

We’re talking plank, mountain climbers, bicep and triceps curls, lateral lifts… those kinds of thing.

Won’t get you hench, but will make you strong.

Years ago I did a yoga for strength course which was excellent, until covid and kids came along. Thanks though, that’s a good shout about strength helping the lower back.
Cheers also @sohi I’ve been doing some stretches and yoga before bed every night, you made me realise I can use that time instead of falling asleep on the sofa staring at my phone. It was all getting better till I had to help move a commercial dishwasher.

It was all getting better till I had to help move a commercial dishwasher

I had lapsed and then on Friday I made a bookcase out of sizeable hunks of spruce, and then moved it into the office (including moving all the furniture around to try different layouts), and I woke up yesterday in pain. So I’m back on it now and this morning I’m in pain from the exercises!

Go see a physio
Get a theragun
Eat loads of turmeric

Throwing back to this post from 3 months ago;

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17480229/

Thanks to recommendations here, I got Invisalign fitted yesterday. When I went to my usual dentist, who is supposed to be a Platinum Invisalign practitioner, or something, he said "nah, no chance." But he did refer me to The Brace orthodontists up by Liverpool St. They instead said, "ah, right, this will be tricky" but were happy to take my money. Turns out the front eight teeth top and bottom do not meet and I have a cross bite on all of my molars. They also insisted I get three wisdom teeth pulled from my skull and jaw. I already lost a molar on one side so there is space enough to avoid pulling the fourth wisdom tooth.

Back to my original dentist as he used to work at St. George's pulling wisdom teeth. Still had to pay privately, which stung about as much as the mega violence it took to remove three healthy wisdom teeth. The top two had "impressive roots" and that they had four roots each instead of the usual two or three. The bottom left one broke some of the inner surface of jaw bone which is now poking out through my gum but he has since clipped some of that away, hoping the rest resolves itself otherwise I need to go to the hospital so they can use something called a "bone nibbler" to remove the rest.

Anyway, I now have the aligners that I have to change every four days for the next two years. Plus some annoying metal studs that take rubber bands that need to be changed every day. Hoping being able to bite all the way through a slice of pizza is going to be worth it.

I do yoga and meditation every day for about an hour on average and sometimes also add in kettle bell exercises, physio exercises for which ever bit of me is currently most broken and a couple of times a week I do the McGill big three. The McGill ones are meant to strengthen and maintain the essential core muscles to minimise likelihood of sciatic and other back pain.

It’s fucking crazy to have to do this just to be able to barely function. Then I also turbo and or swim most days for cardio.

Tai chi. I was plagued with neck pain during and after cycling. I had suffered a compression injury years before and just thought time and degeneration had caught up with me and that was my lot.
A friend suggested tai chi. I was sceptical and reserved and felt a bit of a berk at first waving my arms around etc, but the improvement was pretty quick so that gave me impetus to continue.
It work for me by increasing my awareness of how my movements were executed ie, I learned to feel which muscles did what and concentrate on the signals the joint and muscle were sending to my brain during a limb movement. I realised that most of the time my neck and shoulders were in tension and this could be relieved by measured and mindful gentle movements.

Health check/ general MOT - I've never had one and feel it's time. Where do people go for this? GP?

A good starting point. My GP was ameniable to this.

I went to a BUPA one through work recently, it was fascinating and definately worthwhile, never had one before.

I went to a BUPA one through work recently

Did you opt in/request all the good stuff? I just had one through work and other than checking bloods found it pretty high level and uninformative. No lump checking or finger probing as standard.

It was the full-on three hour 'Be.Ahead' assessment. Prostate and balls check was optional, didn't choose it this time around but will do as I approach my 40s. They don't check Vit D as standard through bloods (apparently everyone in the UK ought to assume they're deficient according to the GP) so I opted for that and unsurprisingly was found to be lacking so currently on week 5 of 7 of a 50,000 IU loading dose.

Yeah samesies, did the Be.Ahead. I'm well into my 40's so should of read the form properly and got the prostate and balls check. Did find out i'm a bit low on good cholesterol so need to up that. Given the number of sleep related questions in the pre assessment forms I was a bit surprised they didn't have much to say on it. I sleep like shit and would of liked to address that.

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Just got the best glasses prescription I've had in the 40 years I've been wearing them. I can see for miles

I went on a ride today that I haven't done before but was following a route on my Garmin. Realised after missing several turns that i may need to get some kind of prescription for my cycling glasses.

My urology cancer nurse wife would recommend the prostate and balls check at any age.

Same, couple of weeks ago. Except I've had great prescription specs in the past, just the last couple years of varifocals haven't worked. The main prescription has actually lessened considerably (by 0.75 I think) - the optometrist kept checking with different combos that I was sure it was better. So maybe it's because the contrast between distance and near is less. Either way, I can actually read my phone with my glasses on now.