In article , Grace
wrote:

Hi there,

I've been overdoing it lately getting ready for spring, and I think
I pulled a muscle in my lower back. It's not the first time,
either. *sigh* Does anyone have some advice for me?
Grace

The usual advice is to habitually bend the knees, not the back, & lift
stuff straight up keeping the back veritical, even if it isn't heavy
stuff. Just like before going for a run, it's a good idea to do some
loosening exercises before any strenuous garden work, or yr asking for
trouble. For the immediate problem of lower back pain, take an extremely
hot bath, then when you get out of the tub, apply a coldpack for 20
minutes to the stressed muscle area (buy a medical supply coldpack you can
keep folded in the freezer if this is a recurring problem). The rapid
temperature change from hot bath to coldpack seems to help more to help
the muscles to relax & stop pulling on themselves, than does just a
coldpack alone. (Assuming of course it is only back or shoulder muscle
pain & not an actually injured disc or arthritis or something that needs a
physician's attention.)

-paghat the ratgirl,
back injury from childhood completely under control

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/