Back problems

[RacerDan]

I was almost ready to start construction on my 7 but I got sidetracked with a 3 level spine fusion. I don't know what the long term prognosis is. Has anybody on here been through this? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put a car on like a shoe again.

 

Comments please.

[Donnie]

:cry: Just went through the same operation 3 weeks ago. Decompression and fusing of three vertabre. Three days of serious hurt but daily improvement since. Hope to get in the Caterham within the next week or so (sans top) to fill it up with gas and add stabilizer. "Hope' being the operative word. At this time, I'm still taking prescription pain killers. Everbody heals a little different so it's tough to compare. Got to believe that in a few months I'll be (relatively) pain free for the first time in about 6 years. Good luck to you. We should compare recoveries.

[lowflyer]

Mine fused "naturally" from calcium deposits a couple years ago.

 

Plus a little arthritis thrown in for good measure.

 

I still love to drive my Stalker, but when I hear the "young 'uns" talk about doing a 250 - 300 mile day, it hurts to just think about it.

 

I find that I'm good for about an hour, then get out, walk around, maybe a meal, then an hour or so again.

 

A couple months ago we trailered the car up into the mountains of northern Arizona and put about 300 miles on in two days, plus 120 towing each way. I was a "sore puppy" for a couple of days after it.

 

But the worst day playing with cars still beats the best day of working.

 

Favorite saying, "Old age ain't for cowards".

:yesnod:

[solder_guy]

Many sympathies .. I have developed some back stiffness .. which is manifest whenever I bend over to work on my Seven!

 

Rob

[RacerDan]

I had mine done on August 1st and I'm still in some discomfort. My Doc says I'm way ahead of schedule but don't plan on being back on top for 8-12 months. I'm 62 and I've been fighting this since 92. The other 2 things that worry me are being able to pull myself in and out. I have quite a bit of stenosis(sp) and I may not get much of that back. Also, through lack of exercize, my ass width had increased exponentially.

 

The construction will mean lots of bending stooping and reaching. Hope I can get there....or learn to compensate.

 

Racerdan

[lowflyer]

Racerdan - Two suggestions... if I may.

 

First, buy a back support belt. You know, the kind that the guys at Home Depot wear, only I suggest you actually put it on! I've gone through a couple of them and they are great at providing additional support.

 

Second, buy one of those little mechanic stools, with an adjustable seat height. Much better than kneeling on the floor or being bent over.

 

My wife was kidding the other day when she said that, "I guess you'll have to sell your little car when you can't get into it any more." My response was that it wasn't the getting in that would be the determining factor, it would the getting out. Since this requires more in the way of upper body strength than a strong back, just work on the arms and chest.

 

I turn 65 this month, and am finding that there are an increasing number of times that my mind writes checks that my body can't cash. But, I plan on keepin' on for a long time.

[RacerDan]

Yeah, I don't doubt I can get in. It's the getting out that has me worried. A friend of mine a few years back spent over 4 hours in a formula ford in his garage. Bad arm and over weight. His wife still claims it was all an act. She says he could have gotten out if he wanted to.. She said he'd sleep in that car if she'd let him.

[MHKflyer52]

Yeah, I don't doubt I can get in. It's the getting out that has me worried. A friend of mine a few years back spent over 4 hours in a formula ford in his garage. Bad arm and over weight. His wife still claims it was all an act. She says he could have gotten out if he wanted to.. She said he'd sleep in that car if she'd let him.

 

Don't laugh but I thought I was the only person to get stuck in their car due to not being able to lift oneself up high enough to get his legs under his rear end and stand up.

I had just had shoulder surgery (Dec. 14, 2007) and felt real good after about two weeks after and a week of physical therapy (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and the doctor saying that I could start to use my arm in a normal manner with limits.

Yep...I figured good to go for a ride in the 7 as it had been about four weeks since the last outing. :hurray:

So out to the garage I went expecting to go for a nice ride. :7fume:

I climbed into my 7 and then decided to make sure that I could get out.

That is when I found out that I did not have the strength to pushup out of the race seat with just one good arm.

Spent the better part of an hour in the garage stuck in the car trying to figure out how to get myself out of the car without help and without hurting my shoulder.

Boy did I ever try to get out myself as I figured I would not hear the end of it as my wife keeps telling me that I am getting a little plumper with age.

I finely had to call my wife (glad I had my cell phone) and asked her to come out to the garage.

When my wife arrived in the garage (garage is attached to the house) and I explained the situation and she stopped laughing we were able to lift my butt high enough for me to get my leg under myself and then out of the race seat and then stand up.

Sure did not want to call the fire department to come get me out of the car although that was one of the next steps and what my wife kept saying she was going to do.

My suggestion is to make sure you have the engine hoist or some lifting device close by (or a good friend who is a gear head) to help extract yourself from the car so you don't suffer the laughing wife syndrome as I have. :thumbs:

 

[lowflyer]

While this has nothing to do with a bad back, it does follow the trend this thread is taking.

 

Several years ago I went shopping for a used Formula Ford. I hadn't even been close to one in over 20 years and I was shocked at how small they had gotten. Since I was shopping with a budget in mind, this was less important since it was the newer (more expensive) cars like the Swift that was so tiny.

 

I found a local guy that had a couple of cars for sale. The one that was "priced right" was a Lola 340. It had been upgraded with the SCCA required "intrusion bars" which essentially makes a small roll cage out of the car. Now, I'm a big guy. At the time I was 6'2" and about 225 lbs.

 

I spent about 5 minutes twisting, turning, grunting and groaning before I was finally in the driver's seat. With the body work off the car I could move the pedals, but once the fiberglass was back in place I couldn't move my left foot.

 

The owner looked down and said, "well, I guess this isn't going to work". I couldn't have agreed more.

 

I sat there for a couple of minutes and he finally asked if I was going to need help getting back out. I thought about it for a second and finally suggested, "yeh, turn it upside down and give it a good shake." We both laughed as I spent the next few minutes trying to extricate myself.

 

In the end, I bought a Zink Z10 FF, which had been designed and built in the US, unlike most of the FF's out there. The Zink was designed for us "full bodied" Americans instead of a bunch of skinny British kids!

 

I ran the Zink for a couple of years. The only disappointing part about it was that I couldn't drive it on the street. So I bought a Stalker kit, and now have a car with FF performance that is street legal - and it's easier to get out of, although not by much.

 

See how I was able to bring this thread back to the original subject - sometimes I even surprise myself.

 

:seeya: http://www.usa7s.net/ASPNETFORUM/upload/651372590_zink8.jpg

[RacerDan]

I raced an MR2 in GT3. My best bud raced Legends. The day he got his Legends car we spent the day trying to tear it up. Anyway, first thing we found out was we didn't know how to look cool getting in and out. All we could do was fall our shoulders out the door and then crawl ourselves out onto the grounds. I never did get good at driving or getting in and out of that thing. He finally got cool enough to race it at DMS, Sebring, Laguna Seca, Infineon, Buttonwillow, etc. I did finally quit falling out the window of my Toyota.

 

 

 

LIVE LIFE ON THE REV LIMITER!!!

 

Racerdan

[gjslutz]

When I had the roof on my seven, I could have sold tickets of me trying to stuff my much abused, too large of frame in and out of it. Folks I feel for you and know way too much about what you are going through.

 

What you do and achieve with your disabilities, depends on how deep your commitment to success is. For some it isn’t worth the pain for the gain, for others only death can stop them, your choice.

 

“And then I saw a man with no feet”

 

Gary

 

[Donnie]

:hurray: Happy to report that 24 days after back surgery (decompression and fusion of L4, L5, S1 utilizing 2 rods, brackets and 6 screws) I'm back in the Caterham. Just a quick trip to get gas and add stabilizer but, in spite of the 40 degree temperature, it felt great. Probably would have been warmer with the hood in place but ingess and egress would have been impossible. Removable steering wheel helped also. Don

[lowflyer]

Congrats! Just think of it as doing a "partial, frame up restoration".

[11Budlite]

Great news Donnie! If I ever have trouble getting out, I'll just hook up a sling to the hoist that's directly above where the Birkin is parked!

 

Bruce :7drive:

[drew...]

Sounds like there might be a niche/niche market for a lightweight pneumatic lift system that would lift a seat 8" off the floor to aid in egress. Kind of a powered 7 Barcalounger!

[southwind25]

Lets see..

I had my neck fused about 3 years ago.. 2 discs worth.

the recovery was phenominal..and it's as if it never happened.... hope your luck is the same.

 

I tend to use my mirrors a bit moe than turning my head backwards now...not a bad thing.

 

 

[Donnie]

Actually, I also had a 3 vertabre cervical fusion last June. Recovered completely in about 3 weeks. The lumbar fusion is much more invasive and the recovery much longer. It's been 4 weeks and, although I am off of narcotic pain killers, I still have great difficulty in putting on socks. Of course driving a Caterham does not require socks. Doc says don't plan on any golf or tennis till summer. He said it was OK to drive. Not sure he realized I have a Seven or if he even knows what a Seven is. I'll have to admit, I can get in and out of my Tacoma much more gracefully than I can the Seven.

[horizenjob]

Harbor Freight does sell small electric lifts for the ceiling with remote controls on a hanging cord, I think the small one is good for 400 lbs. I like the pneumatic seat or cushion idea, also perhaps some type of scissors jack on the seat might work.

 

They also make rising platforms for motorcycle mechanics. two of those front and rear. Perhaps just one on the right side, activate it and it would roll you out...

 

I just hurt my shoulder the other day and am starting to wonder if extraction from one of these cars would be difficult...

 

Formula Fords are comfortable for sleeping in...

 

 

[gjslutz]

I’m glad to learn all are able to get into their 7’s. I’m so old I moved the trampoline from the bedroom to the garage to help get into the 7.

 

Gary

[RacerDan]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I have a Dr. appointment and x-rays tomorrow. I'm trying to chronicle this adventure as best I can. I've got some pretty gruesome pics of my back opened up. It's a long way in to your spine. I was looking at the pics and asked the if the white thing was the back side of my belly button. Come to find out it was bone.

 

Right now I'm just hoping to get started on my build soon. I don't feel like it will happen before next spring or summer. I may just have to find me an S-2 and forget about the build.