One of the nicest things you can do for a bad back and/or neck is to modify your
environment so that it supports healing or at least works with you rather than
against you in your quest for a less painful life. In kitchens and workrooms people
often work on low counters that not only involve back strain but neck strain
as well. This is unnecessary.
Find a wooden tray or get a nice big
wooden cutting board. Now go to your kitchen and stack up some books or pans
from a foot to a foot and a half high and put the board on it. Stand up nice and
straight and tall and put your neck in its most comfy position, and then hold
out your arms and put them in their most comfy working position.
Make
sure you don't let your body slip into the rut of the position it's used to.
Much of the pains we back pain sufferers experience are caused by doing things
the way we did things before our backs went bad. The key to pain management—and
I speak from experience—is to do what works regardless of what you're used to.
This means modifying the environment so it works with you, not against you. This
last sentence is, after all, the simplest way to describe to an alien fresh
from a flying saucer the difference between humans and animals. Maybe the image
I'm trying to convey here is that of a person cringing from pain as he bends
over a low sink—perhaps he should be feeling like a jackass! (Been there, done
that.)
Back to your kitchen experiment: how far above that counter are
you in this new comfy working position? From my life experiences, I'd guess
that the average person with back and neck pain likes to work about a foot higher
than the average counter to best mitigate that pain—my height adjustment was
16 inches.
Go get 4 legs from your hardware store (they should come
with mounting brackets) that are 1 inch less tall than this adjustment number
or longer, and decide if you need to prevent slippage. If so, get 4 crutch tips
or vinyl leg tips that will fit over your leg bottoms (feet), but keep in mind
that if the legs are too long you'll need to saw them off, and if you saw them
off you'll need leg tips that fit over the sawed ends.
If you like
your legs' feet as they are, and the height comes out right, go ahead with the
installation. If the height is off, you can saw off the other ends with the bolt
ends sticking out, but remove these screwed—in bolt gizmos first. You'll need
to redrill holes for these gizmos to go into after the sawing is done. Once you're
done monkeying around with the hardware, install the legs.
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