17 replies to this topic

[1984mini25]

Unfortunately a while ago I quite badly damaged my back (to the point it puts pressure on a nerve and pain travels down my left leg) while lifting something rather too heavy at work after already tired from doing too much heavy lifting to start with. But being originally told it was nothing more than a pulled muscle I stupidly/was forced back to work doing yet more heavy lifting.

Unfortunately it’s now something I’m going to have to live with, but also not helped by driving the mini, which is a bit of a problem being as it’s my only form of transport.

I’m just trying to think of ways to make the mini softer or adjust the driver seat in such a way as to make it more comfortable. As I really don’t want to change the seat unless I really have to being original and a 25. I had already tried some of the off the shelf adjuster brackets, as I’ve also have a dodgy right knee, with helped a bit but I could have another and see what happens.

I did also replace the front cones before I original damaged my back, but never got round to replacing the tired original 28 year old dampers. So maybe with a fresh set of standard ones and the 145/70 profile tyres it shouldn’t be too bad.

[6joshh6]

new dampers and bushes would probably help although if you had the money, you could upgrade to 10" wheels which are supposed to give a better ride because of the tire having a bigger profile than 12" ones. You could also maybe try strategically placing some small cushions although to be honest, you would probably be best changing the seats to something newer since ergonomics was basically ignored when they designed the mini in order to fit more people in!

I hope things improve for you!

Josh

[BVY]

What kind of treatment have you tried for your back? I'm training as a Sports Massage Therapist and need people with problems.
If you fancy a drive to Watford you can have a few free sessions. I'm pretty sure it will improve things! Would be extra satisfying helping a fellow mini owner too

Otherwise just don't hit pot holes or speed bumps

[mike.]

Convert to 10" wheels, the massive sidewalls will act as extra suspension.

If as you say, your suspension is old and worn out, new cones and dampers would make a massive difference. Minisport also sell 'smootha-ride' cone/trumpet kit. Not sure how they work but, worth looking at.

[Skortchio]

Coil spring conversion!

Being paraplegic myself, care of my back had to come as priority over performance (but only barely) so I opted for Minitastic coilsprings. They offer far greater comfort than rubber - comparable to new rubber but without the detrition when the dampers are set firm and if you slacken them off a touch then you get a positively luxurious ride. When I first fit mine I drove for about half a mile before realising I hadn't felt a bump! Although that soft made it a bit wallowing when cornering hard.

In terms of fulfilling the aim I can't fault them. Of course the purists will argue they're not as good as rubber and I totally agree but how many drivers are actually capable of exploiting the potential of red dots anyway? Most of us are daily users who would rather not feel every single undulation in the road. :)

[Tupers]

Sounds like you need a coil conversion or Moulton smootha ride kit.

[Algordo1100]

Well, your Mini needs 165/70/10 tyres (10 inch rims) with new standard cones (or Smootha rides), a standard ride height and everything else as standard as possible.

But never mind that!.... What feckin doilem told you it was a 'pulled muscle' when it was clearly a herniated disc? ..If this was any sort of 'doctor' you need to sue, as in-proper diagnosis has made it worse, due to not being given the right advice.
I myself have suffered a spinal disc herniation caused by heavy lifting and I can agree with you that it is debilitating in the least! . Luckily for me my doctor recognised the associated sciatic nerve pain (down the leg) straight away, and after a simple 'straight leg' test he diagnosed a disc herniation immediately!
Following the advice given I managed to make an 80-90% recovery. I have to be careful, but I'm not in constant pain and I can perform my duties at work delivering furniture as long as I lift correctly and don't over do it. The disc isn't constantly pushing on my sciatic nerve thank god! Acute sciatica down the leg is probably the worst pain I have ever had!

Anyway, I really feel for you as I know it hurts like a 'mo fo' and I really hope the damage isn't permanent . I healed so anyone can.
Get that quack struck off!!

Al

Edited by Algordo1100, 21 April 2013 - 11:11 PM.

[1984mini25]

At the moment I’ve just started physio and currently seeing how it goes, after originally towards the end of the summer continually being fobbed off with taking painkillers and that it was just a pulled/torn muscle from my gp.

But after being laid off from work with the excuse that there’s no such thing as a back/work injury and it was just me being lazy. That and the old all young people not wanting to work etc. etc. stereotype (personally I think they were looking for an excuse having already hired someone else.) And although my back was still painful for a good few months after it did eventually start get better with plenty of rest. Although I'm not one for sitting still, witch doesn't help.

But its more recently were if I try to do anything to physical, lift something that might not be at all heavy, move or twist wrong and put too much pressure on the base of my spine on my left side. Witch then puts pressure on the nerve, I’m then stuck laying on the floor until I can just about get up and move again, although still in pain.

The pain I can live with (just) it’s just I can’t predict when my back will next go. Like last week I went out for a drive in the mini, noticed I needed fuel. When something I did while driving set my back off and I wasn’t physically able to lift myself out of the car, so had to turn head back home and call for help.

Mini wise the front cones were replaced with new ones last year, as it was sitting on the bump stops on rather old and collapsed cones. The rears aren’t new but should still have a few more years’ life in them yet. But rightly or wrongly I did chose to replace all the rubber mounts and bushes with ploy. Witch to me don’t seem harsh in comparison, but then with the old rubber ones like marshmallows the subframes were moving around and the front subframe knocking over speed ramps.
The dampers though are probably overdue being replaced, but it’s the seating that I think is more the problem and not putting too much pressure on the base of my spine.

[se_juggles]

As said before go for soft coil springs, coilovers, 10" wide wheels and some softer seats from another car....

Have you tried sitting on a really spongy cushion?

[leeuk]

Hey mate i know exactly how you feel, I too have the exact same problem, I first damaged my spine when i was 18 while weight lifting,
I am now 35 and after a car accident in 2011 my back is now in constant pain with major sciatica pain in my right butt cheek and right leg which is horrendous at time,
I had a MRI scan which showed a huge bulge in my lower back, I have a herniated disc which in turn has damaged my spinal nerve causing numbness as well as pins and needles in my right foot. Its agonizingly painful,
I have flareups which can last for 5 weeks or so, knocking me off my feet as im unable to get around and in some cases wipe my own arse due to my lower back pain, The pain is so severe at times it causes me to loose weight as im unable to eat as the pain is so bad i totally loose my appetite, Ive had to have paramedics out to me before now as ive been on the floor in agonizing pain, unable to move myself at all, As with yourself i too have to learn to live with it, Ive tried physio and massage but this just seems to aggravate my condition,
Im actually in a lot of pain while writing this even thou i am prescribed Buprenorphine a form of morphine to help me deal with it,
You learn to kind of live with the constant pains and the movement restrictions Its just the major flare ups that get me down as im barely unable to do anything for myself,
I wish you the best of luck mate and i hope your able to enjoy your mini

[pierres]

I also suffer from back pain, why dont you guys forget the tablets which is all doctors ever prescribe and find a good chiropractor, mine is a mctimony chiropractor and they are very good and change your seats i got ford puma seats and what a difference it makes so much more comfort

[AVV IT]

Firstly I wouldn't be too reliant on any single persons personal experience here, it's very easy to think that others have exactly the same problem as you, but the reality is that the causes of lumbar back pain and sciatica are many and varied. What therefore helps some people, will inevitably make the problems of others much worse. I find the driving position in a classic mini far preferable to most modern cars for my particular back injury, but that clearly isn't the case for others here. I also use an aftermarket lumbar support that straps to the seat back and a wedge shaped cushion on the seat base that drops the knee to a position below the hip, but these devices could actually exacerbate your problems depending on what they actually are.

Back pain is also massively complex and in truth its actually quite misunderstood by modern medicine. Doctors and other medical professionals tend to be very keen to jump on a specific single diagnosis, treat that issue in isolation and then wonder why the patient only makes limited progress. I work in emergency medicine and deal with acute back pain on a regular basis, I've also suffered with chronic lumbar back pain personally for almost twenty years now and my profession is utterly rife with chronic and career ending back injuries, so I'm pretty much surrounded by the problem on a daily basis.

In reality even what seems to be a relatively straight forward cause of back pain can be complicated by a number of issues. For example the pain of an initial injury inevitably causes the person behavioral changes, that result in the over use of certain muscle groups and the under use of others. As the spine consists of a complex system of intertwining muscular attachments, an under developed muscle group in one area can result in vertebrae in another area to be pulled in the opposite direction, by the opposing muscle groups, thereby placing abnormal pressure on surrounding nerves and causing pain that is completely separate to the initial injury.

It is therefore entirely possible for a soft tissue injury such as a "pulled muscle" to eventually result in chronic sciatic pain that persists long after the initial injury has been resolved. That's without taking into account the effects of any scar tissue that will inevitably complicate matters even further. I don't therefore agree with Al's statement above that the OP is quite clearly suffering from a herniated disc, because there are a whole variety of problems that could cause the symptoms that the OP has described. So I really wouldn't suggest that you start making accusations of malpractice, as you are likely to make yourself look a bit silly.

Also, despite its widespread use, the "Lasegue Test" (straight leg test) that Al describes, is actually a rather crude and not particularly accurate way of diagnosing Inter vertebral disc herniation. Even though the majority of patients with disc herniation will show positive in this test, when the same test is performed on patients known not to have disc herniation, approximately 2/3 of them will also show positive. So it's really only a basic indicator at best, definitive diagnosis requires an MRI scan. It's also worth mentioning that disc herniation is notoriously over diagnosed and that there is now believed to be little correlation between herniation and actual symptoms. I've seen this all too often in both patients and colleagues, who have undergone surgery to remove the problem disc and fuse the surrounding vertebrae together. They often find that the pain still remains post surgery, because much of the pain is muscular in origin and the underlying disc herniation wasn't the main issue. The problem then inevitably becomes even more complex, because the surgery causes yet more changes to the spine, surrounding muscle groups and the patients behavior, resulting in yet more problems.

But getting back on topic, I'd suggest that the OP probably ought to concentrate on fixing himself as opposed to his mini. The fact you have a knee problem as well as a back problem is a bit suspicious in itself. Unaddressed biomechanical problems with the feet are notorious for exacerbating knee, hip and back problems. Problems that can often be addressed by wearing orthotic innersoles in your shoes that correctly align your feet and in turn your knees and hips, thereby relieving strain on your back. A "gait scan" would therefore probably be worthwhile in your case. Also the key to managing the vast majority of back problems is functional exercise that improves core muscle stability, so physio is always going to be a step in the right direction. The secret though is keeping those functional exercises up, to maintain your core muscle stability long after the treatment has finished, and making lifelong changes to your posture and behavior to prevent further injury.

Edited by AVV IT, 22 April 2013 - 11:43 AM.

[richw911]

You should be an author ^^^

[1984mini25]

The knee problem or problems (something to do with the softening of the cartilage behind the knee cap) started when I was in the last few years of secondary school and like most things, although painful to begin with I’ve both learned to live with it and now it doesn’t really bother me much anymore. The only time it does though is when it’s either cold and damp or going up and down stairs, down being the most painful. But even then the pain I’ve pretty much just got used to, but the clicking does get somewhat annoying. It’s also my right knee that tends to occasionally play up more now though, probably not helped by a mini related injury a few years back.

Going back to my gp, originally I was told it was nothing more than a simple pulled muscle and that there would be no lasting damage and to just take painkillers, even though I pointed out the leg pain and difficulty/spasms while standing/walking. But my gp was still more interested in in weekly check-ups to try and get me to fatten up and gain weight. As yes at the time I had lost some weight, but then at the time I also had been inactive unable and to move about without being in pain or having random spasms in my back and leg. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if I had lost my appetite slightly and lost some weight and at the time I didn’t see that being the underlying problem and quickly lost interest.

Not helped by the stupid way my gp medical centre does appointments, were by having to phone up first thing in the morning and then waiting around all day for a call back it they think your symptoms are serious enough to be given an appointment, that if there is one left available on that particular day.

Even so I originally pulled my back in June last year, but it wasn’t until at least October, November ish until I could finally walk and move around freely without being in pain of having the back/leg spasms. But having basically just lived with it since June and not worked since and deliberately choosing not to sign back on again, although I still have a4e harassing me, offering me work and threatening to kick me off something I’m not claiming. It’s only been in the last month or so my back pain has returned since trying to get back to normal and earn a bit of money fixing up a Pandora’s Box of rusty surprises of a mini.

It’s not the pain that bothers me so much as I very rarely take painkillers anyways, it the randomness of the next time my back will simply have enough and leave me unable to move and then laid up for the next few following days. So anything, however small I can do to not only make things more comfortable but also reduce the chance of the next time my back gives up can only be a good thing.

[AVV IT]

You should be an author ^^^

Alternatively I should probably stop waffling on and on and on.......