Aches and Pains

[ValparaisoGirl]

I had a really great weekend of fishing.  Here it is Wednesday, and my back is still a bit tight.  Will these aches and pains brought on by fishing get better if I fish more, or worse?  Is it like the calluses a gal gets when she first learns to play a guitar?   

[IM-POUNDING- R -U]

If your not hurting ......your not icefishing!!!!!

[Cantgetenough]

I know pain from ice fishing I've had multiple back surgeries but REFUSE to stop ice fishing. I dont take all my pain meds when on the ice and suffer for it. So today spent 7.5 hours on the ice hurting like hell but want to get back out again tomorrow. I already have a full day planned on the ice for Saturday. Pain will subside but the ice dont last forever......
Good luck

[adkRoy]

A wise old woodsman once told me you can rest and recover from all your aches in pains after you die. Now get out and fish.

[CowDawg]

Wait.. the aches and pains get better with age.. LOL...
Last week was my first time out in a very long time and I did great with the 10" auger but paid for it the next day..  Couple Ibuprofens or Alieve  at night and in the morning help a lot...   
Go back out and do it all over again!

[Idahogator]

I had a really great weekend of fishing.  Here it is Wednesday, and my back is still a bit tight.  Will these aches and pains brought on by fishing get better if I fish more, or worse?  Is it like the calluses a gal gets when she first learns to play a guitar?   

If you're young, able and spry, it's easier on your body.  It's best to have a backrest if you sit.  Looking at anything other than eye-level torques your back and makes me hurt just thinking about it, ha.   Looking down an ice hole is killer.  If there's sonar involved, bring it up to eye level ~ double buckets or a small table.
I've also heard to begin a regimen of exercise in August. That lasted only one day. It changed my movement for a week. Think OUCH, ha.
Good luck, ValparaisoGirl.     

PS: Aspirin is a friend of mine.      

[thomasthepikehunter]

When you are young, your body will adapt. My dad tells me its a gift that you loose some time in your 40's.

[MrE1979]

Depends I'm 36 and have back and knee problems but I know some of it is from my line of work and some is from playing football when I was younger.  Not gonna ask how old you are because you never ask a woman that.  Fishin takes a toll on me sometimes.  I love Aleve, one little blue pill and no pain for 12hrs.

[Stand By]

I have to go back to work to rest up.

[Foosty]

They make a most-wonderful muscle and joint lube for active sportswomen(and sportsmen), they call it "Bourbon ".

[Raynestorm]

Start the day by taking a couple ibuprofen before going out, and then as soon as you get home take a couple more.  Also, it helps to either take as cold a shower or bath soak, as you can possibly stand (professional sports players do this after games, ice baths).

Taking the ibu's beforehand, get it into ur system to start working right away. 

Ice baths further reduce the swelling, you will feel 10 years younger after a cold soak!

There was a documentary about some villages in Russia that the people take baths in these cold springs in the mountains every day.  The older people are surprisingly spry for their age and attribute it to the cold soaks.

Of course, routine exercise helps, but let's face it, it's hard to keep that going when there's fishing to go do!

[Super-ice-bird]

They make a most-wonderful muscle and joint lube for active sportswomen(and sportsmen), they call it "Bourbon ".

Haha
" you should listen to him, he's a pre-med!" -Otter, animal house

[Knot there yet]

I believe icefishing to be a sport and precipitated by athletes ! Cheers dehydration is every athletes enemy ,cans are for hydraiting only .i Love golf too walk drink and smoke and still get to call it exercise. Only in this life is this true.We honor the post icefishing nap policy too.

[willisdotcom]

i have had 3 spinal fusion surgeries and still need more, but i'm in too deep to stop fishing because of pain.  i don't get to do much fishing on soft water due to lack of boat, so hard water i try to make up for the time lost on soft water. 

[skulldugary]

Wait until you get into your 60"s

[Pail Rider]

My knees sound like a bowl of rice krispies when I walk...and they feel much worse than they sound.  Pain is the body's way of letting you know you are still alive.

[tyfishstix]

Chuck Norris said in Invasion U.S.A., "Pain is weakness leaving the body"

[perchnut]

Gotta have that pre season training!!  I try to get in shape for bow hunting....then keep it going through the fall.  It really makes a big difference.  Ice fishing is tough on the body.  Even just walking around on the ice, making sure you dont slip, uses muscles you dont normally use.  I just did 4 days on Lake Erie, and definitely felt it for a couple days after.....

[rivereddy]

Lots of good advice given here and at 64 I have tried just about all of them. The challenge
to ice fishing is, as one fellow said, you are always looking "down". This motion causes your
lower back to flex in a way that can aggravate the discs between your lower vertebrae.  I
almost always perch myself on a bucket or on my small ice sled which can really set me up
for the low back soreness you describe.  I have found that by alternately kneeling on the ice,
I can flex my back and shoulders back and upwards which takes the pressure off of my spine.
I use a boat cushion or a deer hunter's foam pad.  The foam keeps my knees dry and lets me
flex my back the good way.  Ibuprofen and a warm shower, even if I'm not immediately sore
once I get back home helps as well.

Another thought, all of that balancing and slipping on clear ice is another strain on ones back.
A good pair of ice cleats helps remove this source of strain.

Sorry to run on so long but these are tricks I use to keep my otherwise trashed back moveable.

fish on,

rivereddy
   

 

[Lobes]

Just keep ice fishing.
It fixes EVERYTHING!

       
NBG

[Roccus]

Wait until you get into your 60"s

yup...something hurts every day...

[docbas]

Make a visit to your chiropractor!

[3300]

If you're young, able and spry, it's easier on your body.  It's best to have a backrest if you sit.  Looking at anything other than eye-level torques your back and makes me hurt just thinking about it, ha.   Looking down an ice hole is killer.  If there's sonar involved, bring it up to eye level ~ double buckets or a small table.
I've also heard to begin a regimen of exercise in August. That lasted only one day. It changed my movement for a week. Think OUCH, ha.
Good luck, ValparaisoGirl.     

PS: Aspirin is a friend of mine.     

just the other day, i was telling my buddy how we'd be rich if we could only figure out how to raise the ice holes or lower our selves so they are higher up. like a dug out. maybe when there enough ice for the dug out thing.

i use buckets to hold the sonar up and back rests and good seating.changed up to a directors chair for non-flip over shelter days, like in my hub. bucket back is not nice.
it all helps, so does having heat and moving around and not locking up in one position for too long. move around or go scouting. making the gear easiest to pull with longer ropes, smitty sleds and placement of the gear into the tubs.
use one shoulder on a long rope to pull the heavy tub and switch often.
wax on bottom of skies and tubs.
heres a biggy for me, i use my knees as a back stop/rest and lean back to lift my heavy flip over tub from the ground or setting onto the ground while grabbing almost halfway up on the sides and just swing to one side and lower it or raise it. it helps a lot. i keep some things in it all of the time so it can get ya too if your not careful. weighs at least 60 pounds after unloading.

like every one else says the more you do it, the more you get used to it, like bike riding.

[RIVERRAT2]

A wise old woodsman once told me you can rest and recover from all your aches in pains after you die. Now get out and fish.

I COULD NOT have stated better.but add i want to wear out,not rust out
 
RAT

[ValparaisoGirl]

Thanks for all the advice!!!  Three great days of fishing and I am still feeling it afterward; it's a good thing I get to go to work and recuperate for next weekend!      

[Lavman]

Where are the gentlemen on this board??? All these responses and not one offer to give her a massage...... 

[tricohatch]

My best friends dad, Larry(64)and I(57)are probably some of the most diehard hard water fishermen. 2 years ago we were on 12 mile fishing in 24 ftw catching crappies, below zero,no shanty,and it is always a night bite. It was just before midnight and we had iced quite a few crappies and perch and polished off a bottle of blackberry brand when we were packing up to leave! I was pulling the sled back to the truck about 300 yards away and when I reached the boat ramp I looked back only to see Larry had fallen and couldn't get up on his own! I left the sled and went back to give him a hand up.Larry worked as a carpenter and has a bad back and has 1 hip replaced and needs the other done soon. I have a bad back and have a knee that someday will need replaced. We don't talk or complain about our aches and pains we just get er done no matter what! 

[Idahogator]

as stated, leaning over and looking down will cause some pain-no way around it. 
one thing I've noticed that hasn't been mentioned is        if your coveralls, bibs or coat restricts your motion of looking down, it will be worse on your back.
I used to know a fella that layed down on the ice to fish which was easier on his back.

Yup, the first nation(Native Americans) spread the hide of tatonka on the ice ~ They not only lived close to the earth but, also the ice.     

[pooley]

Your best remedy would be to get yourself loosened up before you go out there. Take a yoga class to learn some simple stretches to help. Also, off season, ride a bike, ( the founder of IS does, as do I) or start hiking. It doesn't take riding 100's of miles a week, just a a few rides a week will do it.

[thomasthepikehunter]

One little quick tip that may help is cold showers. I've been doing it for years. It seems to limit pain after football.