do your best to:
1.. Not get old.
2.. Work NOW to get as healthy as possible, and stay that way.
3.. Eat healthily and exercise as best you can.
4.. Don't fall off ladders, get blood clots, lift objects that are too heavy/lift objects in an improper manner, do other dumb things or loose limbs or parts of limbs.
If you DO get older and or you just start "falling apart" like some of us, then do your best to NOT give up on this great sport. Make every effort you can to stay as active as possible.
canes12, I know what you mean about bending over, especially if it's done abruptly or awkwardly. I had back surgery in July of '95 for a very herniated disk on the lower left (L5/S1) tat had plagued me for two years. I was detecting under some monkey bars and twisted to the left to get out from under them and BAM! Pain level had been in the 8 or 9 range, ad it instantly went to an agonizing10+, dropped me to my knees and I had to crawl to a chain link fence to slowly make my way to the Blazer. Surgery helped for a few years, but by 2001 I was back to using my cane, and a walker if as going to go any distance.
I detected then, and now, by just working slowly and patiently. Good points to consider even when healthy, but target recovery has been the biggest challenge for me since my back started to cause me problems about September of '88 when I injured it. A cane since '93 helps me a little to get up after I do get down for target recovery. Usually, when hunting wood-chip or sand-filled playgrounds, I will toe-scuff the material to get to and expose the coin or target, then bend over to retrieve the object. Usually, I can do it without falling and, when done right, it heps stretch the back out and eases some of the pain level, at least for a few minutes.
I am right handed and in the past I used to just squat down or kneel down [size=small](on my left knee)[/size] to recover a target with a screwdriver or plug, if needed.. I had a lot of swelling in my lower left leg, ankle and foot from about January of 2011 until June of tat year. I had fallen off a ladder [size=small](where I shouldn't have been)[/size] on June 22nd of 2010 and that left me with a severe concussion, a ruptured right ear drum, a fractured skull, two cracked vertebrae in the neck, and four broken ribs on the right side. Other than losing the hearing in my right ear, and totally losing my sense of small and partial loss of taste,, it lead to another problem.
I had to sit a lot in the recliner as I mended and that is probably what led to the swelling of my left leg, ankle and foot. It was so bad by May of 2011 that it was both painful to try and walk or move that swollen leg, or bend it. On June 12th of that year the had me in the hospital and a CT scan showed teh swelling was cased by blood clot. The clot started about 2" below the groin and went all the way to the ankle in he femoral vein. Time for blood thinners [size=small](for over a year}[/size], wearing compression socks [size=small](for the rest of my life)[/size], and more sitting to keep the leg elevated.
The I cut my foot at a motel in Idaho in May of last year and finally most of the wound on tho bottom of the foot healed, but not the infection on the left site. That got worse, and even after sitting a lot more to keep my left foot bandaged and cared for, the infection got to he bone. On December 13th they amputated part of my left foot, and on March 5th I was told I could start learning to walk on it and have special prosthetic boots ordered.
I use a knee pad on my left knee, but I still don't enjoy getting down because it means I have to get up. Getting up calls for using the usually swollen blood-cotted left leg and a foot that's not all there. Crappy balance, too, due to the herniated disks in the back. However, if I quit enjoying this great hobby, I think I would just get worse by sitting around more! I work at my pace and put in all the time I can, then I rest up for my next journey afield. Kneeling down on my left knee I do slower than I used to, and since I have a cane in that hand while detecting, it helps to lower me down, and really comes in handy for getting back up.
I hope things improve for you canes12, and you need to just hang in there, maybe get a cane, but don't give up on detecting [size=small]{if at all possible)[/size]. Just change your pace. Use alight and balanced detector, and I usually use a smaller-than-stock search coil. Also, I don't extend the rod too far forward. Keeping things light and balanced sure helps keep detecting fun. I also periodically lay down or sit and stretch when I am out detecting.
Monte
