I’m thinking about getting a family member, who has a lot of back issues, one of the Back on Track back braces and was wondering if anyone had suggestions on which of the three different back braces to get? There were older posts discussing BoT’s products, but I didn’t see mention which type people usually go with.
I used to live in a BOT back brace.
I got myself the Double Layer back brace, Except when I rode I wore it day and night. It made life bearable.
After wearing it for a LOOOOONG time my back stopped bothering me–most of the time.
When my back started bothering me again I added a Fenwick Leg Wrap in the mesh pocket in the center, with the Fenwick Leg Wrap next to my skin.
I had INSTANT relief of my back pain, and many, many months later my back has yet to bother me again, and during this time I started to do the sitting trot again on a horse with a jackhammer slow trot (which I mostly avoid), and I have been “riding” my Home Horse lately with its sort of wild movements. Before the BOT Double Layer Back Brace my back hurt most of the time which the BOT brace mostly stopped, and when I added the Fenwick Leg Wrap in the mesh “pocket” my back has stopped hurting completely, for the first time in over a decade.
I have found that combining the BOT stuff with the Fenwick stuff works better than either by itself, for both humans and horses. The Fenwick people do not have as wide a variety of products, but I found that I can fold up one of the Fenwick Leg Wraps and use it under the BOT product to get really good pain relief that lasts–except for my neck hurt by whiplash from a car accident. Every other hurting joint stops hurting quickly and the pain rarely returns.
2 Likes
I bought the old back brace, no longer for sale, kinda looks like the double layer back brace, when I hurt my lower back about 4 years ago after a unintentional dismount. After making sure I didn’t do structural damage, with some healing (wearing it 24/7 for good long while) and physio I got my lower back to a state that I didn’t have daily lower back pain. I still use it whenever I feel sore or some pain in my lower back from riding or if I moved “wrong”. I wear it overnight and wake up with no lower back pain.
Something else that helped my recovery was a back compression wrap, like this one from Body Helix. While recovering I would wear this riding so my muscle had a bit of support. Eventually I stopped using it as well. In the end you want to get to a state where your back muscles are strong enough to support your activities.
1 Like
I have the “narrow front” version of the back brace, which I originally purchased to help with sciatica/muscle spasm from sitting at a desk (with mild scoliosis). It worked wonderfully to provide relief throughout the day! I still put it on if I feel that I’ve strained my back doing something.
2 Likes
I have both the narrow front single Velcro back brace and the double. The narrow front is, IMO, better for the self-heating aspect with some support.
If you want serious support for working or other needs, the double Velcro is much more supportive as well as having the warming aspect. It also seems to stay in place better.
1 Like
Thank you @BayBondGirl and @WNT! It sounds like all of the versions are pretty decent at their jobs. I’ll see 8f I can find the double velcro version, and if not, just go with whichever I can get my hands on.
