Spinal drama
Mar. 1st, 2008 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonSo, #55 on Google's hot trends list today is do dead people watch you shower. According to some blog post or other, it was #1 at one point. It's a book title. I'd say I hope the ultimate answer is no, but actually, I don't really care if they look, as long as they don't touch. :P
I'm feeling incredibly relieved today because my lower back seems to be all right. As you might guess, it almost wasn't all right. See, following a stressful couple of days at work, I was attempting to put both my feet behind my head in yoga class on Wednesday. I was relieved to have checked in an important bug fix in time, and was, possibly, being a little forceful in my attempts. A very harsh reviewer of my life might say I was yanking a bit. Anyway, I felt something give in my lower back, along with a sudden wash of pain in that area. I released immediately, of course, but it hurt and it kept hurting, enough that I had to sit out most of the rest of the class. I took ibuprofen and drank lots of water and skipped the gym on Thursday, and now, though I can feel it a bit when I first wake up, it seems it's going to be just fine. I went back to yoga on Friday, and despite all my paranoia and going really easy on forward folds, etc, it never twinged once.
I'm so, so glad this seems to have been a warning shot across the bow, and not that sudden event that leaves a person crippled for life or something. Did you know that 80% of adult Americans have lower back pain?? Well, I don't, despite being tall and thin, and despite sitting in an office chair for 10+ hours a day usually, and despite asking my spine to perform reasonably mighty things for me.
Oh, sigh. See that? I need to not take that for granted! Argh! My best guess for what happened this week is that a muscle was under too much tension, and the Golgi tendon organ made it release suddenly (that would explain the giving/lengthening sensation). I released as fast as I could, but not before the muscle got overstretched and some bones probably ground into each other in some nasty way. Whatever it is, I think I need to be more careful with myself. I had no warning -- nothing hurt before suddenly it really hurt. So it's not necessarily an easy proposition, finding the edge where something is interesting/challenging without being on the edge of injurious. I need to try though. I don't make my living this way, and I'm not going to be a circus performer, I do this for the joy of it -- which is going to be totally negated if I accidentally snap myself in two or even keep overstretching things.
That left adductor? Thanks for asking, it's feeling quite a bit better. Maybe I'll keep going easy on it for a while anyway. :-/
I'm feeling incredibly relieved today because my lower back seems to be all right. As you might guess, it almost wasn't all right. See, following a stressful couple of days at work, I was attempting to put both my feet behind my head in yoga class on Wednesday. I was relieved to have checked in an important bug fix in time, and was, possibly, being a little forceful in my attempts. A very harsh reviewer of my life might say I was yanking a bit. Anyway, I felt something give in my lower back, along with a sudden wash of pain in that area. I released immediately, of course, but it hurt and it kept hurting, enough that I had to sit out most of the rest of the class. I took ibuprofen and drank lots of water and skipped the gym on Thursday, and now, though I can feel it a bit when I first wake up, it seems it's going to be just fine. I went back to yoga on Friday, and despite all my paranoia and going really easy on forward folds, etc, it never twinged once.
I'm so, so glad this seems to have been a warning shot across the bow, and not that sudden event that leaves a person crippled for life or something. Did you know that 80% of adult Americans have lower back pain?? Well, I don't, despite being tall and thin, and despite sitting in an office chair for 10+ hours a day usually, and despite asking my spine to perform reasonably mighty things for me.
Oh, sigh. See that? I need to not take that for granted! Argh! My best guess for what happened this week is that a muscle was under too much tension, and the Golgi tendon organ made it release suddenly (that would explain the giving/lengthening sensation). I released as fast as I could, but not before the muscle got overstretched and some bones probably ground into each other in some nasty way. Whatever it is, I think I need to be more careful with myself. I had no warning -- nothing hurt before suddenly it really hurt. So it's not necessarily an easy proposition, finding the edge where something is interesting/challenging without being on the edge of injurious. I need to try though. I don't make my living this way, and I'm not going to be a circus performer, I do this for the joy of it -- which is going to be totally negated if I accidentally snap myself in two or even keep overstretching things.
That left adductor? Thanks for asking, it's feeling quite a bit better. Maybe I'll keep going easy on it for a while anyway. :-/
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Lower back
Date: 2008-03-01 09:47 pm (UTC)Nice pictures!
Re: Lower back
Date: 2008-03-01 11:43 pm (UTC)This little episode definitely Scared the Hell out of Me (tm).
I read back through your journal for a while... how're your piriformis, hamstring and left wrist doing?
Re: Lower back
Date: 2008-03-02 12:29 am (UTC)The piriformis is better. I can still feel it - it's sore, but *much* better. The hamstrings don't hurt at all anymore. But the sciatica is a bit of a bother still, so I have been avoiding forward bends for now. Left wrist: still hurts. Grr.
However, I have a physical therapy appointment on Tuesday. Although I feel much better, I want to know exactly what I can do to avoid this and to strengthen everything to help me avoid it.
I don't think I'll be doing any back-bendy sorts of things for a while though. That's the thumbtack pain just above and to the left of the top middle sacrum.