OH SH.....My Back is Jacked!

Those were the first words I uttered to myself this morning when I woke up and realized I could not move without an immense amount of pain. I noticed the first signs last night when I toweled myself off after a shower and went to put my pajama pants on and had trouble raising my leg to go into the pant leg. The tightness I felt in my lower back was not unfamiliar to me, however this time it felt different. So what did I do? I ignored it, thinking it would just magically disappear overnight during a night of restful sleep. That was a wonderful fantasy.

I managed to get some sleep but finding a restful position was very difficult. I noted lying on my right side with a pillow between my legs allowed the pain to subside enough for me to not moan and close my eyes to slumber. When it came time to shift my body that was when I really noticed I was fairly immobile. This was not good I thought, and fear momentarily came over me. Thoughts of "how am I going to get out of bed" crawled throughout my brain until it came time for me to have to go to the bathroom and I really had to move. It took a while and I felt like I was 90 years old and full of arthritis. "Holy CRAP this just so sucks" took over my thoughts and my husband proceeded to help me get out of bed so I could get to the toilet. A few minutes later I was slowly stacking my vertebrae to stand up straight and then to shuffle my feet because I could not lift them to takes steps toward the bathroom. The effort it took to sit and raise from the commode made me wish I used a depends....UGH. Since my mountain bike accident about 8 yrs ago, I haven't felt quite like this, so I was really taken by surprise by this spastic behavior in my lower back and right hip. "What the hell did I do?" Yesterday I did nothing out of the ordinary really that would have triggered a spasm and discomfort like this. It just happened. Sometimes this just happens. I added it to the "effects of aging" category, it made me feel better...ha.

I then proceeded to pick my own brain to begin to "heal thyself" and not panic. Thank goodness it is Sunday today and I have no work and no commitments, this couldn't have been more convenient (looking at it positively). I remembered I still had one 600mg Ibuprofen left in the medicine cabinet and I needed to get some ice to settle the inflammation in my back to feel better. I also knew I couldn't lay down or sit for long periods or my back would seize up. What I needed to do was just keep moving and have the blood flowing throughout my muscles, and get the pelvis and spine lubricated. So I shuffled around until my grandma shuffle turned into a slow walk.

I kept MOVING....Sounds counter-intuitive right? WRONG - it is the best thing to do when your back seizes up. It will be a struggle but KEEP MOVING....Nothing crazy just walking around. Once I felt somewhat "lubed" up I slowly lowered myself on to the rug over the hard wood floor into a supine position (that's face up) with my feet to floor and began to slowly stretch. I brought one knee in at a time (keeping my pelvis in a neutral position - tailbone down) and then gently brought the knee in toward my chest while exhaling and switched back and forth a couple of times. I then rolled over to the side to help myself back up to a standing position (brought back thoughts of pregnancy) and began to walk around doing little things around the house.

This is everything I tell my clients to do when they have this very thing happen.

And guess what? It actually works....

Obviously right now I am sitting and blogging so...Excuse me - I need to break from sitting, put my ice pack back in the freezer and walk around some more.

OK - I am back now with my ice pack against my back sitting just long enough to finish up this blog and get my back iced for 20 minutes. I will continue to do this throughout the day and I am thinking I should be OK by this evening to make a 6PM meeting I have to attend. I know I will be good for work tomorrow...the only thing I have to scrap today is going to the gym....BUMMER.......