Yesterday I didn't mention my back at all. I have been having pain for about 8 months now in my lower back. I've been seeing a chiropractor for 5 of those 8 months. I thought that was the answer- x-rays showed my neck was off, slight curve in my lower back, and hips off. Well, all that is much straighter, my alignments are holding, and my strength is up. Good news right? Well, the pain hasn't changed, and in fact is has gotten worse. It almost feels like more stiffness than pain. For those who know medical terms, it is at my L5 and my illiosacral joint is getting adjusted. One theory is that I possible strained a ligament, meaning I over stretched. It hurts the most when I go from sitting to standing, and standing to sitting. If I don't have support behind my back when I sit, I really have a hard time standing. I have rotated my mattress, taken off my mattress pillow topper, and I'm taking a multi-vitamin and omega 3 supplements and drinking anti-oxidant Acai juice. Some hamstring, IT-band, piriformis, and hip opener stretches seem to help for a moment or two. It seems as if I am stiff when I work out, but even stiffer when I don't, so I've continued to work out as much as I want to. Well, that lead to the "hard thing to do"...I'm going to tone it way down. I am banning myself from my weight class for a month and limit my cardio to light walking or elipitcal to get my blood flowing. In my Yoga class I teach I am going to take the lower options. I'm also going to talk to a P.T friend next week and see if she has any more suggestions or if I need to give in and take this to a doctor. My stubborn exercise obsessive head has been winning this ridiculous battle for months, time to listen to my body and slow down so it can heal. There will be time to be fit when my body is not in pain. On a spiritual note, patience is all that comes to mind when I've prayed about this. Kind of like I've been getting the answer- "you know what to do", all along. I'm posting this story so that maybe I will hold myself accountable to this decision. Surely I can turn the will power to run 50 minutes in to will power to take it easy. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
Gosh, good luck with that! I know I'd have trouble too. :) I hope your back starts behaving itself soon! Hopefully this will do the trick.
I am a witness, she has tried to slow down. But there's some irony to one post about running farther and longer than she ever has before and now a post about taking it easy. That's Tamara. (And the photo's awesome too Tamara!)
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