Public Service Announcement
katarik's father is made of win and awesome.
I've been having some pretty serious lower back pain since July. I'd been seeing a chiropractor two to three times a week for two months. There were some improvements, but the pain never disappeared, even when I was wearing the back brace. Sometimes it got so bad I couldn't stand up straight. The last week or so, my back had gotten really bad again: I couldn't stand up straight, couldn't sleep, etc. I was taking double dosages of Aleve, Tylenol, and prescription-strength Ibuprofen, and I was still in severe pain.
Yesterday, I took katarik home, and her father, who's a physical therapist, worked on my back. He says it appears to be a problem with the facet joints at L4 and L5 as well as a lot of tension in the hip flexor. He showed me several stretches to do to help gap the joints and alleviate the pain. It was still hurting some as I was driving home, but when I got back to Tuscaloosa, the pain from the joints was gone. There was still some muscle soreness, but that's because my muscles have been overcompensating to protect the joints.
And I'm still not hurting again today. It's been so long since I wasn't in pain that I didn't realize how much the constant pain was affecting me. The exercises katarik's father taught me are really helping. Today I had to give two presentations for classes, standing up, which generally makes my back hurt worse. I did an exercise with shifting the weight back and forth from my right side to the left, and I was able to stand up through both presentations without the excruciating pain. I had no idea how much difference such a small thing could make.
This is really amazing!
Sara
I've been having some pretty serious lower back pain since July. I'd been seeing a chiropractor two to three times a week for two months. There were some improvements, but the pain never disappeared, even when I was wearing the back brace. Sometimes it got so bad I couldn't stand up straight. The last week or so, my back had gotten really bad again: I couldn't stand up straight, couldn't sleep, etc. I was taking double dosages of Aleve, Tylenol, and prescription-strength Ibuprofen, and I was still in severe pain.
Yesterday, I took katarik home, and her father, who's a physical therapist, worked on my back. He says it appears to be a problem with the facet joints at L4 and L5 as well as a lot of tension in the hip flexor. He showed me several stretches to do to help gap the joints and alleviate the pain. It was still hurting some as I was driving home, but when I got back to Tuscaloosa, the pain from the joints was gone. There was still some muscle soreness, but that's because my muscles have been overcompensating to protect the joints.
And I'm still not hurting again today. It's been so long since I wasn't in pain that I didn't realize how much the constant pain was affecting me. The exercises katarik's father taught me are really helping. Today I had to give two presentations for classes, standing up, which generally makes my back hurt worse. I did an exercise with shifting the weight back and forth from my right side to the left, and I was able to stand up through both presentations without the excruciating pain. I had no idea how much difference such a small thing could make.
This is really amazing!
Sara