Back blogging, day one
Why is it so hard to keep one's body working? For pity's sake.
Today was my annual exam. No big deal. Except that now that I'm over 40, the invasive exams reduce and the mammograms increase. I had thought that the mammograms were going to be every other year, but that's the not the way of the insurance. They want one every year. If their reasoning is to increase my chances of surviving possible breast cancer, given that a very close friend had a year of fighting it and two sorority sisters have lost their battle with it, I suppose I can endure the pain for a day or two. And yes, people with a smaller physique in that area experience lots of bruising for a few days. Life is not fair.
On the other hand, I have enjoyed for most of my life being a thin person. Society likes thin. I'll confess that I have enjoyed being thin. Since my back pain has escalated, I have gained about ten pounds, so I no longer view myself as thin. I am now comfortably into the normal range. However, I apparently still count as thin (as well as caucasion and female) when my osteoporosis risk is determined, and I have all of the risk factors. The preventive measures? Calcium and weight-bearing exercise, particularly weight lifting. I'm all for that, only I don't think I can with my back. And round and round we go.
So, not that I needed a reason beyond not being in pain during daily living, I feel like my decision to pursue pain management was probably a good one for a number of reasons. Because my appointment is not for several weeks, I'm going to see what I can do on my own in the meantime. I went to the library today and checked out a pile of books on caring for the back and back pain. I think I am going to try to read a little every day and blog about my discoveries. So here we go: day one.
Exercise
This morning I felt pretty good, although perhaps that is because I didn't sleep well at night. I only got a little over five hours of sleep. I need to find a way to not feel horrible if I sleep for seven hours. I went for what I think was a quickish-paced walk with Robin and then tried two different Fitness Blender workouts. Well, I tried one before that and almost immediately abandoned it, so it doesn't count. I discovered even doing the low-impact workouts that I cannot do much of what they recommend, like reaching the floor. I also could not just bend so that my torso was horizontal to the floor. I am basically immobile. Also, the low-impact versions didn't wear me out. Boo. That said, I did feel at least some better/stronger for several hours, so I'll try this again. I also checked out some back-friendly exercise videos from the library. More on that in the next few days.
Book:
I've Got Your Back:The Truth about Spine Surgery, Straight from a Surgeon by Nathaniel L. Tindel, M.D. and Tamar Haspel
Bottom line: Exercise is the best medicine (131-134, 138) (some people benefit from running even! (135)); however, pain is keeping me from exercising. Grr. Tindel does recommend specifically that one might try the book by Vijay Vad that I already own. Physical therapy programs tend to focus on hip, hamstring, and calf stretching; Williams' flexion exercises, which emphasize strengthening the abdominal muscles; McKenzie extension exercises, which work on the back muscles; core stabilization/strengthening programs; and dynamic stabilization training. Physical therapy is more effective when it is exercise (as opposed to modalities.)
Other things worth trying: (1) Modifying activity (but I'm assuming this does not include modifying to where you don't move or exercise); (2) stress management--I'm all for this, but I don't think it's the problem since I'm under much less stress in the summer and haven't seen pain reduction, but Tindel recommends The Mind-Body Prescription and Mind Over Back Pain by John Sarno. (3) Better sleep--again, not my problem since I seem to have worse pain on days that I have had enough sleep. (4)Weight loss--Smartbmicalculator.com says this is not a good idea for me as my current BMI (20.7) is optimal. Whatever. I could lose 5-6 pounds and be more optimal. Still, I don't think the extra pounds are causing the problem and losing them would probably not solve my physical pain other than that caused by wearing pants that no longer fit. (5) Smoking cessation--N/A. (6) Acupuncture--There's no conclusive evidence that this works and no reason why it sometimes seems to, at least short term; still, I've thought about this and am keeping the idea in my back pocket if the physiatrist doesn't help. (7) Drugs, including tricyclic antidepressants. (8) Spinal injections--don't seem to reliably work for pain other than nerve pain. I don't believe mine is nerve pain.
So that's Day One on the journey to feel better. Take-away: I want to exercise because it makes my feel better about life, and evidence seems to point towards exercise also making my body hurt less over the course of a lifetime, so I need to persevere to find a way to exercise.
Today was my annual exam. No big deal. Except that now that I'm over 40, the invasive exams reduce and the mammograms increase. I had thought that the mammograms were going to be every other year, but that's the not the way of the insurance. They want one every year. If their reasoning is to increase my chances of surviving possible breast cancer, given that a very close friend had a year of fighting it and two sorority sisters have lost their battle with it, I suppose I can endure the pain for a day or two. And yes, people with a smaller physique in that area experience lots of bruising for a few days. Life is not fair.
On the other hand, I have enjoyed for most of my life being a thin person. Society likes thin. I'll confess that I have enjoyed being thin. Since my back pain has escalated, I have gained about ten pounds, so I no longer view myself as thin. I am now comfortably into the normal range. However, I apparently still count as thin (as well as caucasion and female) when my osteoporosis risk is determined, and I have all of the risk factors. The preventive measures? Calcium and weight-bearing exercise, particularly weight lifting. I'm all for that, only I don't think I can with my back. And round and round we go.
So, not that I needed a reason beyond not being in pain during daily living, I feel like my decision to pursue pain management was probably a good one for a number of reasons. Because my appointment is not for several weeks, I'm going to see what I can do on my own in the meantime. I went to the library today and checked out a pile of books on caring for the back and back pain. I think I am going to try to read a little every day and blog about my discoveries. So here we go: day one.
Exercise
This morning I felt pretty good, although perhaps that is because I didn't sleep well at night. I only got a little over five hours of sleep. I need to find a way to not feel horrible if I sleep for seven hours. I went for what I think was a quickish-paced walk with Robin and then tried two different Fitness Blender workouts. Well, I tried one before that and almost immediately abandoned it, so it doesn't count. I discovered even doing the low-impact workouts that I cannot do much of what they recommend, like reaching the floor. I also could not just bend so that my torso was horizontal to the floor. I am basically immobile. Also, the low-impact versions didn't wear me out. Boo. That said, I did feel at least some better/stronger for several hours, so I'll try this again. I also checked out some back-friendly exercise videos from the library. More on that in the next few days.
Book:
I've Got Your Back:The Truth about Spine Surgery, Straight from a Surgeon by Nathaniel L. Tindel, M.D. and Tamar Haspel
Bottom line: Exercise is the best medicine (131-134, 138) (some people benefit from running even! (135)); however, pain is keeping me from exercising. Grr. Tindel does recommend specifically that one might try the book by Vijay Vad that I already own. Physical therapy programs tend to focus on hip, hamstring, and calf stretching; Williams' flexion exercises, which emphasize strengthening the abdominal muscles; McKenzie extension exercises, which work on the back muscles; core stabilization/strengthening programs; and dynamic stabilization training. Physical therapy is more effective when it is exercise (as opposed to modalities.)
Other things worth trying: (1) Modifying activity (but I'm assuming this does not include modifying to where you don't move or exercise); (2) stress management--I'm all for this, but I don't think it's the problem since I'm under much less stress in the summer and haven't seen pain reduction, but Tindel recommends The Mind-Body Prescription and Mind Over Back Pain by John Sarno. (3) Better sleep--again, not my problem since I seem to have worse pain on days that I have had enough sleep. (4)Weight loss--Smartbmicalculator.com says this is not a good idea for me as my current BMI (20.7) is optimal. Whatever. I could lose 5-6 pounds and be more optimal. Still, I don't think the extra pounds are causing the problem and losing them would probably not solve my physical pain other than that caused by wearing pants that no longer fit. (5) Smoking cessation--N/A. (6) Acupuncture--There's no conclusive evidence that this works and no reason why it sometimes seems to, at least short term; still, I've thought about this and am keeping the idea in my back pocket if the physiatrist doesn't help. (7) Drugs, including tricyclic antidepressants. (8) Spinal injections--don't seem to reliably work for pain other than nerve pain. I don't believe mine is nerve pain.
So that's Day One on the journey to feel better. Take-away: I want to exercise because it makes my feel better about life, and evidence seems to point towards exercise also making my body hurt less over the course of a lifetime, so I need to persevere to find a way to exercise.