Fun with a Vertebra
Early this past November, I awoke one morning to find I was in a truly astounding amount of pain. As far as I could tell, I'd somehow sprained the muscles around my 2nd sacral vertebra. This is a very unlikely thing to happen while one is sleeping.
I could deal with the pain. I have pure methyl salicylate for emergencies when my nerve pain used to get out of hand. Methyl salicylate works great as a topical anesthetic. One or two drops of the stuff, and even severe nerve pain quiets quite a bit. I also used Tiger Balm, which I like for helping keep the muscles loose. Tiger Balm works well for me, but the various additives irritate the skin of some people.
Early December found me in about the same amount of pain as when I discovered the injury. But the pain had localized enough that I realized I had not just sprained my back. Nope, I had managed to slightly displace the 2nd sacral vertebra. This is a really major feat! The sacral vertebra are almost completely fused into the pelvic girdle. I had just enough "give" in the remaining cartilage that I had pushed the silly thing out of alignment.
Ok. Now I understood the problem. What to do? Well, I leaned forward with my forearms on my desk. Then I goggled myself by popping everything back into place in under 15 seconds. My first reaction was to say out loud, "Hey! I really do know what I'm doing!". I'd used some of the hatha yoga I'd spent 15 years learning. I have pretty strong muscles around my joints. Same reason I've also been able to shrug my shoulders back into place when I have dislocated them. Still, the whole thing just left me stunned for a couple days.
I could deal with the pain. I have pure methyl salicylate for emergencies when my nerve pain used to get out of hand. Methyl salicylate works great as a topical anesthetic. One or two drops of the stuff, and even severe nerve pain quiets quite a bit. I also used Tiger Balm, which I like for helping keep the muscles loose. Tiger Balm works well for me, but the various additives irritate the skin of some people.
Early December found me in about the same amount of pain as when I discovered the injury. But the pain had localized enough that I realized I had not just sprained my back. Nope, I had managed to slightly displace the 2nd sacral vertebra. This is a really major feat! The sacral vertebra are almost completely fused into the pelvic girdle. I had just enough "give" in the remaining cartilage that I had pushed the silly thing out of alignment.
Ok. Now I understood the problem. What to do? Well, I leaned forward with my forearms on my desk. Then I goggled myself by popping everything back into place in under 15 seconds. My first reaction was to say out loud, "Hey! I really do know what I'm doing!". I'd used some of the hatha yoga I'd spent 15 years learning. I have pretty strong muscles around my joints. Same reason I've also been able to shrug my shoulders back into place when I have dislocated them. Still, the whole thing just left me stunned for a couple days.