My back has been stiff and sore for a few weeks now. I figured it was from the combination of awkward positions I was in while doing various projects around the house, violent unexpected twisting when my dog lunges suddenly during walks and maybe even swimming butterfly.
I’m not sure but am trying to apply Occam’s Razor reasoning- ie. what changed most recently that might have precipitated the pain?
I’ve been working around it, taking Advil and modifying my workouts to go about my regular activities as much as I can.
Until yesterday morning when after brushing my teeth, I had lightning bolts of pain shoot down my back, glute and hamstring that almost knocked me to the floor.
I was barely able to make it back to bed due to the pain. Once in bed, I was in agony (10 out of 10). I couldn’t roll over, adjust my body, get up or down or find any position that provided relief.
I’ve been in bed and taking the recommended maximum dosage of Advil every 4 hours since then. I only get out of bed to use the bathroom, feed the dogs, eat and take medicine.
It’s unbelievable how debilitating this has been.
I suspect I have a pinched nerve or slipped disk given the symptoms.
F**k me.
Doing my normal activities are out of the question. I have to psych myself up to slide off the bed than push myself up to standing to go to the bathroom. I cannot stand for more than a few minutes. Sitting is too painful. When walking, I shuffle by putting weight on my cane and any nearby table, wall or counter.
Today was slightly better than yesterday. I’ve had moments in bed when the pain drops to a steady dull ache (5/10). I am able to stand a little longer and am currently forcing myself to sit up in a chair because I cannot lay in bed 100% of the time.
I’m familiar with back aches. I had them a lot when I lifted weights. This is different.
I’m familiar with my poor wife’s back issues – sciatic pain, herniated disks, spinal stenosis and her multiple treatments and two surgeries that offered some relief but never enabled her to live a pain free life without periodic debilitating flare-ups.
I don’t have her history. I suspect with rest that I’ll eventually get back to normal.
Once I do I am changing some things.
- No more butterfly. Even if that’s not the cause, it has to have some effect because of the arching and sometimes hyperextension involved. The risk of injury is not worth the reward of learning a new stroke.
- I think it’s time to reduce my workout volumes. It’s been taking longer to complete my workouts. I’ve been resting longer, going slower, starting later, and rarely feel up to going for all out intensity. Perhaps this is another aging “cliff” and a signal for me to go easier.
- I’m going to stop waking up super early with an alarm and allow myself to fall back into a more normal sleep schedule. Going to bed at sundown and waking in the wee hours of the morning has gotten too extreme, even for me. I’ve always been an early riser and for decades didn’t use an alarm. I expect I will naturally adapt to this fairly easily.
The thing is, I enjoy my life and the extremeness of it. I like working out hard and long (excessively). I like waking early, being in the silence and getting halfway through my day by the time many people wake up. I like challenging myself mentally and physically. I’ve grown quite accustomed to the social isolation that’s been exacerbated by my current routines.
Too bad.
Clearly some things have to change.
And, I will admit that normalizing my schedule and some of my routines will be good for me. Being out of sync with the rest of society is not the optimal way to live. If anything, it makes normal social interactions nearly impossible to maintain.
I have a predisposition of falling into routines, pursuing them to extremes and rigidly (obsessively?) adhering to them. It’s in my nature.
It’s the reason for 90% of my physical injuries in my adult life. Almost all can be traced to overuse, overdoing it and not listening to what my body is telling me.
It’s also the reason for 90% of my successes in life. It’s why I was able to have a successful career in tech sales, a long happy marriage and develop resilience to handle many challenges that life has thrown at me.
So, I won’t stop doing everything that has worked for me or that I enjoy doing. But I will reflect and modify some of these things.
It’s time for me to start another new chapter. I’ve done this before and undoubtedly will again in the future. Usually it’s because I’m forced by unpleasant circumstances to stop, reelect and make changes.
It’s the same this time.
If I wasn’t taken down by this injury, I would keep grinding along doing what Ive been doing for years. Instead, this is a wake up call for me to turn the page.
Only time will tell how this next chapter will be written.