Ouch! The Back Strikes the Empire

“Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896 – 1940, from Tender is the Night.)

Last Wednesday, I threw my back out again at work. Every eight months or so, my spine decides to straighten itself out. As you can imagine it’s quite painful. I can barely walk when it hits full-on, but at least I do get warnings from the nerve a few minutes before it decides to worsen and I take measures right away to alleviate my suffering. Sometimes, all that is required a good stretch, which I do every day as part of a normal exercise routine, be it yoga or simply pre-workout warm-ups. Flexibility is crucial. As boxing coach once told me, “You can’t fight when you’re tight”, and I truly believe that if one stretches well, he or she can do most anything and remain pain free.

This isn’t always the case, however. It may be the stretching itself that contributes most to the problem. I’ve discovered that once injured and healed enough times, that the stretching itself can induce the ‘twinges’. If I become afraid to stretch, when what comes next? A former girl friend of mine dislocated a hip while stretching. Ouch! (I dislocated a checking account while dating her. Equally painful, I assure you.)

This occasional yet ever-so-painful back problem started some seven or eight years ago, if I remember correctly. I thought the first time I hurt it that it was because, of course, that I didn’t stretch. Here is a good piece of advice: do not self-diagnose whenever possible. In my case, I became totally convinced after doing much research that my back issue was from my sciatica, and caused by tight hamstrings and glutes. This was surprising to me since I had always been very diligent in keeping them as loose as possible. I come to find out now that it may be due to a combination of high stress and over tightened lat muscles. The lat muscles pull on the hips and this is throwing my tailbone out of alignment just enough to set off the nerve and straighten out my spine.

My normal recovery time is four to six days. In past times, I would strap on my OSHA regulation back brace, imbibe copious amounts of non-drowsy pain killers (usually Alleve), and do my best to continue working through the day. I would take long breaks to bend myself back into a correct posture, but that only helped for a few minutes. That strategy really never works, but the tough-guy in me couldn’t wimp out in front of the rest my crew. I’m glad I didn’t try it this time around.

So, on Wednesday morning at 10:00 am, when the pain hit for the first time, I quit working and headed straight for home. Sitting in a car when the nerve decides to flair up is probably the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. Even when my back is in good order and pain-free I need to stuff a rolled-up towel in between the small of my back above the right hip and the car seating. That prevents whatever it is that begins to shift from shifting further. I sought out a massage therapist that evening and within a few minutes was walking and sitting without any pain at all. I went back to her again on Friday night and she worked out a little more of the tightness in my upper back.

It’s a week since the first sign of trouble and I still am having some pain, but I’m moving around just fine, working, and hitting the gym as usual, though not with the same ferocity as before. I’ve been through this cycle of pain and uncertainty every year for the last seven years and I think I’ll survive. It’s just really aggravating. The worst part is how it occupies the mind and distracts one from the normal routine. I have to look for a better way to handle this next time it occurs. I get completely flustered when my expected schedule doesn't work, and that stress just makes the whole lumbar debacle that much more painful.

I am the lucky one in the family as far as back problems go. My brother, Mike, has back problems I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (even if I were to have an enemy.) The poor guy has four ruptured discs. I’m counting my blessings in comparison to that! Fortunately, his job (computer geek extraordinaire) doesn’t demand the sort of heavy maneuvering or dexterity that mine often requires.

“It's odd that you can get so anesthetized by your own pain or your own problem that you don't quite fully share the hell of someone close to you.” (Lady Bird Johnson)