After a fantastic marathon photo-editing session for my spanking new art blog, I leaped off the bed to do something, and promptly pulled my lower back. Yeep. I was sitting weird all day and thought nothing of it, and then I jumped up out of bed like a startled cat! Spasms. Oww. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Will I never learn?
It’s not clear exactly whereby back injury is, other than it's on my right side. Not an area I usually have issues with. My back is keeping mum. When I lie with my knees up, and then move suddenly, I have to quickly straighten my right leg out like a piston to stop the spasm.
When I get out of bed, I grab my left knee and pull it up to my chest and then use that as a fulcrum to tilt self upright. My right leg is not a happy camper about being pulled to my chest like that. So I move like a mime, isolating muscle groups to keep the spasms at bay.
FWIW, It does not feel anything like sciatica. Not that I've ever had sciatica. I don’t feel any vertebrae out of line, but it is more tender on my right side right below my waist, not quite to the sacrum. I think it's a muscle strain, nothing more. But I am sure it will take its own time healing.
Oddly, standing upright does not hurt. I can’t tell exactly where the pain is, which is maddening, but it is right below my waist on my right side. I think I must’ve tweaked something. It doesn’t feel like my back is out of alignment. The only thing I can say is that it's a good thing I am limber, and good at isolating muscle groups. So I can control the spasms. But it is excruciating when I’m lying down and I have to roll over, or if I have to get up out of bed.
It sounds like it is the Quadratus lumborum, but more toward the bottom, where it joins the pelvis. Now that I can visualize it, it will make it much easier to heal. A stabilizer muscle. Like the psoas. Groan.
Positions to stretch that muscle are all comfortable, I like being on my hands and knees. Fetal position. All those muscle stretch poses is how I’m navigating movement through time and space right now. I make ridiculously dramatic tableau poses to do the simplest of things, but I am grateful for my strong thighs right now.
“The QL comes into play in the function and stability of your spine. It assists in forward-backward and side-to-side flexion and extension as well as assisting the diaphragm during inhalation. Sitting for prolonged periods of time affects the stabilizer muscles of the vertebrae, effectively shutting them off.”
Small mercies, at least it does not hurt to breathe. Could be worse.
See, I’ve been helping my cousin move a lot of heavy stuff lately. Real grunt work. I don’t recall pulling anything, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t. It also may mean that my body thought my back was in danger and went into spasm mode to protect my spine. Also I was probably dehydrated. It's a constant struggle to drink enough water.
I think I know what I did to set this avalanche off, I was getting out of my cousin's big monster truck and I slid down to ground without using the steps, and twisted my left ankle, stepping down wrong, thus jarring my spine. Meanwhile I was moving lots of boxes, then I was driving lots, so I must’ve put a strain on something. Then, I was sitting supine on the bed for a very long time without moving.
My left hip and femur did hurt somewhat yesterday, inexplicably, as if it couldn’t seat itself, but then, it stopped. I have an over-limber left hip and my femur can rotate out. I'm a bit double jointed. All those years on horseback.
At least it isn’t my psoas muscle. Then I would be right and truly phucked. Walking around upright feels OK, if I stand tall, should I attempt a walk? or rest?
Well, there’s some progress. I was able to haul my sorry carcass out of bed unassisted, so I must be healing. I’ve been using bungee cord style exercise bands to haul myself upright in order to crawl off of the bed. Once upright, I resort to sumo wrestler poses in order to get across the room.
I have added odd arabesque and lunges as well to my sumo wrestler pose to get around. Anything to avoid the pain when I have to bend over. It’s very dramatic in the kitchen when I have to get something out of the lower cabinets. Like making coffee. I look like I'm practicing kinky ballet in the kitchen.
I could use some tennis balls to massage the area. Dang, no tennis balls. OK, now I got balls. Tennis balls, that is. Green ones. I stole them from the neighbor's dog. I used them today to poke into the pressure spot. Relief. Snooze, ya loose.
I found some Voltaran gel from my old knee injury, and my TENS unit, but only one channel works. Anything is better than nothing. I'll use it until the battery dies. The heating pad feels lovely.
Voltran is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory topical NSAID (mainly for arthritis), it's no longer used, much but beggars can’t be…. This Voltaren is similar to BenGay. Didn’t think it was working, but I do feel a lot better now.
August 16. Well, the end is in sight. Perhaps my rear end. Not. This is the first day that I’ve been able to get out of bed without doing odd sideways serpent crunchies. I’m not 100% healed but what a radical difference from yesterday, and the day before, and so on stretching back to when I first posted this note August 9. So basically, 10 days in, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m still using my elastic exercise bands as bungee cord handles to spring outta bed since that seems to be my most vulnerable position. I am trying to gird my loins, ironically that’s part of the muscle group name, loins. there must be some sort of cosmic joke embedded in that definition. Roar!
Meanwhile life goes on. In order to go to Lucky's I really had to gird my loins. It wasn’t too bad driving sitting upright and if I keep my most excellent posture, that is, walking tall, it doesn’t spasm.
As soon as I got back from the store, I took another generic Flexeril. Didn’t dare do it beforehand and try to drive. I can’t bear to take it three times a day. Once every 24 hours is about all I can handle. I am so much better now than I was earlier today. I think a lack of magnesium and potassium is playing a role here because I was dehydrated, and suddenly bananas smell good.
No, I did not stay flat for the entire duration, I had three necessary outings (2 were jobs) which I’m sure set me back to the protozoan age. I was in agony again—especially while driving long distance to Forest Knolls to see Sam. However, I did get some quality writing time in. See The Gallo Girl redux: My Aunt Jane. But Searching for Trevor Yeats got me thrown in Facebook jail again for spam.
Laundry yesterday was a gymnastic feat, avoiding using my psoas, etc. I could not lift the laundry basket off the floor. Going up the stairs, I humped the basket up each step, but when I got to the top of the landing, I still couldn’t pick up the fucking basket, so I took off my shirt, slipped it through the handle and dragged it along like a good dog.
I must admit, when things hurt deep inside, you get incredibly inventive on how to work around those physical limitations, I call them roadblocks. Now, to begin core stretches and strengthening. Suggestions?
Thank you all my friends for all your advice and input, Robin for sending me and that super CBD salve—which gives me the munchies. See Stoned off my ass for the duration and Serendipity 2.0, and Sneezing, such exquisite pain... (It took me a good month to heal from this fiasco.)
No comments:
Post a Comment