Saturday, September 09, 2006

Odds and Ends ~ 16


I hurt my back last week. It's hard not to be crabby when you hurt, isn't it? My back has been iffy for years. Seriously; my mom was taking me to chiropractors and osteopaths when I was in college.

I think it all started when Chubby Checker sang The Peppermint Twist - and I locked myself in my room one Saturday until I had mastered the peculiar movements necessary to do that dance. I not only learned to do it, I did it in double time. It's a wonder that my whole torso didn't come unhinged! Maybe it did? But ever since then, I have had to be careful with lifting - or being careful not to lift - especially if I twisted my body while lifting. That will knock it out of whack every time. The problem is, I have to keep reminding myself that I am not Superwoman, and apparently, I try to be.

On Thursday, I picked up our phone book which is about 3" thick, and decided it might be better to sit down while looking up a number. I backed up to my office chair and sat down, but with more force than I intended. Immediately, there was a pain across the small of my back and below the waistline that was paralyzing. I won't share with you the first words out of my mouth....but you can imagine...can't you? For the next 2 days I took N-saids, plus Tylenol, and ice packs. Then today, I went out for a bit of air and sunshine. I took my pruners outside, where there lives a forsythia that is in danger of overtaking the whole left side of the deck. I cut and cut and cut, and then I sat down on a step to cut some of the lower hanging limbs.

Funny thing happened when I leaned over to the right to cut a branch - my lower back popped like a batch of microwave popcorn. Like magic, I felt a "loosening" of the muscles back there and since then the pain has been considerably less than it was. The moral to the story? When your back is out - only hard work will set it to rights. (I know you didn't want to hear that......LOL)

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Want to sign a petition or share your two cents worth concerning Pluto? Go here; there is a link on the page to the petition:

http://www.earthsky.org/


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War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves.

Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)

15 comments:

srp said...

I've had that too and you're right, the only thing that helped that horrid back pain was to force myself to really work. Then it loosened up.

Eddie said...

Judy,
Now, after reading your blog I have the urge to sing and dance "the pepperment twist"... comon baby!

Karen said...

Judy, I'm sorry your back isn't feeling well. Hopefully you'll be back doing the Twist in no time. I'm sure your job is tough on a back, isn't it?

Michele sent me here today. I snuck in behind you. Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Hello Judy ~~ I am so glad your back came good, as they give us lots of pain at times. I was interested to hear that you had met Anne Graham. A lot of the things she said were very true.
Take care of that back and have a good week my friend. Cheers, Merle.

Anonymous said...

Really glad to hear your back bounced back. It's not fun to be hurting with back pain.
So now you know proper body mechanics, right? (smile)

utenzi said...

Michele sent me over this time, Judy. Hi!

I'm almost always up late so my 3am posts weren't unusual, Judy. Sleep is something that I only seem to be able to do in small doses.

I sympathize with you regarding your back pain. I have a spinal curvature that often causes me to have painful episodes but I am lucky in that it's way up near the shoulders. Lower back problems are a lot more dibilitating. So I know how much it hurts, Judy. It's a damn shame there's only so much that medicine can do about that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Judy! Michele sent me. I am sorry to hear about your back, but you're mostly correct. I wouldn't say HARD work will fix it, but ice and mild movement are definately the key. Too many people hurt their backs and then don't move for a week and wonder why their muscles have cemented into a painful contortion...

Oh, and a good massage therapist can help immensely :-)

I must say, I would love to have you teach me the PT!

Susie said...

Glad your back snapped back into place. You're right that activity usually makes it feel better, even if you have to push yourself to do it.
:-)

Anonymous said...

Judy You should hang your shingle that says "Miracle Back Pain Cure" and charge for the use of your clippers...

Carolyn said...

You curethed yourselfeth! LOL! Can you do a video and show us that right lean move?

Yes, I'll petition for Pluto!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

It's like you gave yourself an "adjustment"....Good For You, Judy!

Anonymous said...

Stay healthy and dig out some of those old back exercises that the chiropractor gave you for stretching and strengthing (I bet they gave you a number of them because all of those I have gone to over the years, loved to hand them out.)

Beverly said...

I had a terrible stiff neck once and had an appointment with my chiropractor after school. One of my students tripped over my foot on the way out of the classroom. I looked quickly to see if she was all right and popped my neck right back into place.

Shephard said...

Maybe the forsythia has magical properties you're not aware of. It's a shame we don't all have forsythia's to test this on. lol

Glad you're feeling better!
~S

Anonymous said...

Oh wow! A petition! What a fabulous link! Can you tell I'm excited?!?!

I hope your back is still feeling better. Hard work cures everything. But you're right. Nobody wants to hear that. Or believe it anyway. Ha!