"So take this broken offering and make me whole,
Set my feet upon the road that leads me home,
let me walk as one fixed upon the goal,
even though I've got a thousand miles to go..."

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Back Pain

While I think the strength training routine I adopted back in October has a lot of benefits, it also came with a side of back pain. For the past few months, I've had nagging muscle soreness is my mid- to upper-back, and it finally started curtailing my activity a bit. I can't, for example, do "supermans" without big-time pain (they used to feel good), not can I do "V-ups" and similar exercises that require me to lift my shoulders and legs at the same time.

At the suggestion of a friend who is a physical therapist, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and was disappointed that her solution was a prescription for muscle relaxants. I asked her about alternative therapies but she insisted I take two of these per day for the next two weeks, then see her again.

So now I've added something new to my days: Laurie-brand back rehab. One muscle relaxant, followed by a series of yoga-like stretches; a hot, wet towel on the back; and a focused massage, all right before bed time. That way, I don't really feel any drowsiness that could go along with the medicine and I'm not relying on drugs to fix what I don't really think they can fix.

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