While it seems I am always looking for good excuses not to do housework, I could really do without this one... which I did forget to include when I talked about my skills in Avoidance.

It's my back. It could be a million times worse, but it's so bloody frustrating. It's been an issue since my early 20s, and I have no idea what I ever did to it. I clearly remember trying to wash up one time, and my back was giving me such grief, I stood there with tears streaming down my face. Small wonder I tend to put off the washing up. Once, when I worked as a doctor's receptionist, I was sitting in an office chair, and swivelled and bent forward to reach something, and was all but paralysed in that position.

After several years of trying physios and osteopaths, I found that chiropractic treatment - on a monthly maintenance basis - has been my saviour. It has kept me on a pretty even keel, and has allowed me to do most things. If I aggravate it at some point, the chiro can usually get me back on track. It might be costing a fortune, but if I have relatively pain free movement (and as a bonus, I rarely get migraine type headaches anymore), then it is worth it.

My first Trainer session last week aggravated it , and my theory was that trying the leg presses was enough to fire something up. We worked around it the next two sessions, and I was happy to get back to my chiro (who had been away on holidays) yesterday. It was gradually improving anyway, and after the adjustments I felt even better. And he confirmed that the training was a good thing (strengthening my muscles, particularly my abdomen, could only help.) He just outlined what I should avoid.

So yesterday arvo I was all 'yee ha', and I got out there and mowed the yard, as I have mentioned. (It did BADLY need doing - it wasn't just a convenient avoidance excuse. Marc was busy with all the bike mechanic-ish stuff last Friday (the public holiday), and then we did our 2 days of riding, so he didn't have time to do it, and it had gotten ridiculous. )

But I think maybe the mowing has done something to my back - perhaps just the starting of it (pulling the cord thingy...) Who knows. (Well actually maybe I do know. He said to avoid bending/curling where you put pressure on your lumbar region, and what else are you doing when you bend down to pull the starter cord on the mower, and snap it back...)

I woke up this morning ok.. but as I started moving around, it's playing up, dammit. Twingeing.. grabbing... worse than it was last week. It hurts all the time - not just in certain positions.

I've just cancelled out of the training session I was going to do at 1.00. I had planned to ride my bike there, but I don't even feel like doing that. It was an effort to collect the garbage and recycling and put the bins out. It's a pretty good reason not to vacuum or the like, but .. really... right now, I'd give anything to feel physically capable of shoving a vacuum cleaner or mop around. Really!

Labels: aarrrgghhh