(I wanted to write a post about this before, but my host seemingly deleted some files for this blog out of the blue, and when I finally had the opportunity to fix them, it was a little too late too blog. So here it comes now.)
I should probably have griped about this during the week-end, since it was at that time that things were the hardest for me; I suppose I was too busy actually taking care of myself to find any desire to blog. What amazes me is my ability to go through strenuous activity and get out of it unscathed and perfectly healthy, and then one week later I pick up some greasy paper on the ground and hurt my back in the process. Really, I don’t understand. The result was there, though: there was no way I could do squats and generally lift anything heavier than a small pan not filled with water, because I became the ‘happy’ owner of a lumbago.
At least my positive reaction was: “Oh, it’s only in the muscles, so it doesn’t mean that my vertebrae are all broken? That’s good news!”
The bad news, of course, being that every exercise save from walking (not too fast) was out of the window. A couple of helpful people on 3FC suggested swimming, which was an idea I loved; alas, it wouldn’t be very nice from me to spread my foot fungus in the city pool. I can probably thank one of my nice neighbours from last year, for having left that in our shared bathroom for 13 people. Bummer.
Which brings me to this… I’m certainly not an intense exerciser. A lot of what I do actually involves everyday actions, such as always taking the stairs instead of the elevator to go to the fourth floor where I live. Or biking to wherever I go, including work, which is a good 10 kms away or perhaps more. This said, I also like lifting weights, and I especially wanted to run on Sunday. Finding myself stuck in my apartment, unable to properly move, was extremely frustrating. (Keep also in mind that with my Factor V problem, I’ve been made even more aware of the necessity to “keep moving on a regular basis” to avoid clotting as much as possible.)
If you had told me, ten years ago, that I would actually felt bummed, frustrated and almost angry at having an official reason to skip the gym, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Now I do
Fortunately, the pain is subsiding, I can walk normally again, and in a few days, it will probably be gone for good. It’s just so annoying, even if I know I wouldn’t have run a marathon this week, nor gone on anything very intense. I especially miss lifting, to be honest, and when the doctor tells you “well, just lift with the arms, maybe?”, you feel like snickering a little. I don’t know what kind of lifting doctors do, but as far as I’m concerned in terms of personal experience, it’s hard even on a machine to NOT use any of the back muscles, if only to maintain proper balance and form. Let’s not even talk about free weights.
On a totally unrelated side note, it’s 7:30 am and it’s snowing here. When the official date for Spring is only but two days away. Beats me.
March 19th, 2008 at 13:01
hang in there.
for me it was grabbing the DRYCLEANING from the young hot drycleaner dude.
this 38 year old bod was tweaked the wrong way and I was out of commission.
ahhh the things I have to look forward to.
M.
March 21st, 2008 at 08:09
But… but… we’re not even that old yet! And we’re fit and healthy!
Hm, I guess I find these things even more unfair than the usual “I gain weight while she can eat whatever she wants”, hehe.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:41
Do you practice injury prevention through stretching? Maybe some yoga in the mornings or 15minutes of warming up and stretching to begin the day would prevent things like this from happening.
A buddy that I train with was recently recovering from a bad pain in his legs from the leg press. After he thought that he was recovered, he picked up a stick in his yard the wrong way and ended up hurting himself again.
Not sure how that relates, but maybe if he would have stretched then that would have prevented him from hurting his self.
Good luck
-Travis