and gentle exercise

[incandescens]

So my back was feeling bad enough this morning that I ended up taking it to the doctor.

Her verdict was that it was most likely muscle sprain/strain. (She prodded my vertebrae and noted no pain from those.) She also said that the way I got up from my chair when coming over after being called was pretty much textbook.

Treatment: no convenient instant-fix, unfortunately. Painkillers (ibuprofen and paracetamol), deep heat (ointment or patch), and gentle exercise.

I've taken the paracetamol and currently have a heat patch on my back, and I have to say that it does feel better. Not fixed yet, but better. And there's the psychological aspect that now when I bend over and it hurts, I can tell myself that I'm gently stretching it and it will improve, rather than worrying that I'm going to make it worse.

Still wish I hadn't done whatever I did to it, though.

---

The characteristic of Pains and Pleasures is that they are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality. Thus if you had been trying to damn your man by the Romantic method — by making him a kind of Childe Harold or Werther submerged in self-pity for imaginary distresses — you would try to protect him at all costs from any real pain; because, of course, five minutes' genuine toothache would reveal the romantic sorrows for the nonsense they were and unmask your whole stratagem.

-- The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Poor back. I hope it gets better soon with the treatment.

[incandescens]

Thanks! It is feeling a bit better now than it was this morning.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Well, at least a week off work will provide relief from the tension and screen-staring that tends to make muscles spasm in the first place?

Otherwise I am a firm believer in painkillers and heat, but prefer the all-over effects of hot water bottles or microwavable beanbags.

[incandescens]

Right. A week off work should definitely help with relief from tension and computer-staring.

I do have plans to investigate hot water bottles and same, but the chemist was on the way back from the doctor, and they had convenient deep heat patches.

Thanks!

[mkellis.livejournal.com]

Sorry your back's giving you troubles. Mine has too (on and off for something like six months now), to the point where I had to see a doctor about it. The most unfortunate part was an X-Ray where they pointed out potential degeneration in one of the discs in my lower back. You may want to get that checked out if it doesn't really improve.

Better posture, anti-inflammatories, and more exercise all definitely seem to help.

[incandescens]

Thanks. I will be crossing my fingers that mine doesn't go that far.

At the moment I just want to get to a stage where I don't need to lean on something to get up or sit down most of the time.