Dude, why are you walking funny?

[drwex]

Enough folk have asked that I figured I'd write it up. Sadly, it's not particularly fun or interesting.


I've always had a bad back. I have scoliosis. My spine is somewhat curved, and my hips are off in all three axes. The most visible manifestation of this is that I don't appear to be standing straight even when I am (my spine pushes my torso forward) and one leg appears slightly longer than the other though usually only massage therapists and chiropractors notice this when they're trying to get me to 'lie straight'.

It wasn't diagnosed until I was 17 years old, by which time it was far too late to do anything. A few years ago I saw a specialist who said that my curvature was "an 18" on her 0-100 scale, and that for anything under 20 in an adult there's really nothing that can be done.

So my back and hips are always in the 'wrong' position and under pressure. Compound this with the fact that I'm slightly overweight and seriously out of shape and my core muscles sometimes don't have the strength to deal. They react by (to use a technical term) freaking out and going into major spasm. Usually this doesn't happen more than once or twice a year and it has been several years since I had a serious attack. Sometimes the attack happens when I've overstrained things, or sat in a bad chair for too long or whatever. Somtimes it just happens.

About a week ago I did... I dunno, something? I think it might have been while I was playing with the kids. Anyway, I woke up in some pain, and did the usual hot shower + stretching to try and loosen things up. It went from bad to worse to REALLY F'ING OW THIS COULD STOP NOW over the course of 48 hours. I started ramping up the Advil but switched to Naprosyn because my stomach tolerates that better. Still no help.

Saturday morning I went for a Flexoril, which made me a little loopy and I passed out for a 3.5 hour nap. Woke up feeling MUCH better. Then I did a couple stupid things, like staying out too late at a party Saturday night because I was having fun and then had a little recreational exercise. *ahem* If I say it was worth it, will you believe me?

Since then it's been slowly healing. I'm still taking 2xNap, twice a day. I managed to tolerate being in the car for half an hour Monday, though I didn't much like it.

The right long-term answer is to stop being a fat lazy sedentary sod. I'll get right on that.

Comments

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I have no formal training, but I'm actually quite a good yoga teacher if you're interested (when you can move again, that is). I taught formlesspassion and kelsboston and when kelsboston started taking "real" classes they were apparently under the impression that she had been trained by a professional. Woot! Anyway, it's not PT, but if it seems like it would be helpful to you, we could potentially arrange something.

(Formal yoga classes, according to srl, are pro-domination made affordable for the masses)

Maybe

[drwex]

Yoga is one of those things that's interesting for its physical aspects, but often comes wrapped in too many layers of woo-woo for me. See Rowan's note about 'cargo-cult meditation'.

I'm unclear on the benefits, though. If I was seriously going to entertain the notion of building core strength I'd probably try Pilates. But then we get into the realm of "I'm lazy and I hate exercising-for-exercising's sake."

Re: Maybe

[docorion.livejournal.com]

But you're not exercising for exercising's sake. You're exercising because non-consensual pain sucks and you'd rather not have any more. (And really, the kind of pain you get from muscle spasm? No one's kink). I can vouch for the fact that it works-subtract the scoliosis, and your body is much like mine-tall and mesomorphic. Exercise in regular doses has pretty much cured me of the two to three annual bouts of back pain I used to get when I did something unwise (like move apartments, or pickup small-to-medium sized children).

I did yoga for a while-it's great for flexibility and core muscle development. I changed to a gym environment because I wanted more aerobic exercise than yoga, and because I moved away from the yoga studio I liked and could walk to (Bikram, in Quincy, is a 10 minute walk from beowabbit's house). srl is entirely correct in his assessment of yoga, though :-)

commiserations

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Ouchie. :( Much sympathy. I have a couple of weird spinal issues, too, plus overly-loose ligaments, which means my body is pretty much constantly at war with itself to keep upright. I've gotten the random debilitating spasms as well, though mine are usually in my upper back. Suck.

Yoga would definitely help. I find that belly dancing is helping me, too. :-} Swimming would probably also work. Is there a pool somewhere near you?

Re: Maybe

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I am completely capable of doing yoga in only its physical aspects.

You're welcome to try pilates. I would too if I could afford it. Yoga classes with my student ID run 6-12 a class, so I can do it now and then. Pilates is far more "cargo cult" than yoga, imo, because there is so much specialized equipment. Yoga requires a floor. Juice it up a little and put a sticky mat on the floor and you're golden. If you own a towel? All the better. Other than the sticky mat (and btw, that sticky shelf paper can work in a pinch!) there is no specialized equipment. Body, loose or stretchy clothing, water, towel. A blanket couldn't hurt. Mostly things people have around the house. Pilates requires a lot of *stuff*.

Anyway, not trying to proselytize, just that I believe that your comparison of yoga to pilates and "stuff" doesn't hold.

All *that* being said the thing that did the most for *my* core strength was tossing bales of hay. Probably not a beginner back-strength activity, though.

Re: Maybe

[drwex]

Tossing bales of hay seems like more fun, to me, as it's an activity with a discernible outcome. When the weather is better, I sometimes split wood as again that's a physical activity I can enjoy with a discernible result.

Pilates can use equipment it's true, but it doesn't seem to be required. I dunno, just watched a few DVDs so I'm not real familiar with it.

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I'm sorry hon, I hope it feels better quickly.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

Ick. I hope your back feels better very soon.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeowch! I hope you're feeling better soon.

Maybe it's just me, but...

[rdhdsnippet.livejournal.com]

I have found yoga HUGELY helpful to my back and various joint issues. It's not any particular incident or pose of the yoga that has helped, it's the fact that it has helped me develop an awareness of my body, and of what stretches what and in what way when I'm not hurting. Then when I am hurting I can use some of that knowledge. I've discovered things that weren't intuitive to me (like, for instance, I can much more effectively loosen up my back if I start by loosening up my waist/hips and legs first), and ways to slowly and gently relax and stretch. Simple yoga has also definitely helped me build core strength, even without being weight bearing/resistance of Pilates, etc.

Really, worth it. Even without the woo-woo, and even considering that the classes I've taken are arguably pretty sucky. If you have something like a community center that offers them, it's worth trying. However, I do have to add that it took me two sessions to get past the "is this doing ANYthing for me?!" feeling. I think you have to commit to giving it about three months before making a determination.