When It All Falls Apart

I’ve been pretty much injury free since I started getting healthy again.  Sure, a minor back strain here, foot issue there, but nothing that’s kept me down for long.  I figured the back issue would keep me down for a day or two.

It’s Thursday evening, almost a week since it happened, and I have been advised by my chiropractor not to run until AT LEAST when I get back from vacation.  Yeah, this sucks for me just about as much as you would expect.

Let me back up and tell you my tale of woe.  Then, I’ll share the silver lining/good news.

Last Thursday, I made two boo boos.  First of all, I accidentally got through one group power song with 2.5 lbs less on one side of the bar than the other.  I also tried to go too heavy on the last song, and I think it made me compromise my form.

Friday, I my back started feeling a little strained, I just played a little DDR instead of my normal workout, rested, and relaxed.  We had a hike planned the next day, so I was hoping it would go away.

Saturday, I was pretty stiff.  I figured it would be a bad idea so we put it off until the next day.  Went out and had some drinks, and generally had no back complaints.

Sunday, I felt a little stiff again, I could have toughed it out, but we decided not to.  Figured I’d rest one more day and hit it hard on Monday.  The plan was to work out EVERY day this week hard so I could feel justified taking Sunday off (didn’t want to worry about the logistics of trying to carry workout clothes in my carryon).

Monday, still a little pain, so I walked on the ‘mill and stretched and skipped the crunchtime class.  I felt wussy.  Little did I know it was going to be the hardest I would work out this week.

Tuesday, I woke up in AGONY.  My back seized up so badly I couldn’t even lift myself to get a heat pack under my body.  White hot electric pain.  I had things that I couldn’t miss at work, so I worked from home from bed.  It took me hours before I could get up to pee.  I was in varying amounts of pain all day.  I loosened up so I could walk around later but I definitely wasn’t going anywhere.  I was convinced I had a strained back and a rib out with what hurt.

Yesterday, I woke up hurting, and called a chiropractor in the morning and got an appointment.  She took x-rays, zapped me with electrodes, and by the end, felt better.  At work, I tried to move around as much as possible and sat on my yoga ball all day (which seems like it would be torture for a back in pain but it was AWESOME – I don’t know if I”ll be going back to my desk chair at all).  By the end of the day I felt pretty awesome.

Today, I woke up in *some* pain, but it went away quickly.  I didn’t have to gingerly get up, it took me a second and stretch, but it was all good.  I spent the day mobile around the office and the yoga ball, and went to the chiro.

The bad news: I have a small amount of arthritis mid-back.  Nothing that’s hurting me right now, and with attention, it never will.  Also, my neck is still very much screwed up and she said it’s something that also needs continued attention.

More bad news: I am not cleared to do any running or hard biking until I get back from vacation.  Everything else, I’m to listen to my body.  I won’t know how long I need to stay off the hard stuff until she determines how I’m responding to treatment.

The good news: As I said above, everything else I am cleared for.  She even encouraged me to swim.  And drink alcohol.  Yeah, I know, I think I have found a chiro that understands me!  She wasn’t thrilled with the idea of ziplining or tubing, but said that as long as I listened to my body I’m all good.

The silver lining: This is a forced rest.  Every time I get myself to rest, I come back better (it’s just TORRRRRTURE).  Maybe this happened for a reason.  I certainly wouldn’t have gotten to a chiro until I got to a real bad pain point like now, and it spurred me to start to correct some things that might have gotten to be major issues.  Also, is it possible my body was so out of wack that it’s retaining weight?  Sure, why not.  Will taking care of these issues make me a better athlete?  Probably.

Although I’m trying to stay positive about it, it is a bummer.  I mean, yeah, being in pain sucks, but just to be advised that I *shouldn’t* do stuff makes me wanna.  It will probably be a while before I skip a workout just because I don’t wanna.

However, I can’t deny – I’m going on vacation soon, I’m getting the majority of this taken care of before it so I won’t be in pain, and life is good.  Only thing I’m missing out on as of yet, is my out-of-the-country run.  The rest is just up to how I feel.

Ok, time to go pre-pre-pre-pack.  I’m such a freaking dork!  And I love every minute of it!  Think healthy thoughts for me!

Question time: what’s the worst injury you’ve had?  How did you come back from it?  How long did it keep you down?  Did you ever go against your doctor’s/chiro’s advice?