Monday, September 26, 2011

Tweaked Back

About once a year I manage to tweak my back. It's usually in the morning when I do something rash like bending over before I've warmed up. Today I had it all planned. Stephen wanted a ride to the airport so I told him I would take him at 6 am so that would give me time to get back and go to spinning class at 7 am.

I got up at 5:30 and was groping in the dark for my bike shorts which I had laid out on the floor the night before and the back twinged. It's like a quick electrical jolt at the base of my spine. I think it is a nerve gets pinched and then all of the surrounding nerves fire and my back muscles tighten up in defense. So it hurts to stand up straight. 

This was about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 (the worst).  I got Stephen to the airport and then drove to the Y. After an hour in the car, it was really hard to stand up straight and walk into the Y. But I made it to spinning by  7:15, and got in 35 minutes of spinning. Not very strenuous. After class I did some back stretches. Mostly I try to lie on my stomach and arch my back. At first I have zero arch. After about ten minutes of trying I can arch a few degrees. About a tenth of my normal range of motion.

took a showere which helped and now I am semi-comfortable at my desk. I neeed to get up and walk around every hour so I don't get too stiff. It will take me a week to be back to normal. 

Schedule for the week:

Tuesday:  Masters Swim  and some whirlpool
Wednesday:  spin and Nibra
Thursday:  master swim  whirlpool
Friday:  spin and weights
Saturday:  long run?  (if back doesn't hurt) and spin
Sunday:  long run

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