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November 16, 2007
Backing Up
After over six months of front room captivity, Olive strikes out on her Journey to the Kitchen. Stopping to eat a plant, of course.
Greetings from the world of horizontal!
It's Friday! It is also MUJI Day! The MUJI store that I have been eagerly awaiting finally opens in Soho. I am hoping that I will be able to drag my broken body there this evening to take in what I am sure to be the absolute (consumer) chaos within the sweet minimalist simplicity that is MUJI.
Broken body? Horizontal? What do you mean? Basically, what that means is that I am a big fat idiot.
My lower back and I have never really gotten along. It runs in the family- I have many memories of my father horizontal on the couch or bed with a heating pad and his legs elevated, smarting in pain. It hasn't happened to me in years, so on Tuesday when my back started to ache, I laughed it off, retelling the oh-so-funny story of how this one time at work my back hurt so much that I had to prop my keyboard and monitor on boxes, as it was too painful to sit in the chair.
Ha ha ha, so funny. Right. Until I found myself in my boss' office on my back with the cushions from her couch under my knees, writing emails from a laptop balanced precariously on my lower torso, then searching in vain for the correct size box to rest my keyboard on. Because it hurt too much to sit. And now it's Friday and nothing feels better...and I feel like a real moron.
I'm 99% sure that I hurt my back from running too much, too soon, especially while lacking the right balance of back and abdominal muscles. I tend to forget that while my legs, heart and lungs fall into distance running quite easily, even after a long hiatus, the rest of my body takes a while to follow.
So, greetings from horizontal world. Today I am on my back in the living room for the day, roasting my lower back with a heating pad and trying to get work done while fending off a cadre of needy cats.
At least MUJI opens today. I hope they still have an inventory left when I get there. If I can get there.
Posted by callalillie at November 16, 2007 7:17 AM | Random , Running
You should check out Dr. John Sarno's book: Healing Back Pain. Or one of his other books on the mind-body connection. What you're describing is exactly what he talks about. Good luck!
Posted by: at November 16, 2007 8:26 AM
My lower back has really been bothering me over the last year or so. I think I need regular massages.
MUJI! Yessssss...
Posted by: lesterhead at November 16, 2007 12:14 PM
Do you do yoga? Running's great, but you really need to be twisting and stretching a lot too. Opening and strengthening the muscles in your front will really help your back. Be like your cats! (But... uh... maybe wait until you're back on the mend!)
Posted by: futuredrmandy at November 16, 2007 2:14 PM
I own that Dr. Sarno's book and it is well worth picking up. His main premise is contrary to your intuition though - which is that if you have back pain you shouldn't "rest". Besides the yoga suggestion (which I second) - WebMD has great back stretches. This pain you are describing to me happens when i am stressed out and working too much - and I do the exercises for a few weeks, and the pain and pressure go away.
http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/exercises-to-reduce-low-back-pain
Open the tab "how"-> this explains the good stretches.
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