So today marks the three week mark from the first really bad back spasms and three days since a minor relapse. The relapse was shocking because I had been to the chiropractor the day before, but probably walked too much that afternoon plus moved a few pieces of furniture (fairly light ones though) that evening.
What seems to be working:
Lots of laying flat and sitting in stiff backed chairs.
Avoiding slumping and overstuffed furniture (very common now-a-days and not healthy in general!)
Lots of water
Less caffeine
Stretching-the yoga name for the stretch is Supta Padangusthasana (say that tonight with a Halloween caramel chew in your mouth!). It's the one where you lie flat on your back, put a strap around your foot or at least big toe and pull your straight leg up toward your head.
Oddly enough, my left leg, the asymptomatic one, is generally harder to stretch with more tightness and pain when in the stretch. So I've eased off a little and only stretch to about 80-90% range of motion.
Hopefully this continues to resolve and light activity helps as I have to be moving around some!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
The Back Spasm came back so....
Yesterday morning early on I bent over to scoop up our tiny new puppy and, uh-oh, quick twinge up the right side of the back. It was right where I've been sore for the two and a half weeks since my last back spasm, so I knew what was coming.
Later in the day I was still sore but not really having spasms, hoping the previous day's chiropractic adjustment and light walking and stretching had helped. Nope-around lunchtime I bumped into a chair with my right hip and felt another twinge. Then a few minutes later I bent down to get something under the kitchen sink, moved the garbage can which wasn't even full and BAM full on, knee buckling back spasm again.
AGH. What is going on? I slowly breathed through the spasm, gently resumed moving around and finished the tasks I had to complete with some help from one of our daughters. I then went and laid down on a heating pad for about 15 minutes. When I went back to work, I was conscientious to sit in a firm backed chair or stand with good posture for a few hours. I also took it easy the rest of the day, including more sessions sitting in straight backed chairs or laying flat with my legs either extended or bent at a 90 degree angle. Well, all that worked-while sore this morning, it is nowhere near as bad as most days after spasms. Hopefully I'm getting on top of this. My activities over the past few days shouldn't have been this traumatic, so I looked for other causes.
One is likely my diet and caffeine intake. I've probably allowed myself to be a little dehydrated while recovering from the previous spasms and kept my caffeine intake as high or higher than usual. Caffeine can be of some value in pain treatment-many headache pills and other analgesics contain small amounts of caffeine to enhance effectiveness, but too much caffeine is widely mentioned negatively when having back spasms. I'm going to limit my coffee and other caffeine sources for the next few days while increasing my water consumption. The same sites mention the usual supplements too: Vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium and calcium are all likely needed too.
So to sum up, holistic, non drug treatments I'm implementing better late than never to support back spasm recovery:
Increase water consumption throughout the day
Decrease caffeine from coffee and food sources
Increase fresh fruits and vegetables and calcium sources (milk, cheese, hmm ICE CREAM?)
Continue supplementation
Increase stretching to 80-90% range of motion and relaxation exercises
Hopefully on the back side of this (no pun intended!)
Later in the day I was still sore but not really having spasms, hoping the previous day's chiropractic adjustment and light walking and stretching had helped. Nope-around lunchtime I bumped into a chair with my right hip and felt another twinge. Then a few minutes later I bent down to get something under the kitchen sink, moved the garbage can which wasn't even full and BAM full on, knee buckling back spasm again.
AGH. What is going on? I slowly breathed through the spasm, gently resumed moving around and finished the tasks I had to complete with some help from one of our daughters. I then went and laid down on a heating pad for about 15 minutes. When I went back to work, I was conscientious to sit in a firm backed chair or stand with good posture for a few hours. I also took it easy the rest of the day, including more sessions sitting in straight backed chairs or laying flat with my legs either extended or bent at a 90 degree angle. Well, all that worked-while sore this morning, it is nowhere near as bad as most days after spasms. Hopefully I'm getting on top of this. My activities over the past few days shouldn't have been this traumatic, so I looked for other causes.
One is likely my diet and caffeine intake. I've probably allowed myself to be a little dehydrated while recovering from the previous spasms and kept my caffeine intake as high or higher than usual. Caffeine can be of some value in pain treatment-many headache pills and other analgesics contain small amounts of caffeine to enhance effectiveness, but too much caffeine is widely mentioned negatively when having back spasms. I'm going to limit my coffee and other caffeine sources for the next few days while increasing my water consumption. The same sites mention the usual supplements too: Vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium and calcium are all likely needed too.
So to sum up, holistic, non drug treatments I'm implementing better late than never to support back spasm recovery:
Increase water consumption throughout the day
Decrease caffeine from coffee and food sources
Increase fresh fruits and vegetables and calcium sources (milk, cheese, hmm ICE CREAM?)
Continue supplementation
Increase stretching to 80-90% range of motion and relaxation exercises
Hopefully on the back side of this (no pun intended!)
Monday, October 27, 2014
Malibu CA Spartan Race coming up-Sign up here!
Are you looking for a challenge? Are you looking to get involved with adventure racing? Are you a Spartan and ready for the test?
If you are interested in the Malibu Sprint Spartan Race on December 6th, can you help me out and sign up through this blog? I'll update all the banners as more info becomes available, but they should be "live" now. Enjoy a scenic but tough course in beautiful Malibu CA!
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