[mmglobal]

Most of you who watched me go through my ordeal know that I posted the good and the bad.... warts and all. I wanted everyone to see a realistic picture of my recovery.

During the first couple of years, I had many sudden episodes of low back pain that scared the crap out of me. I'd run to the doctors office and insist on xrays to make sure the discs were still in place. Normally, just a day later, I'd be laughing at myself for panicking as it all blew over in short order.

A week ago, I was playing with Zoey... lifting her and putting her down while moving fast, bent all the way forward, arms fully outstretched.... "flying" her into a pillow and watching her laugh.

Big mistake! While there was no pop or sudden pain, I knew just a few minutes later that I had done something. This was not just a little low back pain. I could not stand up straight. It was like my pre-op condition... pelvis is on crooked... shifted forward and down to the right. Pain is left sized fairly low.... iliac crest level. Pain is substantial even resting. Every once in a while, I'll get up and be straight, but for many days, I was crooked.

I had appointments with clients all Tuesday morning, but insisted on xrays Tuesday afternoon. Again... discs are good... same as always. Over the next couple days, things did not die down as they had in the past. I doubled my Voltaren and started taking low dose oxycodone. It helped, but on a very limited basis.

The rest of the week was a real eye opener. While I thought I remembered what this was like, and while I constantly see clients in this kind of pain and identify too strongly with it; I was really overwhelmed by how bad this really is. I'm now a week past the injury and really relaxed after the xrays. I knew this would blow over... maybe a couple of days, maybe more... but I knew it. Even so, I constantly thought, "I can't believe I used to live like this all day every day for years!" You cannot take enough meds to deal with that stabbing pain effectively. The meds help lower the pain during inactivity, but that stabbing pain that you get when you move wrong cannot be medicated. When moving wrong may mean the most innocuous movement... standing up... changing positions... your life is miserable. I missed a bunch of work and my boss is a reall ass about it. (I'm self employed.)

Things are much better know, but I'm not done for sure. I hope that this is a memory in a couple of days. I believe that I know what caused it as my last severe episode (4 years ago) was also caused by extreme flexion. I believe that with my configuration of the discs, there is disadvantage at L5-S1 for severe flexion. I believe that I subluxated or partially subluxated the facet causing major irritation. My hope is that this is an anomoly that I can avoid. My fear is that the condition of my posterior elements may be in play and that episodes will be come more frequent... more severe... last longer... etc. It's stupid to even think about this... one big episode on the last 4 years. I'll not worry too much except to be smarter about too much flexion and maybe increase core strengthening regimen.

My neck still bad too and I wonder if that is part of it. I returned home from Germany a few days before the injury and the lousy flight really set it off. After the 9 hour flight from Munich to Dulles and the 3 hour layover, we sat on the ramp for more than 2 hours before starting the 5 hour flight to LAX. I hate it when that happens!

In any case... I'm OK and expect to be OK and am not worried about the lumbar issue. I just want to keep it out there... warts and all. Hopefully others who experience similar issues will be helped by this.

Importantly... don't misunderstand my post and think that the message is that all will be OK. If you have the sudden onset of severe pain... see a doctor as I did! If you have hardware... get some xrays. You have to be sure.

All the best.

Mark