Part of me already knew it to be true, but it became official today: I am getting old. I was out back doing some light work on the patio today -- nothing major, because of the expected rain, just light preparation work -- when all of a sudden I couldn't walk. Or move. Something had snapped in my lower back. It has been three hours since that happened, and despite drugs, ice, and rest, I still can hardly walk or stand, and I can't move quickly at all.
Being injured doesn't bother me all that much. I have a high tolerance for pain. But this is my first major back injury, and everybody knows that injuring one's back while working in the yard is a sure sign of old age looming on the horizon. Crap.
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Sounds like you have been working on this project for some time now and the straw literally broke your back. I had a similar experience when I was your age in grad school (and it was caused by stress and bad diet/lack of sleep, not physical labor) where my back ached for several days in a row and finally one night, I got out of my bed quickly, my back imploded, and I fell to my knees and ended up crawling around my apartment like a dog. A sad picture indeed. And being the stubborn fool I am - I never went to a doctor either.
One thing has helped me over the years however - yoga. Believe me, it works wonders if you put in the effort and I highly recommend it.
Yoga?! What sort of quackery are you trying to thrust upon me?!
Just kidding.
I would consider yoga, but I don’t have the discipline. Well, I do, but not for that sort of thing. It’s just the way I’m wired, I think.
In the mean time I’ve doped up on ibuprofen with zero results. Or I suppose it could be working and is keeping the pain at “holy hell this hurts” rather than “somebody step on my crotch to take my mind off my back!”
Believe me, yoga works. There is a misconception that it has to do with all sorts of chanting or voodoo magic (and I believe there is a type of yoga like that) but the mainstream yoga as practiced in modern times is just good stretching of muscles you otherwise don’t use. Learning a few simple exercises and performing them a few minutes a morning or evening has caused me enormous relief before.
The only thing I can recommend is sleeping with a pillow under your upper legs if you lie on your back, or between your legs if you sleep on your side.
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