Category: Injuries

From Pez Dispenser To Bobblehead – The Chiro Episode

cat-massageSo for years I have not only avoided Chiropractors, I have actively discouraged people from going to them. My belief was that the processes of the neck and back were too dangerous to mess with and it’s easy to find anti-chiro sentiments online to support this. In the back of my mind however I was never specifically against the practice of alignment. When it comes to shoulders, ankles wrists etc. I was sure that chiropractic care had it right in the fact that without proper alignment of the bones any other therapy would not be effective. That seed was what grew into my first ever chiropractic appointment yesterday.

For about 3 weeks now I have had shoulder problems. It’s something that I have experienced before and went for almost 6 months of physio to have it fixed without success. The interesting thing is that eventually it resolved itself after a day of heavy deadlifting and I was so excited by this fact I wrote about it at the time. At that point I had finally discovered that the problem wasn’t soft tissue but was rather a misalignment of the joint itself. Now I don’t claim to know how or why this happens at the moment but I do know that for me the correct alignment of that joint left me pain free until recently. That’s about 18 months of great shoulder mobility. Unfortunately I can’t find exactly when I hurt my shoulder this time, and I can’t for the life of me remember it going out but I would bet dollars to donuts it was either dips or bench without enough warmup.

So I finally decided after trying heavy deadlifts and several attacks on my first and second ribs to try and force the joint back into place that I would go to see if a chiropractor would be able to assist. Believe me when I say that I went in with the most cynical of eyes but open to a manipulation of my ball and socket. First, she was 20 minutes late. Not a good sign, however that 20 minutes was spent under a warming blanket which was fine by me. Next the assistance asked me if I would like some thumper. Now, for me, when someone asks you something like that it’s always best just to say yes. I wasn’t sure if it was an illicit drug or a cup of herbal tea but I was pleasantly surprised when she brought out a huge massage device and proceeded to massage my entire back and neck with it. By this time I was thinking chiropractic was alright… I was also falling asleep!

Finally the doc showed up and we had a frank chat about my long history of partial shoulder separations, back surgeries, herniated discs, degenerative disc disease and so on. She then proceeded to tell me about why she became a chiropractor which was probably the best thing she could have done given my skepticism. We discussed mobility theory, joint manipulation, physiotherapy and as we spoke I understood that her theories of human performance were close to my own. Had she not done this, the next part of the show would have gone significantly differently.

I should say that I had watched extensive videos online of “Dr. Nelson Vetanze, Chiropractor at Omni Chiropractic, in Aurora, Colorado” who has a channel on YouTube. The most significant of which is of a boxer with the same problem I had. I was very happy to see that my doc did exactly the same testing as he did, which should not be a surprise but when someone does things the same was as the very successful you can bet it’s for a reason. His results were astonishing and as you will read later, so were mine. As she tested she explained that the shoulder often has issues that start in the neck and that for any treatment to be successful it would have to start at the root of the problem. I had been prepared for this as I often tell my gym kids that to fix a muscular issue you need to address issues above and below to make sure the fix sticks. After the conversation we had and her detailed explanation of the process I was comfortable enough to have her do some light adjustment to my neck and that was when the real action began. To be honest, it was very quick, she only adjusted my C1 and C2 having determined that my neck mobility was only about 60% of what it should be at the most. Her manipulation showed me where the alignment was out, she palpitated it before and after to actually demonstrate what happened and the whole adjustment was over in a couple of minutes.

Now during that two minutes several things happened. She attempted to pull my head off upwards without success. She pushed fairly gently I admit against my neck with my head turned provoking several quite disturbing cracking sounds that to me felt like a bee in an empty tin can. At no point did I feel in danger, and at no time did I feel any pain but once I sat up it was immediately apparent that my neck was far better than before. I had maybe a 70% improvement in my head mobility. For those of you who can’t math that means I went in unable to see behind me, now I can see my kids roll their eyes behind my back… In fact, the 3 times I had noticed my sore neck while driving to the appointment (shoulder check, putting seatbelt on and reversing) I had absolutely no pain at all doing the same thing on the way home.

There was a problem though. In freeing up my neck she had also inadvertently (or completely on purpose I’m sure she would claim) completely freed my shoulder blades to move in their proper fashion which immediately made me about 6″ wider. I didn’t really notice until I got to the gym but as I worked my back there was a massive difference in the degree of travel of my lats and scapula compared to the last workout, it was absolutely amazing.

I am not a convert as yet since my shoulder is still painful and I will wait to see that result before making my decision. For now, chiropractic care is no longer the devils work, it’s now been promoted to simple magic.

Scared To Death & The Drop.

Saturday I was doing deadlifts, form was good, weight was only 185, well within my limits when I set to pull and something popped in my back.

Those of you who have paid attention will know I have a long history of back pain and issues along with 2 major surgeries. I am very familiar with pain and what kind goes with what issue and I instantly knew this was nerve pain. That could only mean one thing, a disc herniation or some form of impingement. The surprising thing was that this was on the left side of my back, the opposite side from normal. I froze in a combination of pain and fear, knowing that the future of this kind of injury has only one logical conclusion. I searched in vain for my “back pills” a miracle fix me up called Arthrotec but I had none. My last back issue was before my last surgery around April of 2013 so even if I had some they would probably not be much good. I knew the only thing I could do was lay down and allow my back to rest, trying not to let the whole rear chain seize up in sympathy. This was where there lay a glimmer of hope. When I used to have problems the first thing that would happen is called a list, your whole body from your hips to your shoulders takes a sharp right turn. Oddly in the 20 years I have had back problems I have just one single picture of this event. back out again sep 13 05In the picture I am standing as straight as I can. As you can see, the list is severe, moving my entire upper body 6 inches across to the side. On Saturday there was plenty of pain, but no list. I knew the pain was nerve pain so this was confusing, adding to my paranoia and fear. Oh, and a rage that exceeds all reasonable bounds of human decency.

It’s at that point that I started to bargain with my body and promise that if this would just go away that I would promise no more heavy weights, no more body weight over 250lbs etc etc. I spent the next 2 days in a hazy pain killer induced fog popping anti inflammatories like candy in the hope that I would magically (and against all logic) make a full recovery. It was Easter, my health had died on the cross and the atheist karma finally came to fruition when on the third day it didn’t magically rise from the dead. However, it did make a significantly better recovery than I would have ever expected.

This was going to go one of 2 ways, either I would be significantly better, pointing to a possible ligament / tendon issue rather than a disc herniation or I would be crippled and pencilling in my third back surgery. I am fortunate to be able to sit here in chronic pain but with mobility rather than laying on the floor unable to move. Things could definitely be worse.

But it’s time to pay the ferryman.

I have been ambling towards a vague weight goal, my cut was more of an avoidance tactic for hitting 265lbs than a specifically targeted loss strategy.

I had increased during my fall strength / bulk and although I don’t have my stats sheet here I would think that as some point I was cruising around +30lbs or about 262lbs. My cut as it stands had me around 250lbs at one point right before I started with the creatine again and now I think I am about 255. But the time is a factor and I would like to see a 20lbs drop in about 2 months from now. That would put me back at 230-235 which is a weight I can live with. But I need to get this done ASAP in order to get as much unnecessary strain off my back as I can. 20lbs doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s a ton when it’s on your body.

So for the next few weeks it will be maintenance workouts, cut style diet and a firm eye on 235lbs. In 3 weeks it’s the Orangeville gymnastics competition, I would hope that I can make it to 245 before then, maybe even 240 if I push a bit.

Let me just state for the record, the last few days I have been scared out of my mind over what may happen. Regardless of how many times this has happened to me, it’s still a terrifying ordeal when your body betrays you.

R14D31 – So Much For That. Calf (again).

AmStaff TP006D Power Rack-WebThe calf strain is back but strangely this time it’s perfectly fine after I walk for a couple of minutes. It’s excruciatingly painful when I don’t and it came about after my workout 3 days ago where I did power cleans and pullups. I managed 85 of each but I guess I didn’t warm up properly because my calf was very bad the next day. So I am back to hobbling around and having to work around an injury that it an impediment to almost all of my workouts.
The following few days will look like this:
DL and pullups
Squat both types
Chest and pullups
Clean and dips
Shoulder day
But the big news is that I finally took delivery of and assembled the power rack pictured above. It’s pretty sturdy, the chinups are high enough that I don’t have to bend my legs that much and it came with lots of bar rests. It was on sale from $800 down to $229 so I really couldn’t resist. So now we have the treadmill back in use, a new squat / power rack for the winter so I can do heavy squats so I am pretty happy. All that I need to do now is replace the old projection HD TV with a new flat screen to get a bit of space back and the room will be much better. Except for the mirrors and the floor which is for some reason raising up into bubbles under the foam. I hate that foam.

I am toying with the idea of going back to another 30WOD stretch, it’s day 31 today and I could hypothetically do it today. I really enjoyed the variety and although my DUs are not going to happen with my calf strain, I think it would be great to do that again. Today, for reference, at Crossfit ARK is this:
Overhead Squat (5-5-5)
Metcon (AMRAP – Reps)
RX’D
8 Alternating Tabata Rounds of each
Walking Lunges

DU

Sit-ups
score total reps

Even if I don’t actually do the 30WOD again, I think I will just make it a habit to check the site and see if it is something I can adapt. For example, I could use overhead squat practice since it’s as bad as my DUs if not worse. Maybe I will throw in some OHS with my DL and chinups for today.

R14D9 – Interrupted

kbswingyMy calf has been bad enough that I spent all weekend heating it an staying off it. It’s insanely painful to walk on and even now, a week later it is still painful enough that I am limping. I tried foam rolling, heat, ice, you name it, apart from chiropractic (obviously). I was not going to allow it to derail me completely so for the last few workouts there has been no cardio and very little in the way of warmups. Thursday and Saturday were taken off to try and rest both due to work calls and the calf issue. Friday I did bench and dips however coaching really made my leg sore which was when I decided to try and stay off it. Sunday I did my Healvy Oly day since deadlifts and power cleans didn’t seem to hurt at all. I stuck with 135 and managed I think around 75 reps total. Monday I did pullups only since I felt like I had been neglecting them. A simple round of 100 in sets of 3 5 7 and 10. Today is Tuesday and tonight is supposed to be cardio so I don’t really know what to do. I think maybe kettlebells since I know my heart will be racing and my calf should really not be involved so much. So KB swings it is! If you are wondering what I do for my KB workouts, it’s still similar to the Man Maker or RKC that I used to do. I found that when doing sets of 5 I was more likely to keep proper form and focus doing 3-3-4-5 as a set instead of 1-2-3-4-5. So when I do 5 sets of 5 that is what I do. Clean and press 3-3-4-5 with 20 swings in between each set. I would usually do the same amount of pullups as C&P but since I did pullups yesterday I will go with swings instead. Once finished with the C&P plus swings I will probably then do a pyramid set of swings something like 20-30-40-30-20 which will either make my head or spine explode.

R11D40-43: Another Weekend Away Plus Back Stretches

This travelling is getting tedious and honestly I am losing my enthusiasm for hotel beds and pools. This weekend we were out in Peterborough where the best hotel room in the whole town was only $129. On Friday I rested and coached 3 hours but on Saturday before we left I managed to squeeze in a bench workout with barbell and dumbbell because my back was a little sore. It was destined to get worse as the days passed too. I benched up to 235lbs around 10 sets total with chasers of dumbbell presses and flies. Sunday after we returned I was going to do some Olympic lifting but again my back was a little tender and after I had finished my 5 sets of 5 deadlifts I decided to hop on the treadmill and ran a mile pretty much without stopping (although my pace was rather pedestrian). My ITB was tight and sore, and I have a feeling that stretching it is what is causing my back pain. I have to say here that I am a little confused at why this happens, I remember following the Supple Leopard in stretching my ITB and hips before my recent surgery and I remember having nothing but acute hip pain for months after moving into hip stretches. I was better for it relating to my back but my hips were in agony. Not only that, but after being laid up for a few days after surgery when I started walking again it was my hips that gave me the most pain. I have also noted that I don’t have any stretching instructions in this blog, at least not any that are easy to locate so I am going to try and put together a few of my favourite stretches, or maybe find where I have done it before and re-brand the page. Then Monday which was Family Day I once again opted to stay off my back and it was even more sore than before up into the mid right side feeling like a muscle pull more than anything. I did manage to get about 30 minutes of heavy bag work done with some direction from P90X3 MMX.

I am often asked about back pain, having had 2 back surgeries I am what you would consider to be experienced with it. The first thing I do is recommend stretching the ITB and hamstrings and hips in order to try and release whatever compression surrounds the area. How to do that? Do this:
This is one of the best for my back and hips. It does make loud cracking noises in my spine however and you should do it every day… you should do all of them every day really.

Very simple stretch to help loosen up the back and abdominals

Very good for tight hamstrings that can cause all kinds of back problems

More advanced for hips, this is actually quite hard if you are male

Another very good stretch for hips and sciatic problems. You should feel the stretch in the buttock and hip of the leg that is crossed over, in this case the left leg.

Very basic, can be done in conjunction with an arching motion every time you stand up

A little more difficult for some, and also hard to control but once you can do it, it is very effective.

 

Be careful with this if you have pinched nerves, but the leg in front takes the load off the spine somewhat.

Cat stretch, also can be alternated with seal stretch where from the starting position you drop your hips to the floor and keep your arms straight.

Swiss army knife stretch, very good for hips and back

Basic and similar to the front bend, but this is a standing version of the cat stretch / seal stretch.

 

 

R11D8 – Rest, Credit and Critique

i-hate-rest-days2It was a time constraint that forced me into taking my rest day, and as usual I was not happy about it. However, I am committed to rest and so I also made the quality decision to get to bed at 1030 in order to take full advantage of my resting. It also gave me an opportunity to look at my week and decide what the shortcomings were. It’s something that I don’t think people do enough when they finally decide to take charge of their workouts. It’s easy enough to plan, but evaluating your past week and addressing how you felt about it is a completely different skill. Even if your choice is to go with a 90 day program like T25 or P90X3 you should still evaluate at the end of each week what you got from it and if there are any issues that need work. For example, like many people who do or did P90X I was less than thrilled with Yoga and Kenpo. Eventually I decided to replace them both with something more appropriate to my goals. This time around, knowing that P90X3 may have shortcomings with it’s cardio days I have decided to evaluate all the workouts first and then develop a schedule from what I learn. To be honest, what I learned from the first week is that the only things worth doing again were P90X Agility X and T25 Total Body Circuit. But at least I know and what I also know is that I have gone through most of the phase 1 workouts so things are, I think, about to get bananas. At least I hope so.

Since I had my back surgery in April, I have understandably been relatively inactive compared to the last few years but I have to give myself a little credit because I am only 9 months post op and I am in almost every sense back to where I was. I would even have gone so far as to say I was there when we went to Cuba in December, only 8 months after. Now I haven’t been posting here for 10 years since my first surgery but I do have an interesting excerpt from my personal blog that I was writing at the time.

I started back on January 12th with complete and utter disregard for my New Year’s Resolution to start Jan 1 with a strict regimen of walking. I started off with just 20 minutes a day but rapidly realized that unless I was going to push myself to get back as quickly as possible then the whole process was going to be excruciatingly painful. So I went from a sedate 20 minutes 4 days a week in the beginning to 45 minutes every day within the first month. Of course, my weight remained resolutely high, determined that it could outlast my will. We have, of course, had this fight before, I think in terms of score, we are about even. However, this time I was not to be discouraged. I was determined that if I was going to change some things in my life, then I had to change some things in my life. Simple, right? Well, actually yes, it is. If you think about it, I wanted to change my health, my weight and my habits, so I had to change the support system on which those things relied. It was time to start felling the tree at the base, rather than trimming the top with nail scissors.

The amazing thing about this is that I wrote that in mid March of 2004, a full 14 1/2 months after my surgery. What I realize now is that the second time around I had learned enough from the life changing disaster that was my first surgery to make the second one seem like an outpatient corn removal. Check this out:

Today was a wonderful day weather wise which is so much better for rehab than the dead of a Canadian winter. I was able to get out and walk twice again today for a total of 1.6km or so, slightly ahead of my projected goal of 1.5k. I will try for 2k tomorrow but I think that I should stick with that for a few days, my leg was sore, I had some hip pain and the speed was noticeably diminished at the end of the walk.

That was taken from DAY 2 OF MY RECOVERY!! Even I have a hard time reconciling that it took me 14 and a half months to get to the point that should have taken 2 days. It makes me sick to realize just how much of my life I wasted on that first recovery but as they say, you can’t cry over spilled milk. That’s why this time I was so resolute in my decision to push as hard as I could to get up and about and with pretty impressive results. Yes, it’s been 8 months and I am still at the same place I was after about 2 months but that said my pain level is much improved and I can comfortably blame some of my inactivity on my lingering sicknesses.

All of that because I took one day off after 7 in a row, and yes, I am happy to report that once again I hate rest days. Today will be P90X3 again and hopefully another 6 in a row until my next rest day. Also, tomorrow I find out how much weight if any I have lost this week as it’s week 2 of the biggest loser weigh in…

Baby Steps Towards Consistency

Monday – 35lb ball clean and pullups x100
Tuesday – Deadlift, clean, front squat repeat 50x
Wednesday – Deadlift, clean repeat 50x

Shoulder seems a little better but not because of physio but rather last night I reached into the passenger foot well in the car to get something and I got a massive stretch cramp in my shoulder / trap area. After an hour it felt better and this morning my shoulder feels better than it has in ages. Weird, I guess there is a muscle in there somewhere that is forcing the joint into a painful position. I will investigate and try to replicate the stretch tonight and see if I can fix myself.
I am thinking of trying to get some kettlebell workouts in, I miss that workout and I think it may do my shoulder some good, not the press necessarily but the stretch from the swings. My weight is slowly coming down, but at 258 I am still at least 25lbs over where I want to be. I hope that staying consistent will bring me back in the next month or so.

Mud Hero 2013

mudheroslide2013It was always my goal, right since I learned of my surgery in April to do the Mud Hero on August 24. I figured it would be a measure of my recovery and a test of my mettle.

I didn’t realize how much of a challenge actually deciding to go would be since I had thought that I would be almost fully recovered and ready for anything. That was hardly the case. The week before the race I was sore every day, my back was actually feeling very delicate up to the day of the race and even on the way there, I was still debating in my head whether to cheer my girls or suck it up and run. Since there is only really ever one answer to that dilemma I put on my big boy pants and headed for the start.

I was actually really surprised by how easy the course was this year solely due to the fact we knew what to expect. I remember last year not knowing how far or how hard to run and that lack of knowledge really sapped my energy. This year, knowing exactly where we were going and what to expect made it all the more easy. That’s not to say that I didn’t find it hard, it was terribly difficult given my lack of mobility for certain movements especially when it came to ducking under things, such as the first mud pool under the logs. There was not much running done by any of us, my loyal and wonderful athletes and co-workers stayed with me, and despite obviously being able to do much more than I kept up with the encouragement and added so much to the enjoyment of the day.

The course was very similar to last year, however they had bolted the car boot and bonnets closed so no surprises there and the water slide which almost made a lady out of one of our male competitors last year instead of letting out into a small forest went straight into a deep mud pool. They had added another mud pool with tubes up which you had to climb which was a little challenging given my girth but I am proud to say that I did not skip any of the obstacles and only finished about 15 minutes behind last year’s time.

It was an amazing feat for me, I am so happy I decided to run, I am certain I would have regretted not going if I had stayed off the course. I must also say a huge thank you to my wonderful wife who, instead of running the course, took the time to hang out with our daughter to watch her daddy make a mess of himself.

All in all, a huge success, and I guess the next few days will tell just how close to a full recovery I am but for now I can say that I made my pre surgery goal of competing in the Mud Hero only 4 months after back surgery… and I am old too!!

BSRD90 – Breaking The Silence

Silent smiley faceI am not ashamed to say that my frustration and fears have prevented me from even venting here. There was a time not more than a few days ago when I was almost convinced I would be back under the knife in the every near future. However someone asked me whether I was getting better week on week and I think that was the one thing that brought me back to my painful reality. My initial recovery had been so fast and so impressive that after my “incident” I was incredibly disillusioned with my situation and although I am far from happy now, I am slowly accepting that my road to recovery may be longer and slower than I thought it was going to be.

I was  hoping that my day 90 would be like my old P90X graduation days, a celebration of achievement and a plan for the next level of participation. Not so. The only silver lining I have at this time is that I am not on painkillers any more and I am, at least occasionally, able to do some weight bearing workouts. I am resigned to the fact that things are going to be suboptimal for the foreseeable future, however that has not stopped me from planning for said future.

It’s time for me to drink the Crossfit Kool-aid. The new Crossfit box near my house, Crossfit Ark, has a half price sale, the membership is only $75 per month with unlimited use for a year so I bit the bullet and signed up. I realise it may be a while until I can really use the facility but I am confident that during the coming year I will get fair use out of it especially during the winter when I can’t really work out in my garage or on the deck.

I am happy to report that my humble little website has surpassed a MILLION hits this past month. Yup, it’s taken 4 years but I finally got there! Thanks to everyone for participating and at least pretending to be interested in my fitness journey. Let’s hope it starts to get a little more entertaining again now.

I have picked up another injury, I have a very sore shoulder, so bad in fact that for the first time in my life I am unable to chinup because of the pain. I guess I will be seeing my new friend Jonathan at Align to see if he can fix me. It is pretty bad though, I am hoping I will be back in action on the chinup bar in a  couple of weeks. Especially since I want to finally learn the bar muscle up.

So for now I will put faith in my body to heal, albeit slowly, and I will deal with the extra 30 minutes it takes me to get up in the morning. I don’t really have a choice in the matter, so I will make the best. That said, the reality is that for now, week on week, I am slowly improving and as long as that continues, the silver lining will continue to inspire my confidence.

As far as actual workouts go, I have been extremely careful but also diligent in making sure what I do is recorded and the after effects documented. Here is what I have found out so far.

Bench – I am able do do 250lbs bench which is a reasonable working weight for me at any stage. That makes me happy. That said, I have to be very careful since bench is what crocked my shoulder, and I am not sure how or why.
Squats – Not real squats, air squats. After several attempts and cycles I find I can go all the way down to my heels and still be OK. I also find I can squat holding either 50lbs in kettlebells or a 35lb wall ball and still be fine. This is also good.
Deadlifts and Cleans – I have tried, but so far this makes me far too sore to make them part of my workouts. However I have successfully worked briefly with 70lbs without a long term injury.
Pullups – These would be a staple of my workouts at the moment if I could do them but since my shoulder injury I have not been able to get on the bar at all which is a major glitch.
Kettlebells – These make me very sore indeed, too much to do anything at all.
Work – Standing at work is torture. This will improve once my stool arrives but all I know is sitting would be worse. I am now working 6 hours 4 days a week so I am almost up to full time but it’s the worst thing that I am currently doing for my pain level. Figures, right?

That’s is for the review. I have 4 days work next week then it’s back to full time by which time I hope to be able to push through and resume at least most of my previous life.

 

 

BSRD74 – Handling The Fear

lookouttruckThere is a saying that says that the light at the end of the tunnel is sometimes an oncoming train. I would like to add to that by saying that if you are way ahead of the curve, you are probably on the wrong side of the road and are about to get hit head on.

That’s how I feel right now, like I have been hit head on by the Karma truck. I don’t know what I did, but 2 weeks ago I felt like I was almost back to 100%, my back was fine, I was working out, sleeping well and everything was perfect. Then I spent a day at the computer for work and suddenly I am 10 days into a recovery that isn’t going anywhere. It is serious enough that I mentioned it to my surgeon during the follow up. He basically ignored my complaint but he did say if it happened again to go back. I feel like if someone goes to a doctor and tells them that they got bitten by a rabid dog the answer probably wouldn’t be “if it happens again, come back”. In fact, I am having a hard time reconciling that attitude with any condition. Still, I trusted him (something I said I would never do after the last surgery) and here I am. In the mornings my back is so painful that I can’t stand up. It takes at least 10 minutes for my list to go away, and it’ s as pronounced as it used to be when my back was completely out. I can’t find a solution as far as how to lay down or sit since both seem to be making me sore. The worst thing about it is that after an hour or so of moving around, I feel OK, in fact, I feel pretty good but I can’t bring myself to do anything workout wise in case I actually have a damaged incision or internal scarring that I may make worse. I am officially in limbo.

I certainly can’t go on waking up this way, it’s just too painful, so much so that I have gone through my last few percocet during the last 2 weeks which I swore I would not do. I am not sure what to do and how much time to give the issue to resolve.

I have had this pain before during this rehab as noted here:

I woke up today, Sunday, and found that my back was mysteriously sore. I didn’t really do much yesterday, we went to Wonderland but only walked for about 30 mins with lots of resting and sitting. I also didn’t do my regular walk since Saturday and Sunday are my walking rest days so I am not sure what the deal is. The thing that is scary is that the pain isn’t incision pain, it’s tight muscular pain that in the past has led to the disc compression. So I am understandably cautious this morning.

However that was back on day 20, I am now on day 74 and forgive me for thinking that I should be past this.

I am going to keep walking and of course, working my 4 hour days this week and I will report on Monday how I am. If I am still in the grips of this issue then I am deciding right now that on Monday I will call the surgeon and schedule an appointment.