Since December, I’ve had some on and off back pain. Back in December, I noticed it as a muscular soreness. It would go away after a nighttime treatment of Vicks VapoRub – stinky, but effective. I joked with one of my fellow crossfitters that it was probably because I was developing muscles in my lower back for the first time in my life. Maybe I was upsetting the fascia in my back by making muscles. Ha ha (I don’t know nearly enough about anatomy for that guess to be any good).
In December, the pain went away. Then came back. Then went away again. Through January, February and March, it would perform the same kind of disappearing, reappearing act. One day I’m limited to 45 pound deadlifts at crossfit, three days later I’m busting through 55 deadlifts at 95 pounds. Nothing I did seemed to make a long term difference.
Last week, the pain was starting to get worse. Even when it didn’t actively hurt, I didn’t have full mobility. I couldn’t bend over. Reaching down to pick up a bar created little bursts of pain at my upper buttocks. Reaching down to tie my shoes created the same problem. And showering was the worst – my husband and I squeegee the walls of the shower after showering and bending over to do that was incredibly painful.
So I seriously considered going to see a chiropractor, despite the fact that both my husband and I think that they are quacks.
Luckily, my husband convinced me that I should see our regular doc first and go from there. She referred me to a physical therapist and is confident that I should be able to do my hike as planned at the beginning of May – as long as I follow the PT’s instructions and do the homework they recommend.
But I haven’t gone to crossfit for over a week now, and that feels so strange at this point. I also “took it easy” over the weekend and limited my physical activity/training to a few hours on a treadmill in my boots. No pack. Not even an incline on the treadmill. I’m starting to get to the point where it’s hard to fall asleep because I’m not getting enough exercise!
So I’ll go in to see a physical therapist on Friday, but I’m going to try and do some “light and easy” days at crossfit. Light weights, not pushing too hard, but getting some exercise before I go completely crazy.