Skip to main content

Living on with Back pain

April 2016, it is 11 am in the morning and I'm still not in the office, in fact, I'm still in bed. It is not a weekend, I have to be in office but I can hardly get up from my bed, can hide no more. I called it off, took a cab to an orthopedic hospital, my dad accompanied me as I did for him when he almost broke his spine. First I tried sitting, then lying in the back seat, it was getting terrible by moments and every move I made trying to ease my pain only increased it.

By the time I reached the hospital, I wanted to call for a wheelchair, but I was also not ready to give up on my willpower or self-esteem, worst I could lose all the money in the pocket. As I guessed, I was sent for no questions asked x-ray costing 600 and then advised for physiotherapy for 5 days which would cost 150 every day, topped this with transportation (cab) charge, pain relief medication and consultation charge of 300 on first and last day; total crosses to 3000.

Evidently, I care too much about money still I stuck to the advice of the doctor, because living with lower back pain is horrendous. On the third day of physiotherapy, I made the change to my transportation my cousin dropped me and my friend would pick up, both in bike and not in a car. After physiotherapy, I wanted to step out of the hospital so I can stand beneath tree shade and enjoy some breeze of nature and dust of civilization. I wore my old bathroom sandal that didn't offer any grip on the shiny tiled floor, given my awkward walk attributed to back pain I was destined to fall anytime.

The fall happened when I stepped out, I managed to not hit my butt hard, but enough to undo all the physiotherapy; my pain had reset to day zero. I sat on the steps as I fell, holding my posture and loud cry that I wanted to make, it took me 2 minutes to even open eyes. I was still there sitting, none from hospital cared to ask, I'm their patient sitting on the steps and not leaving... then it stuck me they think I'm resting, so did I.

I didn't return to hospital after that for back pain, I took good amount of rest and started to exercise my back through yoga and tried to make correct posture as I sat or lay down. Flashback 4 more months, I started using a moped to commute to office instead of public transportation that demanded 4 km walking every day. Could be the lack of walk but I was told that its not the absence of jogging/yoga/exercise/gym that contributes to back pain, but it is continuous sitting without minor breaks.

I was not brought to knee on day zero of lower back pain, I suffered tolerable amount of pain for more than a month. I believed it would go away it just didn't, the pain exponentially increased to a point where getting up from bed seemed impossible. Here are some advice that I can offer if you are suffering or if you don't want to ever be affected by lower back pain before age catches up.

  • Move. Your body is not designed to sit about, move around often; even short breaks are fine but long sitting is not acceptable even if you are planning to follow it with long moving
  • Hold your posture while sitting, standing, walking or even lying down.
    • Sit with your spine erect, it is fine if you have to look up a bit stop looking down. (your phone is your enemy)
    • Stand with your spine straight
    • Walk with correct shoe, take real care while you jog or run
    • Lie down facing ceiling, if possible don't use sponge like bed flat surface is best. If you have lie on your side give appropriate support to head so neck is not burdened. Try to not lie on stomach
  • Don't lie in bed for long even if you have back pain, it only worsens. Start slow roll to edge of cot and get down, use arms and legs to support spine while getting up or down from bed.
  • Don't give too much attention to pain, do small job like folding cloth, doing dish.
  • Get a warm bath, it is relaxing. Some say cold ice pack helps too (never tried)
  • Do yoga: I know the name Baba Ramdev sort of strikes funny bone but this one really help me. Think the guy who dubbed has a lot of personal vengeance against Ramdev, some humor is good I guess https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4NnLER1EXk

Disclaimer : In no way this write up supports not going to hospital. (I just happened to realize with enough and slow movement I can tolerate pain, lying down limp made things worst).  These are stuff that worked for me, some might not work for you consult specialist doctor if your pain doesn't decrease. The yoga video that I have linked here is good for novice, but don't push the limits, you might flatter real bad. 

Image credit  : common.wikimedia.org
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this month

Puththu kovilum Putho tilesum, as they are built

Its the grand Aadi season here in Tamil Nadu wherever you go you'd be followed by awful noise from no mercy speakers masqueraded as a devotional song. Yes, this is the first post dedicated to it. Hindu is not a religion but it's idealism, a way to unite people, that's perfectly constructed by assuming separate task to every God, no single God worship. Hindus moved from nature worship to idol worship, but that doesn't mean that we don't have nature worship we have created an idol for them and continued to worship them in a different form. Snake is a beautiful reptile, I have made friend with few too... Our ancestor found the natural law, 'every living creature on earth is important for the ecosystem to be balanced'. Maybe to make sure snakes are not killed fearing their venom they made them as God too! Not just idol snakes, they are worshipped as they are at their  conquered (from rats and termite)   nest or  puthu . Puthu...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Up and Close with Sudalai Madan: The Encounter

Night of 13th April all the preparations for the rituals were done in the temple, Sudalaimadan swamy was decorated with flowers, fruits and coconuts; the dedications reached above his chest. My cousin Sudalai Muthu, senior priest of the shrine reached home by late-night got blessings of his father Late Shanmugam Sundaram also previous head priest and blessed the family members in room dedicated for God, then started towards the temple. People have already gathered in huge numbers and were waiting for the Sudalaimada Swamy's arrival at Temple. Different rituals were offered by people to the Lord in order to get the blessings. As it is believed Sudaimada Swamy, the son of Lord Siva used to consume meat in Kailash for this reason he is sent to earth, where he can satisfy his earthy hunger thereby not polluting Kailash. Sree Aaladi Padmanabha Sudalaimada Swamy Temple, Kumarapuram Offering meat to Sudalaimadan is the most important and watchful event of the festival. Many devotees off...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Shame of Sabarimala : Annadhanam under TDB

Annadhana Prabhuve, Saranam Ayyappa It means "The noble who donates food, Ayyappa save us". The legend is not clear about how or why Lord Ayyappa is called so, coincidentally the third step of the Pathinetu padi stands for Annapoorna (the God of food) by crossing this step Ayyappamar assure that they have followed Ayyappa by donating food to peers and made sure any Ayyappamar coming to Sabarimala for Punya Dharishanam is not hungry. I'm sure this year many Ayyappamar did not fullfil this deed to proudly step on it, they neither received nor gave; they were curbed. Though it was ABASS*   who started it all many sangam took up the responsibility to feed the hungry Ayyappamar, people have crossed the toughest times by taking supplies to impossible mountain peak like Karimala, Azhutha; now with roads easing pain kerela government and travancore devaswom board(tdb) is pulling the rug on Seva Sangams. Image edited from The Hindu Double standard of kl govt and tbd ...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Acid rain in Chennai

Don't panic it is not literal acid but a metaphorical one. Probably Poes Garden, maybe Gopalapuram I can't imagine any other area in Chennai to be drained. So why is this? every time? we pray for rain and when it comes we are always unprepared, even for moderate showers our roads are flooded. Is it because Chennai is an old city and its infrastructure not enough for information age or is that because of the vote bank politics? By now you'd have guessed what I quoted as 'Acid rain', it is that one created by the broadcasting network. Nowadays every political party is having its own network, you do the math and imagine the amount of 'Angel and Demon' perspective we are exposed to. From every network that is with the ruling party, we are shown the 'Angel face' emergency number, disaster recovery team, ambulance gushing thru flood, evacuation and so on. Other side which clearly outnumbers the ruling party in 4:1 ratio shows us flood, death, dengue, sew...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Wings of Fire

Though tagged under review I’m going to try and bring the essence of the book, in no means I have the guts to write a review on a book that’s written on/by Dr APJ Adbul Kalam. Unlike regular biographies the book is filled with information and facts on Indian Space research straight from Dr Kalam’s diary, has very limited information on his personal life. From Preface of the book, we can understand Mr Arun Tiwari co-author of this book had brought up this idea to write a book and put it work. The book is organized in seven sections but the core content is put inside 4 sections – Orientation, Creation, Propitiation, and Contemplation. While the rest cover how and why this book formed and what it intends to convey. Dr Kalam being a spiritual person has quoted poems and lines from the Quran throughout the book. Orientation starts with the birth of the legend Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam in Rameswaram to Ashiaamma and Jainulabdeen, Dr.Kalam’s father is a humble boat owner a...
Post a Comment
Expand post »