Watch Your Back!

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It's the start of Back Care Awareness Week, which has a goal of increasing awareness and managing back pain.

I can relate, I've had three separate episodes of sciatica. 

The first time was in my 30s when I couldn't get out of our waterbed (that was the last night I slept in one) because the pain was too much.  I was taken to the emergency room by ambulance that first time. I was given pain medication but nothing seemed to work, eventually, several months later the pain faded away.

My pain ran down the back of my leg feeling like a red-hot poker. It was difficult to find a comfortable way to sleep or sit, although hard chairs were better than soft ones. 

The second episode, a year later, the pain switched sides. I didn't go to the ER this time and relied on over the counter pain relievers until the pain eventually went away.

The last time was more than ten years ago, not long after we moved to Wisconsin. It was triggered by the fire alarm in our apartment building going off. The sciatica pain returned to the original leg and the thing I noticed was when I walked around Oakwood's campus I was passed by people using a walker.

It's tough to be in a good mood when your back hurts. Almost everything we do involves the back. It's no fun and can be debilitating. 

I'm thankful it's been years since my last serious back pain. One thing that's helped is exercising the back, lifting with my legs, and politely refusing to do jobs with heavy lifting.