A week with a back ache

It's been more than a week since I hurt my back and I'm glad that I'm nearly back to normal. I thought that I would be okay after just a few days because last time I hurt my back (which was I think a couple of years ago) the pain and stiffness were gone after a day. But that was probably because my mom contacted our doctor and he prescribed me an anti-inflammatory drug which did the trick. This time around, I opted to skip consulting a doctor (I'd have to spend a long time sitting down anyway waiting to see one) and taking any medicine and so ended up being uncomfortable for a week.

Like I said last time, I would be rarely free of pain. I thought for a while that I needed to keep moving to get rid of the pain but that only made it worse and I eventually decided it best to take things a step at a time and take the slow but sure road to recovery. In fact I thought I was already all right come Monday morning that I opened the garage door myself (everyone else was still asleep and not around to help anyway) so that I could bring out the car. That turned out to be a bad idea because my back ached all day after that.

I would be especially stiff after sitting down for a long periods of time whether at my desk, computer or in the car driving to and from work. I read somewhere though that not sitting up straight puts less strain on one's back. So I'd try "slouching" with my back at the prescribed 135-degree angle instead of sitting up straight and strangely enough, it works. (That's how I spent most of yesterday afternoon as I graded papers.) For a while, I also thought that by standing up instead of sitting down, I would be less likely to feel pain. But I found that I was wrong particularly when my back would feel so tired after giving an hour-long lecture. (I wonder if my students ever noticed that I wasn't walking as briskly as I used to or that I seemed to move around like an old woman.) And then I'd had to sit down to "rest" my back, which I already knew didn't really rest my back. After also finding out that I was stiffer than ever after sleeping flat on my back, I also ended up sleeping in bed at night with my pillows piled up so that I was half sitting (again with my back slightly at a 135-degree angle). But at least after a few nights of a good night's sleep, I was starting to feel much better and less stiff. I also slowly started doing a few stretching exercises to get rid of the stiffness.

And so now, I don't feel pain too often and I can bend at my waist and not feel too stiff. My back still feels tired after sitting down but at least it isn't as bad as it used to be. I even got to spend three hours practicing piano late yesterday and today. I suppose I'd get so carried away playing that I forget all about the pain. Of course, my back is a little painful now but it's the first time it's been painful all day which is sort of a good thing, right? So I'm truly relieved and thankful that I'm getting over this back pain business and do so look forward to a week with lesser back pain.