lower back pain – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

I swear it was just a couple weeks ago I Adopted a new motto of “little and often”.

This week flipped that upside down and lit it on fire.

I started on the holiday Monday with a list of things that needed to be done before fence replacement work would start on Wednesday.

My youngest kid, Jean, came over. We dug up plants to move them out of danger. We moved and flipped the contents of two composters.

Michel cleaned out our garage and mowed.

Dividing and conquering we got lots done.

Tuesday was even more frenetic gardening.

Wednesday my contractor arrived and I puttered around outside and kept myself available.

Thursday I gardened at my place for three hours before flitting over to Heather’s for some visiting, snacking and, oh yes, two solid rounds of weeding. Then back home for more outdoor work.

Nat grimacing at the camera. Her face says “not so little but very often”

Friday, more work on my gardens in the morning and time with my friend Phyllis in the afternoon. I brought her scant amount of transplants and in return she filled my car with plants.

I got home, had a light dinner then quickly set to work planting all my new plants so that Saturday’s rain will help them adapt to their new home.

This has been a boon to my average step count. I’ve been averaging 9,500 a day over the past year. This week I averaged over 13,000.

A bar graph showing values for each day of the last week ranging from 8,000 to 18,000 steps on a given day.

Somewhere in there I had physiotherapy and a massage. I’m taking care not to aggravate my lower back and stick to daily physio exercises.

It is pretty typical that I put a lot of effort into my gardens in the spring. This year I feel like I’m making fast progress. I want my gardens to be lush and full of life without looking unkempt. It’s tricky because my garden is informal and uses a lot of native plants, folks sometimes think it’s merely overgrown.

Here’s to my efforts reducing a bit over the coming weeks as I focus more on writing and crafting.

My lower back is often tighter than I realize. My massage therapist kindly reminds me to keep walking, lifting and stretching. It usually keeps things decent.

My last physiotherapy appointment I asked Emily if we could assess my right hip. It was very painful after swimming last week.

Emily asked me a bunch of questions then set about assessing my hip and back. I stood on one leg, then the other. I did side bends. She then had my lay on my back and put my leg in various positions asking me to press or pull.

“Ok. Now I want you on your stomach and just go into a baby cobra as relaxed as possible.”

The pain went away. Yet another moment of “what I go in for is not the issue”. Translated pain is the name of my game.

So I’m on a tummy time routine with hourly baby cobra. It’s definitely working.

No more hip pain but WOW is my lower back screaming day and night.

It’s frustrating as I continue to chase one petty injury after another.

Looking back there have been many things to irritate my lower back.

My fall in December , walking in snowy conditions, less strength and cycling and, oh yes, shoveling a shit tonne of snow the past month.

It’s the injury of desk jockeys, those of us with extremely sedentary jobs.

“But Natalie!” you exclaim, “you are a very active person!”

Not farmer active. Not contractor active. I’m active around an 8 hour day of sitting. So I’m using the standing option as much as possible. I change up where I’m meeting. I use stretch brakes. Walking commutes.

While I am frustrated at always being in physiotherapy for something I’m grateful I can access expert care.

It’s tempting, laying here writing to just stop doing everything. But I know it will only make the pain and my quality of life much worse. So. Baby cobra and being kind to my back it is.