Back Out Of Trouble

Regular readers of this Journal know that I seriously hurt my back 9 days ago, but I felt somewhat better the next day.

I felt better because, through meticulous and very painful trial-and-error, I discovered that I could “pop” my sacroiliac back into place by hyperextending and holding a slight modification of one of the stretching exercises that my chiropractor had given me a few years ago.

Why did I try to treat myself, instead of going back to the chiropractor? Because:

• I hurt myself on a Saturday and wouldn’t have been able to see the chiropractor until at least Monday.
• I didn’t think that I would have been able to drive myself to the chiropractor’s office.
• It’s been a couple of years since I saw the chiropractor, so if I went back now, I would have to get a whole new set of expensive x-rays and diagnostic tests before he could even start treating me again.
• My medical insurance woudn’t cover any costs until after I had paid the first several hundred dollars.
• Treatment would have required many expensive, time-consuming visits over a period of at least 2 or 3 weeks.

But I ran into a problem with treating myself. Even though my self-adjustments had eliminated nearly all of the constant pain, I still had to move and bend very carefully, or I’d get hit with sudden stabbing pain like an electrical shock in my lower back.

Something was still out of place, but I couldn’t figure out what it was or how to get it back into place (pun intended).

So I spent 8 days adjusting myself and living on the edge of excruciating pain.

Until last night, when my excellent next-door neighbor and good friend, Annamarie, brought me a book that she’s had for several years, called “Treat Your Own Back,” by Robin McKenzie, a world-renown physiotherapist for more than 40 years. Annamarie got her copy of McKenzie’s book back when she worked in a medical office that gave a copy of it to every patient who was scheduled to undergo back surgery.

I began reading it and learning about the types of postural mistakes often lead to lower-back pain. It all made perfect sense. And when I got to the page that asks several questions, to determine whether you are a good candidate for its methods, I answered “no” to every single exclusionary question and “yes” to every single inclusionary question — that meant that I was a perfect candidate for treating my own back.

To make a long story short, within an hour after I had started reading that book, my pain was gone.

Here are the details that I wrote in an email reply to Annamarie’s husband, my good friend, Mike, late last night:

YES! I’m feeling INCREDIBLY better!

The book describes one particular exercise as the very best and most effective one to relieve lower back pain as well as to prevent lower back pain. It’s the one where you lay flat on your stomach on the floor, then basically do a push-up with your upper body, while you leave your hips and legs flat on the floor, to really stretch your back backwards. The book says to stretch back as far as you can and hold it for 2 or more seconds before laying back down. Repeat it 10 times, and try to stretch a little further back each time. During about my 6th repetition, my sacroiliac popped one silent little “pop.” On the next repetition, it did two quick pops that were so loud that (my wife) could hear them, and she was reading about 8 feet away!

Now all of a sudden, I can stand up straight again! And I actually feel TALLER — which I suddenly remembered was exactly how I used to feel after Dr. xxxxxxxx used to adjust me!

I went to Amazon.com, where I found Treat Your Own Back for only $10 plus shipping. But they also sell that same author’s newer book, 7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life: How to Rapidly Relieve Back and Neck Pain, which combines and updates the lessons from Treat Your Own Back with the lessons from his other book, Treat Your Own Neck. His combination book is only $11.05 plus shipping, so I ordered that. It should be here this coming Friday.

Up until I did that one exercise, I had 8 days of on-and-off excrutiating pain, punctuated by a few pain-free hours here and there in which ANY leaning over or sitting down caused sharp, excrutiating pain all over again. And as I told you the other night, even though I figured out how to adjust my sacroiliac myself 8 days ago, it never really felt like it was completely back in place.

But now it does. So I’m going to keep reading and keep doing that stretch!

When I woke up this morning, by habit, I got out of bed very carefully. As I slowly rose to my feet, I felt a slight stab in my lower back. So I made my way to the living room, got down on the floor, and repeated the stretch that had relieved my pain last night. As I stretched, it felt like my back muscles were actually tighter than they had been before I stretched last night. But, once again, about halfway through my 10 reps, I felt a slight pop in my lower back. I finished the exercise and then just lay on the floor for a few minutes. When I got up, the pain was gone again.

I can hardly even believe it — but it’s absolutely true.

If you, or someone you love, has back or neck pain, I highly recommend that you seriously take a look at Robin McKenzie’s life-changing books.

Thanks, Annamarie!

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 9:16 am.