Day: September 6, 2022

Second back flareup

I had a flare up last night….again while laying down. Relief: laying on the floor with my legs up and bent like this helped. This is a screen shot from this outstanding video by Dr. Andrea Furlan. It is really the best one I’ve seen; lots of outstanding advice here.

The flare ups started last Thursday and are always associated with lying down. I also note they started after I switched to walking before doing pull ups, and I’ve noticed some radiating pain (not severe) a few sets into pull ups. I think I know why: I appear to be arching my back on the way up, and that is never good.

I’ll start doing few pull ups, with legs in front and if I need to 1-2-3 at a time (if that), that’s what I’ll do. I might even do some with the assist machine to train the muscles the right way.

I’ve noticed occasional pain when doing the crawl stroke, pull ups, sometimes with the bench press (after I torched it with pull ups) and toward the end of walking on a hilly course.
Oddly: deadlifts (ok, with the trap bar and light weights I use) are painless, as are push ups, back stroke, side stroke, or swimming as fast as I can.

Walking slowly (15 mpm or slower) starts to get slightly uncomfortable ..walking under 13 minutes a mile feels good.

(for those reading my blog for the first time: I suffer from neurogenic claudication brought on by femoral spinal stenosis which results from isthmic spondylolistheis. the TL:DR version: my L5 vertebra is slipped forward due to a chronic stress fracture in my pars (back of the spine) and this slippage impinges my L5 nerve root.

Today’s workout: I had some trepidation. But walking to work and back home were fine; I added distance to ensure 1.1 out, 1.03 back. No trouble at all. Work was fine too. I also did PT and a morning swim…very gingerly as the back ached while crawling; I made an effort to keep a flat back and not arch.

1000 with 4 side stroke 100’s, 4 back stroke 100’s, 1 fin segment (50 crawl, 50 back) and 1 no fin segment (50 crawl, 50 back)

5 x 100 drill/swim (4 kick on the sides/swim, 1 kick front, swim

6 x 50 on the 1:30. all but 1 were 0:57, one was 56 (swimming scared..kept a lot on the tank)

200 in 4:00 (again, swimming scared)

Then I had my two lunch walks.

So back to this injury: it is sort of crazy. I’ve got walking back, I can swim (provided I mix strokes and don’t over extend my crawl) and I can lift..with in reason.

The new worrisome symptom is the lay-down flare up. But my work life and walking are 90 percent better!

I am not ready for the knife yet, but I do have to manage my activities carefully and constantly checking for what might not be working.

Minor flare ups

I’ve reached a point where I am getting minor flare ups from time to time, but not while walking.

I feel it some just after pull ups (have to work on keeping the back straight; maybe use a belt?), bench (couldn’t quite get the back comfortable) and on rolling on my side from a prone position. I seem to be sensitive to arching; wondering if:

  1. Not doing the press ups
  2. too much sitting; just ordered a lumbar cushion
  3. Walking: how is the volume..it seems ok..the old pain while walking has gone down greatly.

I was worried about work, but no problems…even walked an extra mile home. But I didn’t do high incline presses.

PT, 1 mile walk, weights. Then a lunch walk

weights: pull ups 2 sets of 15 singles, then sets of 5. push ups: 3 sets 35, 30, 25 incline, 10 flat

bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 139, 10 x 139 feet up

curls: 3 sets of 10

Baseball:

The weather didn’t want to cooperate at first, but eventually we got a 4-3 Chiefs win. It was 4-1 in the top of the 9’th, when the visitors got a double and a home run. But that is where it stopped.

The crowd was pretty good, especially considering the weather delay.