Lessons of Back Pain

Back Pain is the number one cause of disability in the United States for people under the age of 45. 70% people in the US will have episodes of back pain at some stage in their lives.

Recently I suffered from back pain which was acute & not very serious in my case, still I've decided to blog about it. My reasons & lessons are below.

My back went 'OUT OF ORDER' when I bent to sneeze on a Wednesday morning in June this year. After pain relieving cream & pain killers didn't help I visited an Orthopedic Specialist who recommended 6 weeks of PT after my X-Ray came out to be normal (no herniated or slip disc). My condition was called lumbosacral strain and spasm. Someone at my work place suggested reading Healing Back Pain Naturally - by Art Brownstein. This book gave me lot of insights about the causes for this physical pain & also recommended back exercises. (Highly recommend this book to anyone who has back trouble)

My mind started thinking what could have caused it, what was going on with my body! Have I put on weight? Did I lift something heavy? Slept incorrectly? Bad sitting posture? Stressed? Why was I in pain?

Stress & Bad sitting Posture partly answered my inquisitiveness.

I started taking PT sessions at Twin Boro Physcial Therapy which was close to my workplace. T. Carpenter (M.S. in PT) was my therapist who decided the therapy program for me. She was helped by L & To. Attached is a picture of these amazing guys (from left L, T Carpenter, To). At Twin Boro, there were patients of different age groups, some younger than me and others older. Each one was there for a different pain or strain but the purpose of everyone there was the same. Getting back to Life without pain.
Lesson 1: Adversity, Pain, Problems (physical, economical, environmental, etc) can come to anyone in life at any stage. Age, social or economic status don't matter. You can take it as an opportunity, learn from it & overcome it or cry over it. Though I'm very young to have Back Pain, I'm glad it happened sooner than later so that I can be more cautious and careful in future.

T. Carpenter & her crew diligently helped me & worked with me in reducing my anguish and frustration. The simple talks, jokes (TubeLight), discussions (about Crocs) while working out helped to unwind and divert attention from pain.
Lesson 2: I read somewhere "Help is always around the corner, you just have to ask." When in a dilemma/problem look around and you'll always find people ready to help & work with you. I've learnt to ask for help. Thank you T. Carpenter, L & To for all your help. You guys rock. Keep up the good work.

My pain has reduced and my back is stronger, yet I know some days I'll feel perfectly fine and on other some uneasiness. It may take some disciplined exercising at home & time to heal my back completely (that reminds I need to do my exercises today).
Lesson 3: Back trouble is not the only ailment I'll suffer in my long life (Yes, I'm going to live long). It's the start but certainly not the end of life for me. I've learnt to be positive & patient with life. As Daniel Powter sings in Bad Days

I don't know if I should be sad or happy to finish my PT sessions. Actually I'm both, happy that I'm feeling better (and Hey, I also save $20 on copay .... ;-) ) and little sad because I don't get to meet & work with the Twin Boro crew.

This has been a rather long post, tried to shorten it whereever I could and removed all the extra mirch-masala. Also attached are some of the pictures with T. Carpenter, L & To, also a log of my exercises.

Next: Undecided post