A day in the strife: Low back pain

I was lying on my back on the gym floor, deciding between crawling to the locker room or asking the staff to call an ambulance.

I’d had acute low back attacks in the past – from doing bent over barbell rows, T-bar rows, and also from deadlifting, like in this case. But I’d never before considered being carried out on a stretcher.

What does life look like in the weeks after the lightning bolt strike to your low back?

• Getting dressed in the morning is a 50/50 proposition. You put your underwear on by lassoing your foot with the hole for your leg. Socks are a near death experience. Shoes you can wiggle your foot into, but the laces remain untied.
• Say you do get dressed. Standing up from a chair or couch is an ordeal that lasts several minutes. Same with getting out of the car. You’re moving in slow motion as your back loosens fiber by fiber.
• By the way, good luck washing your hands. I bet you never realized that you have to bend at the waist in order to reach the stream of water coming out of the faucet.   

Let’s not do this anymore.