Sunday, 12 May 2019

Lumbar spine, sadly not on the mend

Poles, when making (birthday, name-day or other) wishes to one another wish on themselves “above all health” (przede wszystkim zdrowia, alternatively, zdrowia, zdrowia i jeszcze raz pieniędzy). And this is what I could wish to myself. Work-wise, money-wise and social-wise (with a small gripe my friends could find more occasions to meet up) things are shaping up at least well. Only the problems with the lumbar spine put a damper on my lust for life, hopefully only temporarily.

Soon after the last update, I have finally found a decent physiotherapist who has worked up a proper set of exercises (having carefully examined the x-ray photo of my spine). The regular exercising has helped me cope with the morning pain (body stiffness after the entire night is the major nuisance) and generally stretched my body.

In the meantime, general circumstances were not conducive to mending the spine. Moving in, which involved carrying stuff and repeated thorough cleaning, has not given relief to my spine, despite following the rules how not to overstrain it.

I had my ups and downs, nevertheless, the pain did not hinder my normal functioning. Until last week, when cards were stacked against my spine. On the two last days of the long weekend I helped my parents prepare their house for the refurbishment. Moving pieces of furniture, carrying stuff, kneeling and bending have put a strain on the most vulnerable part of my body (leaving all other parts unaffected, happily). On Monday I took a business trip beyond Olsztyn, driving a rickety pool car, whose driver seat was so spoiled that I could not regulate the driver’s seat properly. Consequently, I found myself cramped behind the wheel for a total of five hours. While my legs, neck and other part of my body have quickly pulled through, my lumbar spine has not.

On Wednesday evening, while doing shopping I raised my leg to tie a shoelace and.. got stuck in such position (leg already down) with a terrible ache in my spine. Brushing aside the fact none of the shoppers bothered to pay attention to me, I waited out the worst pain, paid for the shopping and toddled home.

On Thursday a workmate helped me out with a painkiller, in the afternoon I went to a doctor who prescribed me another set of painkillers and wrote out a referral for MRI in urgent mode which I had done on Friday morning.

Just today I feel the improvement, either from painkillers finally doing their job, or the inflammatory spot easing off.

In two weeks I am heading to a… sanatory… Yes, indeed, I bought a fortnight intensive stay to have my spine cured. For a while my concern was whether I would withstand a five-hour drive there. Sadly, the only reasonable train which would bring me to Jelenia Góra by the time I must turn up to have the preliminary medical examination sets off from Warsaw just after 6 a.m., which means I could not vote in the election, something I would not forgive myself. Besides, not going car means a longer journey and involves more suitcase-carrying, on top does not offer flexibility of taking quick sightseeing trips around the mesmerising Dolny Śląsk. Hope within two weeks I am able to take a trip, just with one or two breaks along the way.

1 comment:

Michael Dembinski said...

Hope the rehabilitacja goes well. I would recommend doing planks as an exercise to strengthen the body's core muscles.

I was amazed after a just a couple of months doing an average of eight minutes of plank per day that I could shift two and half tonnes of water from my działka cellar without feeling any muscular ill-effect the day after. Planking is literally the best exercise you can give your body. That and walking of course!