For me this little journey started with lower left back pain. Back pain is one of those things that's just pervasive. I mean worldwide and throughout history really people talking about their aching backs is almost a clich?. But when you actually GET it, it's a wake-up call that some clich??s are true, true, true. It's taken a few weeks be this most recent ?episode? is now coming to an end-but I had to get some input this time. It was just too much pain to handle on my own. In the past I've both gone to doctors and tried just letting it heal on its own; same results. But I'm TIRED of not knowing when I'm gonna have a surprise back attack!

As I said, my recent flare up was recent and such a surprise-seeing as how I wasn't doing anything strenuous. I've been trying to come up with a way to describe it, and I now have two analogies. Number one; you know that experience of twisting and ice tray and watching the cubes jump out? Well when my back snapped that's what it felt like. As if some part of my lower back actually popped out of my spine. It was frightening. It was also quite audible. Analogy number two; have you ever watched somebody bungee jump? Bungee jumping looks VERY painful to somebody who's had back problems. The very thought of attaching your feet to some cords and then leaping off some structure and falling hundreds of feet where your top half can now be JOLTED apart from your lower half looks like something you'd have to go to hell experience.

I made a Squidoo page where I go into a little more detail about the solutions to my lower back pain. I also added some images that I think convey the situation. But as I'm now heading into recovery it really feels like a strength issue. The first few times my back ?went out? I recovered but had an enduring weakness. If I shovel snow too long, chop wood too long, even have sex too long-I feel a level of fatigue that I didn't feel before all these back issues started up. So I'm convinced more than ever now that solutions I'm pursing are based in muscle development and balance.

I made the unwise choice once to lift a giant air conditioner and try to hang it outside my bedroom window and my ARMS were fine with the lift, but man oh man my back did that ice tray thing and I was out of commission for a while. And when I'm out; I'm out. Even last week carrying a pot of pasta from the stove to the sink to dump the water was like some comical rendition of me pretending to be Igor as I carried a bucket of brains to Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. So now, this week, my lumbar muscles and hip muscles are all stressed out and aching too because I've been compensating for the back. So I urge you, if you've been having back issues, to investigate the concept of balanced and strong muscular development in your lower back.