Hey friends, I NEED YOUR HELP! Let me please explain. This is in regards to an ongoing medical condition. I am going to be as thorough as possible in this explanation so that you are empowered to offer me your best suggestions! (Translation: prepare for this to be rather lengthy and boring.)
God gave me the wonderful privilege of playing a unique sport called field hockey for several years in high school & college. From this experience however, through my ignorance at the time concerning conditioning and training, I developed back “problems.” Looking back, I believe what I did was over-train my abdominal muscles without strengthening the opposing muscles in my lower back. If I understand synergistic muscle groups correctly, this means that the stronger muscles in the front of my body began pulling on the weaker back muscles. I first began experiencing problems from this in 2003-ish: occasionally, after sitting down for a length of time, when I stood up I could feel the bones along my spine in my lower back “shift” like, I was done moving (to stand up) but they continued to move forward, like a loose joint. No pain, though, so no problem. Just weird.
I was extremely blessed to play sports in high school and college essentially injury-free. I’ve always attributed much of this to my diligence in my workouts to warm up, stretch, and cool down. Well, graduate from college and welcome to Real Life. Stretching, etc. became less of a priority as time became less available- time enough to work out was the commodity; there were not enough minutes in my day to leisurely enjoy my former exercising routine.
So when in 2007 my right hamstring began tightening up, I attributed it to this. Change in routine = body rebellion. So I laid off from things like running for a time, but with no effect. My hamstring was unexplainably tight and I lost flexibility in it, but still no pain. So I bucked up and learned to live with it and began running again.
Then, enter the stress of a full-time job that drained me physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and I began experiencing more symptoms. I think my stress honestly went to my spine! In a period of maybe two months my back tightened up almost to the point where I became unable to walk. This happened in early April of this year. I didn’t know what to do. I was used to being healthy, mobile, and active and yet I was locking up and slowing down like an old woman. I’d heard that massage therapy helped loosen tight muscles so I pursued a kick-your-butt, oh-so-painful-but-good-for-you deep-tissue massage which literally restored to me the ability to walk normally again.
Temporarily. The back tightness returned not long thereafter (my hamstring continued to be tight) and turned into an ache-y, lingering lower back pain. Uncharacteristically of me, I decided after a few months of this to pursue professional medical care. I visited a back specialist in Avon (Indiana) who took x-rays of me which revealed a “healthy” back. His answer: take muscle relaxers and go to physical therapy. If this didn’t fix my pain, come back to see him. Well, muscle relaxers were a bad idea for me. I felt GREAT so I of course over-exerted myself. I did the stuff the PT told me to do-INCLUDING! not running- but still experienced pain. And no one could say what was wrong with me! Why the pain???
I then did three things things: re-commenced running, saw a chiropractor (I’d heard they were pretty helpful with these kinds of things), and consulted with my family doctor about pursuing an MRI. The chiro, in conjunction with monthly massage therapy sessions, must have helped me because I saw him several times. From him I learned that I have built-up scar tissue in my lower back. Not an answer to my pain Question but one more piece of the puzzle. I didn’t go back to the back specialist; my family doctor said the expense of an MRI was unnecessary at this point: take muscle relaxers and stop running. I didn’t do the former but did do (again) the latter.
During my 5,926 mile car ride this summer to the west coast I began experiencing tingling and temporary numbness in my legs- a sign of sciatica nerve problems. The tightness in my leg continued as did my low back pain.
I moved to Haiti in August in the midst of this unresolved back drama. Again, I had stopped running. The effect: pain decreased but not evaporated. Still no answer to the cause of the pain. And my low back continued to do its weird “out of joint” stunt. So to retain my sanity I began running short distances again. And I felt pretty good! But Haiti took its toll on my body (unpaved and uneven surfaces, merciless hills, poor sleeping conditions, etc.) and the pain, this time intensified, returned. And with it more problems- my right hamstring tightened more and my right quadriceps locked up: this felt (feels) like I am fighting my own body to walk. When I walk I of course am moving forwards but these muscles in my legs are pulling against me in the opposite direction. Walking is like trying to run in deep water but the resistance, rather than external, is my own body! My muscles are fighting against me.
About two months ago, nearly unable (again) to walk, I began seeing a chiro here. She adjusted me weekly and after some time and much progress released me to bi-weekly appointments. It was within that span of two weeks that I experienced totally normal (no tightness or pain ANYwhere!) running again- for the first time in nearly two years!!!! Miracle of miracles! But I, being the zealot that I am, over-extended myself and found that two weeks was too long to go in-between adjustments. The localized, ache-y pain in my lower back returned and with it the same symptoms I described above: numbness & tingling down my legs and the tightness and resistance in my leg muscles. I thought that getting back into weekly adjustments would do the trick but I’ve been unable logistically to make the appointments and my last one didn’t yield the result I anticipated.
I am near despairing. Sitting hurts, walking and standing hurt. I am in constant, unexplainable pain with no Plan to resolve it. Oh, one more potential piece to the puzzle. I have a friend at the Fishers Y named Todd who described to me a tight muscle problem he once had in his (I think) hamstring. He saw a physician who diagnosed him with built-up scar tissue on the insertion point of the muscle. The treatment: he went for regular appointments at which the doctor scraped away (using tools externally) at the tissue until it was broken up and the muscle relaxed. Todd said the treatment was the most painful thing he’s ever known but that he was completely healed as a result…
What should I do? Do I get an MRI? I am going back to Indiana Monday but am not able to see my stateside chiro until Jan 4th; I don’t want to spend my vaca in this kind of pain! Do you have a chiro you could recommend? What do you think? Marcia wants me to NOT go to a homeopathic or chiro doctor; she wants me to run the traditional route of medical doctors and tests, etc. The problem I see with this is that they want to push pills on me which I will NOT take- pills which only treat symptoms, not causes (and they have yet to offer me an explanation for the Cause of this pain) and I am not willing to undergo back surgery, so… What do you say???
Haitian artwork for sale adorns many street walls.
