Surviving Back Pain
This past weekend while I was holding my daughter, I had my first ever back spasm. I don’t know if I should feel grateful that it’s the first time it’s happened a year shy of my 40th, or if I am justified in officially feeling “old.” So thought I would share what I did to survive the day, but would love other suggestions.
Foam roller - while this was excruciating, it did help loosen my back muscles quite a bit. I have one similar to this foam roller (Amazon link). And my kiddo helped encourage me by saying helpful things like “ooh, my back hurts, I can’t get the knife out.” Well at least I know she’s listening.
Shakti mat - a few years ago, I bought this torture device because I thought it would help my husband with his chronic back pain. However I’ve ended up using it on occasion. But for the tight muscles today, holy relief. I was never so grateful to spend 10 minutes on it. My back went from a “I might need to call someone to help me up” level of pain to “I can move again!" If you’re not familiar with the Shakti mat, I’ll link to it here. It’s supposed to simulate laying on a bed of nails, ala acupressure. It is super helpful, but NOT for the faint of heart.
Water - yep. Good old water. It just made me feel better to hydrate all day.
Hot shower - figured heat would be a good way to continue to loosen it.
I did not take any pain killers (which may be dumb, but I am stubborn that way). And I can say that I was able to lift my kiddo within an hour of the Shakti. But I am still going to seek some additional help to fix it. If you’ve ever experienced back pain, what did you do? What works? Let me know at hello at survivalistgal dot com.
This post is not intended to be medical advice, and is based on personal experience. Always seek help from a professional if you are in pain.
