Back Issues

The straw that broke the camels back happened yesterday.  For some reason when I workout after teaching spin my back gets jacked.  So last night at crossfit I was feeling great and then one small mistake and I felt my back go completely out.  Bad.  Thank goodness Todd was there with me so he could get me home.  I called my mom and she came over to work on me but I couldn't get out of bed or put pressure on either leg.  This laid me up for 2 straight days and I've had lots of days since when I just couldn't get out of bed.  

I bought a sweet weight belt but wasn't wearing it when I threw out my back

Sweet Tracy brought me a drink and came to chat

 Claire picked me a flower to help me get better

And Trent brought me the ultimate get well soon "bucket" ever!

Hip Update

On Monday I went to see the "special" Brazilian doctor. His business card says he does: Do In, Shiatsu, Zen-Shiatsu & Muscle realignment. After a quick run down of my history and evaluation he told me he thinks the root of my problems are in my upper back (on the right side between my shoulder blades) and that is causing my neck and low back problems. He asked me how often I get headaches ..... pretty much every single day. Then he got to work. I hurt so bad. Seriously, I've birthed 4 kids naturally (and Luke was over 9 lbs) and this felt worse. (maybe I'm exaggerating but you know with pain whatever you are feeling at the moment always hurts more than past pain). Anyway, he did his "magic finger" work on my back and neck and my legs and told me that I should drinks lots and lots of water because in the morning I would probably feel like I'd been hit by a truck. I've been pretty sore but I feel like things are going in the right direction.

On my way back to work from his office I called my mom (of course) and she agreed with his assessment because of my very first back injury. When I was about 10 I was doing a back walkover and I stepped on my hair and went down. It hurt sooooo bad. Then the next year I had scoliosis in my upper back. Fortunately my mom had just graduated from Chiropractic school so she worked on me and did traction everyday until it was gone. I hadn't really thought about any of that in the last 25 years though. Since my low back has hurt so much lately I've always focused on that instead. I've done just about everything over the years - physical therapy, MD, chiropractic, massage, you name it I've probably tried it. Everything I did helped a lot for the specific needs but nothing really kept it from coming back. I'm hoping this time we are getting to the root of the problem so it will last a little longer.

This morning I tried running for the first time and I felt twinges and aches and even walked to make sure I wasn't pushing it too hard - and it was only a 3.5 mile run. But I feel like I'm making progress and my headaches are much better already. I'm sure with more time than 4 days and 2 visits I'll feel even better.

Why I am the tallest Schultz sister

I got my MRI results yesterday for my low back and I now know why I am the tallest sister (Jeannie I know you beg to differ but I think I'm still the tallest...especially since you're prego now). Apparently, I have an extra vertebrae in my low back. One of my sacral (tailbone) vertebrae decided to be a lumbar instead so I have 6 instead of 5. This being said it's no wonder I have had low back problems since high school. My doc said that since your lumbar vertebrae are the base they are similar to the foundation of a house - and my house got built on unsteady ground.

For all of you doctor's out there my diagnosis is that I have lumbardization of the first sacral segment and mild broad-based disc bulge is present causing minimal impression on the thecal sac with mild neuroforaminal narrowing bilaterally on my L5-L6 and L6-S1 vertebrae. I also have a subtle area of increased signal on the L5-L6 disc which may represent a subtle annular tear as well. (I've put some linking in from webMD for any of you like me who don't understand most of the above paragraph).

Basically, the doctor told me I have a few back issues and will have them for the rest of my life and I need to have "constant vigilance" with my back exercises. OK he didn't really use those words...but I thought it was more fun. I'm just glad to know what's going on and after another month of physical therapy I'm sure I'll be feeling good.