Last Thursday before New Years, I did several hours of yard work building a chicken run for my chicken coop. Lots of bending, stooping, and shoveling in weird inaccessible corners. It totally killed my back. It was the kind of pain that felt like I was getting knifed right under my rib cage taking my breath and nearly bringing me to my knees.
With only a few weeks off before school starts, this is my window to do all the projects that have been building up over the last semester. I have work to do, but I don’t want to make my back worse.
I immediately started doing light self-massage on a foam roller and movement restoration work the same day. The foam roller made the pain worse, so I ditched it for the time being. The movement work was a life saver. I have been consciously engaging in these movements every day throughout the day. It’s my number one priority to get my body back to full function.
I’ve been able to relieve 80-90% of the pain and movement of my spine. I was feeling well enough to do a three-hour hike to start the new year, three days after onset of pain. I followed the hike up with a hot Epsom salt bath and then restorative movement. I feel ready to tackle another year of growing into myself.
This is the forty minute movement session I did after the hike. I finished the session with ten minutes of 2×4 balance challenge. There is no sound, play your own tunes.