Back Pain

I'm dealing with it as I write this post.

I have intermittent issues with muscle spasms, and this is no different. It is located to the right my spinal column. A knot, probably the size of a ping pong ball, sitting there, pushing on the sacro-iliac joint, tweaking some of the other muscles as well as nerve endings. And causing me a lot of discomfort.

Fortunately I'm not dealing with numbness in my leg. That would be a problem necessitating a call to my doc, who would probably tell me to be seen in the emergency room. Not doing that, either.

My best course of action is to stretch, alternate ice and heat, and use NSAID's. I've been doing that for almost a week at this point with no relief.

I'm going to continue that, though, at least for now. Martha and I will be going away for a few days and I don't want anything to get in the way of that. The place we're going to be staying at has a hot tub/Jacuzzi in the room we're staying in and I fully plan to take advantage of it. Maybe it will help loosen the knot.

Right now I have a double-walled cardboard box between my back and the chair I'm sitting on, and I wedged a tennis ball between the box and the affected area of my back. The tennis ball has been in the freezer since last night, and I'm alternating light and heavy pressure on the spot. I did the same thing yesterday and it seemed to help, at least a little bit. Let's see if it helps now.

When I finish writing this post, I'm going to stretch a little bit more. Done some already today without a lot of relief, but maybe the tennis ball will help me out.

I'll try to write about the mini-vacation adventure. It will be the first one Martha and I have been on since our wedding. In fact, our ninth anniversary was one week ago tomorrow, and it will be a bit of celebration for us. And considering the summer we've had so far, I believe it to be well-deserved. I'm just hoping that I can get this kink out of my back soon...