My back hurts
Much like the headline says, my back hurts. It's not a constant pain, but it's rather situational and stems from a problem with my sciatic nerve. If I sit for a long time, or lay in certain positions, I find it difficult to get up and/or walk straight. The pain isn't overwhelming but its certainly dysfunctional. My chiropracter/kinesiologist is helping to minimize the impact, but can't seem to relieve the problem altogether (yes that's a form of holistic care coupled with traditional chiropractic, I don't really care for the common forms of chemical laden/drug dependent medicine). This is something I experienced in my college years and was able to virtually eliminate the problem for over a decade, but it's back with a vengeance.
Anyway, my "quack" is developing the opinion that I may be one of those rare people who's nerve runs in a position between the gluteus muscles and the bones of the hip in such a way that it may just be an issue I have to deal with forever. We're still trying various techniques for relief, but he's afraid that the nerve is simply in a position that whenever my muscles flex in a certain way they push the nerve against the bone and cause the irritation. I'm learning to focus on relaxing the muscles in question whenever I get a flare up, but it's a rather hit or miss prospect and in the meantime, it's uncomfortable and distracting. The pain doesn't stop me from working out or participating in normal daily routines, so I'm not trying to complain too much, but it sure would be nice if it just didn't keep sending those shivers of pain down my leg.
The shivers aside, it wouldn't even be all that terrible, except that it often wakes me up at night. It won't keep me up for more than a few minutes, the pain is sudden and severe based on a shift of position or a movement of the muscles, but I still wake up several times a night.
This might explain a recent increase in alcohol intake.
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