Back talk

So at the start of this week I was feeling pretty cranky. My back was acting up again. I saw Len on Monday. I said "I think I'm stuck" and he said, "You are stuck. Your hip flexors keep tightening up and I don't know why." I saw my acupuncturist Karen on Thursday. She said anyone who sits all day long at work is going to have tight hip flexors.

Len said I should see a funny movie.
Karen said I should be outside in nature as much as possible.

I think they're both saying I need to relax.

I thought about how my back was doing pretty well a month ago. What have I done differently in the past month?
I stopped using my heating pad at night.
I started taking bromelain.
I have been crossing my legs again while seated and neglecting my posture.

So on Wednesday I started paying more attention to my leg crossing. It's kind of a riot. I'm sitting at work. I want to cross my legs. I make an effort not to cross them. I'm working away and then I realize, they're crossed. How did they get crossed on my watch? I uncross them. Repeat. over and over and over again. All day long. I readjusted my chair.

I stopped taking the bromelain.

I started using my heating pad at night again.

Guess what? My back feels the best it has all week!

And, as loony as it sounds, I've been having conversations with my back pain. Crazy, right? Well, I'm doing what the book Healing Back Pain Naturally says to do as one of the visualization exercises. I visualized my back pain (it happened to look like a Transformer, right out kids cartoons, maybe from the Selfish Seamstress blog posting a few weeks back) and I've talked with it. and it's talked back. It's kind of like writing a novel, but it's going on all in my head. But it seems to be working.

Unfortunately I keep hurting my right ankle in this annoying way. That's a post for another time.

I'm sooo looking forward to this weekend. It's supposed to be almost 90 here tmw. I can't wait to sit outside and read in the yard and enjoy life.

Good night!