From Big to Twig to Wonder Woman to Injured

[Spaerrow]

Heya Nerdly People!

 

My name is Rachel, code name "Spaerrow" because if I could have an awesome ninja alter-ego, that is what it would be. This is what I've been up to so far and who I am:

 

I am 22 years old and I'm on my last year of school to be a High School/ Middle School English teacher. However, I'm a multi-faceted nerd. My students have been pleasantly surprised that I catch their Zelda references and can brag about my bow-aiming skills in Oblivion. I can beat my fiance' and his friends in Super Smash Brothers any day (not bad for a girl,) and I love books and all things literature. (Check out the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, you won't be disappointed.) 

 

I am also obsessed with getting healthy. I used to be a big girl. I got skinny the wrong way after discovering that I could control my weight. I got so excited and carried away with it that I was nothing but skin and bone with no muscle to my name. I took two jobs where I had tons of heavy lifting to do, therefore I became Wonder Woman. One job consisted of lifting furniture and the other consisted of lifting boxes and boxes of costumes (Halloween Store.) With a combination of malnutrition and lifting I developed a dehydrated disc that became cracked/torn and I was unable to walk for two weeks. My back has never been the same since. It's been over two years of daily pain and maintenance.

 

I gained about 20lbs after transferring to the University and dropping my second job. It hurt to exercise so I didn't, and we all know how college eating goes. This happened for about a year. This June I became engaged to my best friend. He thinks I'm beautiful at any size (truly, not just him trying to help out my ego) but I want to look great for my wedding in less than 10 months. I began exercising, reading Nerd Fitness, eating Paleo (mostly) and I have lost a significant amount of inches and I actually have muscle!!!

 

I am not where I want to be. I will never be stick-thin. I have wide hips and short legs and I'm ok with that, but I want to transform myself into the butt-kicking ninja I have always wanted to be. I know weight will fluctuate and if I keep on truckin' like I have then I will get to the body I've dreamed of, but I do NOT know how to help my back injury. It is better than it has been, but I really need advice on how to eradicate this persistent pain. I want to go hiking on our honeymoon in Colorado, I want to have kids, I want to play with them, I want to do handstands and jump over stuff, I want to help people move into new homes, and I want to grow old without being tied to a chair or a bed because my back won't allow me to live.

 

So if you stayed long enough to read my story and you have some advice on how to heal this rusty old back of mine, or you want to talk about how awesome Zelda is, be my friend and talk to me!

 

Peace out--

or whatever the kids say these days.

 

 

 

 

[starsapart]

Sadly, I have no advice about the back aside from consulting/working with a good physical therapist.  I feel you on the injury front to a lesser scale - I'm recovering from a broken ankle right now.  I do think I've seen a few people with back injury stories not entirely unlike yours, so maybe one of them will chime in?

 

Also, Colorado honeymoon!  I live here and it's gorgeous.  What time of year are you thinking to come/where are you going?  If you want some pointers from a local, I'm your girl!

[KaylaM]

Hey! Sounds like you're really on the right course exercice wise so thats definitely gonna help with your back recovery. Have you been looking into acupuncture or chiropractors? Or both? If you look into chiropractors definitely dont go to one that does all the twisting and cracking. Definitely do the research and find one thats trained in Network chiropracting. I've gone to plenty of différent ones to recover from a sprained back and they are by far the best!

Ditto on colorado! If you want any tips on where to go and what to see lemme know!

Contrats on the wedding!

Good luck!

[Spaerrow]

We don't know where we are going yet, but our wedding is June 6th so we will be there around the second week of June! I would love some pointers from you guys! We aren't very touristy people so it'd be nice to have some things to do where we can really have a unique experience.  If you guys have any idea on what two Illinois people should experience there then let me know!

[Strickland5]

Welcome!

 

I'm not sure I agree with you on the WoT books that's okay

[shaar]

Welcome!! Have you ever considered yoga to strengthen your back muscles? While my back isn't bad by any means, I used to hurt myself fairly often doing stupid easy things like gardening, packing, or lifting heavy boxes. I started yoga and after a month, I'll never forget, we were mulching our yard for hours and I was really truly pain-free! I was so amazed because before I could maybe handle half an hour of yard work before my lower back would get shaky/twingey and I would have to sit down.

I'm no expert by any means but I know what worked for me, and I'm more than willing to share what I know! Good luck on your journey!!

[Sahara Knight]

About your back issues, try find a chiropractor in your area that practices the Graston technique and discuss it with them to see if it would help.  Link: http://www.grastontechnique.com/LocateaProvider.html

 

About ten years ago I tore a ligament in my back playing rugby.  Now you would think horrible pain and not being able to lift my arm for over a week would tell me to go to the doctor, but I didn’t have insurance and convinced myself I simply pulled something and let it rest for the summer.  Fall came around, rugby came back around, I played and re-tore it.  I spent the next year still playing and popping pain killers like candy until they finally stopped working.  Even after I stopped the sports I was in pain.  YEARS of pain.  On many days it was so bad it made me nauseous.  Anything that made me look down, like folding laundry, hurt.  Standing too long hurt.   Like someone was reaching into my back, grabbing all the muscles and ligaments, and twisting with all their strength, hurt.  The new prescription the doctor gave me was useless.  I went to physical therapy twice.  I went to massage therapy and acupuncture.  Nothing worked.  The only thing that would help even a little was a back massage, and even then my friend told me that my back could feel nice and loose and then in that one area, going all the way down, it would feel like some bizarre steel rod.

 

I went to a new chiropractor about an unrelated issue and when I was telling him about my various back issues I mentioned the pain from the old tear.  Basically the tear, which was only a partial thankfully, had actually healed, but my back had developed a pretty permanent spasm around it and would seize up all the time.  He suggested the graston technique.  What they do is take variously curved metal instruments and rub the injured area.  The point is to break up the scar tissue (and apparently half my back was scar tissue) and let it reheal in a smoother manner.  It also forces tense muscles to loosen and brings fresh blood to the area.  It sounds odd but, omg… I can’t even describe  it.  The technique itself hurt, at least for me.  And it takes a number of sessions.  But it worked!  My back isn’t 100% and never will be, but I don’t have daily pain.  I don’t even have weekly pain.  I know what triggers the pain and just do things in moderation now, taking breaks, whereas before the pain was almost immediate and wouldn’t go away for hours or days after.  I just cannot say enough how much it helped me.