Back pain blog
By Karl Godden
I recently had my own episode of acute back pain. It started fairly innocently – In fact, I was at work helping someone else with back pain. I felt the familiar old twinge, “oh I’ll have to do something about that”, I thought. By day’s end, I couldn’t move without excruciating pain. It completely incapacitated me and left me gasping with disbelief at the severity of the pain.
I rationalized that I hadn’t done anything damaging to my back – it was just a consequence of previous injuries and a buildup of stress. Despite this understanding, it didn’t help my worsening situation as the pain was so great, it felt as if I had fallen off a cliff.
What was important to recognize was that indeed I hadn’t fallen off a cliff and did not catastrophize. But what to do in the face of such an onslaught of pain? I also started to recognise the impact of enduring that level of pain was having on other areas of my life. Moodiness, grumpiness, decreased motivation, decreased exercise, increased fast food, decreased sleep. Even the helpless looks of loved ones irritated me. Lots of people have told me, “Ohh, that’s just my normal level of pain”, but have you really considered what being in constant pain is costing you?
As the sharp pain slowly subsided over the next week, I was shocked to witness the change in my brain. I became fearful of movement and actually anticipated pain before it occurred – which of course made everything much worse. I slowly started doing all the exercises that I tell everyone else to do in similar situations. It hurt… a lot (especially the ego). I could no longer even do a plank without intense stabbing pain. So I figured out slowly what movements I could do pain free, and did them. Oftentimes it left me exhausted- my panic would rise in such situations. I went to an Osteopath, having that support not only helped me physically but supported me mentally to get through the barrage of pain as well. The pain subsided, movement returned. The pain had reminded me to restart my regular wellness rituals, to focus on what I can do, and to do what matters to me. What is your back pain reminding you to do?
