Not sure what it is, but it's definitely sore to the touch on the right side, and I think it's muscle soreness, not a bad disk or the bone itself. Close to the iliac crest. Standing up and sitting down are the worst things. Once I'm standing up and past the painful part of motion, I'm OK. I can move fairly well once I get past that stiffness, but getting upright and moving is really not pleasant at all. Like everyone, I've had some back pain before, but never missed a lot of work because of it. I know this means I should be doing more situps and other back-strengthening exercises, but I haven't been keeping up with them, so it's my own fault.
That sort of discomfort tends to focus one's attention, so I haven't been watching the world as closely. I see more from the Planned Parenthood Shop of Horrors, yet the Senate couldn't come up with a vote to shut down their funding. I'm beginning to see them as doing the same corrupt tricks as the SEIU and government employees' unions in general. They give money to Evil party members to get elected and once they're in place, the Evils give the money back to PP. Each party skims some off the top of the pile; don't worry, you're paying for it. Of course, this is exactly how the government employee unions work with their cronies in the Evil Party.
Mark Steyn has had some of his usual excellent observations on the Little Shop of Horrors.
If abortion were the respectable medical procedure its proponents insist it is, there would be no such thing as "Planned Parenthood", anymore than there is a Planned Hernia megacorp. We are told constantly that abortion is a very teensy-weensy, barely statistically measurable, all but undetectable micro-sliver of the wide range of "women's health" services Planned Parenthood provides. So it only does an estimated third of a million abortions per year - or about as many abortions as the combined total of half the remaining G7 nations (Germany, France, Canada). It is the single biggest aborter on the planet.I think too much of you, dear readers, to go into details on the false arguments for how much women need PP. Many sources have covered this information in the last couple of weeks. I thought a purpose of Obamacare was to provide any service any woman wanted. We also fund something like 9000 community health centers, several times the number of PP clinics in the country.
So the "right to choose" has facilitated the rise of a characteristically American racket: a billion-dollar "non-profit" that gets over half its funding from the US taxpayer and pays its eight top executives an average of 300 grand in order to serve as the paramilitary wing of reproductive liberalism. Planned Parenthood is an abortion-industrial complex: America is, alas, the abortion mill of the western world, and Cecile Richards' organization is its Standard Oil, US Steel and American Tobacco combined. Its ministrations fall disproportionately on minority women, so in that sense it is still true to the racist and eugenicist theories of its founder, Margaret Sanger: among blacks in New York City, there are more abortions than births - a grim ratio one otherwise has to go to Russia and its satellites to find.
...
Among developed nations, only America kills on this scale and in this manner. You can't do it and retain your humanity.
Graybeard,
ReplyDeleteJFYI, I daily get pain I feel in my right sacro-iliac region that often refers to (is felt at) my hip, but its actual origin is in the damage at L3-L4 in my spine. I'll be scheduling another surgery sometime in September to deal with that. I'm not saying that is your issue, only that "hip pain" is sometimes actually a compressed spinal nerve/cord problem.
As far as not having done anything likely to cause back pain (or elsewhere), about ten years ago twisted in an unusual position, picking up a pencil I dropped that rolled under a desk. I managed to pinch the left brachial nerve plexus that lies close to the shoulder blade, and suffered a month of pain so bad the doctor put me on morphine for two weeks of that time. It was not fun.
It is incredible how little it takes to do nasty things to ourselves. Especially as we get older.
Have you checked with a GOOD chiropractor to see if they can fix your problems? Note that many chiropractors understand their elderly patients are only there so they can have someone to talk to, and they are terrified of any adjustments to their spines. Those chiropractors still perform a useful service for those patients, by making them feel as if they are important. But those are not the ones you want to use to fix a real problem. Ask around, and you should be able to get some good recommendations from your friends who have successfully used them in the past.
ReplyDeleteMark - I don't know any chiropractors at all. I can start asking around though.
ReplyDeleteReg - this is going to sound strange but 10 or 15 years ago, I hurt my shoulder and neck the exact same way: picking up a pencil I had dropped that had rolled to just beyond my grip. I just stretched too far for it and ended up with neck/shoulder pain for months. No morphine, though.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI know from experience a good chiropractor can work miracles. The first one I ever went to gave me months of pain-free living for the first time after twenty years of a bad back with zero conventional medical relief. That man was a true healer, and could fix me when I re-injured myself. Unfortunately, he retired, and I went through a half-dozen mediocre chiros before finding another good one.
Recently here, I had been going to that good chiro, but we finally ran out of good results. Turns out I was down to bone-on-bone on two levels (L4-L5 and L5-S1), plus the nerves coming out of the foramen (holes through the vertabrae where the spinal nerves exit and continue to their destinations) were being blocked by calcium deposits (stenosis). Surgery - or going back on narcotics, which I refuse to do after that one two week period on oral morphine, were the only options.
The first surgery relieved the shooting electric pains down both legs that made walking difficult, but I still have too much back pain from the two failed discs above the first repair. I'll talk to my doc next week to see what he suggests, but I'm pretty certain it will involve at least one more level (L3-L4). Thanks for suggesting that, though. I went over ten years without surgery thanks to good chiropractors, and even though I worked in the ("conventional") medical field for years, I know they can often provide better care than MDs.
There are indeed some circumstances where chiropractors cannot help. But they are worth a try before surgery.
ReplyDeleteIf you can, you want to find a sports medicine chiropractor. They treat people who actively play sports, whether merely for recreation, or for a living. Those people want to get back out on the field/court as soon as possible, and will do everything they can to make that happen. Normal medical practitioners understand their patients expect THEM to do all the work. If they assign rehab therapy, the patient MAY go for a week. If the therapist is cute enough. And that's it. Sports medicine practitioners understand that if they tell their patient to do two sets of twenty reps with 10 pounds of weight daily, the patient will do six sets of forty reps with 25 pounds of weight, expecting to get back out there sooner. So Graybeard, check with your athletically-active friends to see if they have any recommendations. Or if there are any professional sports teams - or high level college teams - in your area, inquire as to who THEY use for chiropractic issues. Nothing quite like knowing that your chiropractor treats the NBA champs when they have problems...
Mark, you've just described my usual way of going through physical therapy. If they ask for 10 reps, I'll do 15 or 20. I've had to work hard on myself to stop at what they say to do.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part with what I've got going right now is knowing when I should start the stretching and exercises. I have started, I just don't know if I should have.
A good chiropractor can help you there, and tell you which ones you should be doing. As I said, check with any of your friends who are athletically inclined to see which one they use, or ask your local sports teams - the ones you respect - which one(s) they use. The good chiropractors won't waste your time and money if your problem is not something which can be fixed without surgery.
ReplyDelete