One Step Forward, Two Leaps Back

Waking is always hard, especially when you need to flex your hands loosen your fingers, stretch your legs to gain enough mobility to sit upright at the edge of the bed. Yesterday, I knew immediately that something had gone awry. Sitting up was excruciating, especially on the left side which is not the side I've come to expect sciatic pain. I got my son to the school bus and the dogs to the park. Normally, trudging through the leafy muck for an hour is enough movement to count as a warm-up for stiff joints. Not yesterday. I got the dogs home, cleaned all the mud off them (thank goodness for waterless dog shampoo), and realized that crouching and sitting were horribly painful. I laid on the floor and did some gentle stretches but mostly I was in a lot of discomfort. Especially sitting. 

I'm in agony here...

Driving to the park this morning still hurt a lot. Almost as much as having shingles in that same leg. I'm half tempted to dose myself with the leftover gabapentin. As I recall, I used to take it with ibuprofen before bed just so I could sleep. I'm at the park for two hours with the dogs (canine playmates started showing up an hour into our park time), mostly pacing and trudging. The drive home is still painful. Cleaning mud off the dogs still hurts and it shouldn't. But walking around my house feels fine so I'm resolved to go to the gym today if only to warm up with some cardio and do some limited stretching. 

Cardio starts off well and I'm moving at my usual brisk pace. But halfway through, a spot just left of center over the back of my hips starts to ache. It's the same ache I experienced when had to stop doing Alternating Knee-Elbow Crunches. I don't have the mentality that lets me quit right then and there. Instead, I power through and this is probably a mistake. I feel okay but my back is a tad stiff. However, I discover in the Aerobics Room that I absolutely cannot sit on the mat because the pain in the left glute is excruciating and radiates down to the sole of my foot. After a few seconds, my foot starts to tingle. Never a good sign. 

Fernando says, 
"It's better to look good
than to feel good,
and darling, you look..."

Laying down offers less relief than one would expect. Keeping my knees bent helps a little, but when I curl up to gently bring my knees to my chest, the pain intensifies. I'm a little nervous doing the piriformis stretch although the right leg is okay. The left leg is really sensitive. I'm thinking something's horribly inflamed. The Dead Bug movement offers some relief in that you can't really focus on coordinating your arms and legs and nerve pain simultaneously. 

The first time I do planks everything feels okay. The second time there's more pain, probably because my body's not happy with the fire hydrants. Bird Dogs look like one of the suggested exercises for sciatica that I found online. Looks like the second plank was a mistake: any relief I got from Bird Dogs quickly dissipates with the regular plank. I completely skip push-ups and any notion of sneaking in a few pull-ups.

I don't blame any of the new stretches I did Monday. Instead, I think sometimes Seated Cable Rows put too much pressure on my lower back which has now inflamed the other sciatic nerve. Never mind that I'm doing the same exact movement with the same exact weight I've done every week for months now. The only difference is that for the past few weeks, I've done a set of pull-ups beforehand, and I've been trying to increase my set by one rep each week. Could this simple addition be the reason for this injury? I don't know. 

Sitting in the car is so uncomfortable that I resort to popping several ibuprofens. I don't normally take anything but I have some errands to run and being able to drive without being distracted is ridiculously important. It's 57F and sunny, and people are driving like lunatics.  

10 March 2021
Sciatic Wednesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 2
HR 81, 188-139
Cal 319
Distance 2.86

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
10 Dead Bugs x 3
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Plank 60s (painful left sciatica)
Mat stretch et al