It didn't hurt. But I've discovered that I often do things that don't hurt at the moment but cause something to impinge on that huge sciatic nerve that reacts later. It's very frustrating. Normally, walking around eases the sciatic pain I wake up with. Not this time. Walking around has made it worse all weekend. I even skipped yesterday because I needed to find a comfortable position for relief. Plus I felt very tired and had unsightly under eye bags. Comfortable turned out to be sitting almost semi-crouched with my knees closer to my torso than normal seating allows. I'm not sure how that eases the strain. I just go with what works.
I've had this issue with sciatica for some years now. It's why I've stopped doing Seated Rows at the cable machine. I can pull more than 65 lbs but when I do, my sciatic nerve screams at me the next day. I've stopped doing dead lifts and so many other movements. I can still drop down and touch my elbows to the floor with straight legs shoulder's width apart. I can roll forward and put my head on the mat while seated cross-legged. It's all things I could do for years. Except now, the sciatic nerve on my right side gets horribly upset and takes days if not weeks to calm down. My foot and lower calf have been going numb while just taking the dogs to the park. I started dosing myself with ibuprofen again, and rubbing a good dollop of the arthritis cream Voltaren on the afflicted areas.
And if it isn't because pulling/pushing weights aggravates my sciatica, then it'll be bad for my glaucoma. So I do what I can do, and try not to get too bored with myself. And try not to forget why I shouldn't be pushing to do more. It's no wonder I'm not as excited to hit the gym like I used to...
I just read that taking 3 ibuprofen tablets AND an acetaminophen together really helps with pain. I've just been taking the former while eyeing a bottle of the latter. But tomorrow I'll try the combo. Today, I also twisted oddly this morning and had to deal with a peculiar soreness under the shoulder blade. It wasn't much of a problem until the second set of pull-ups. Maybe it was because I was tired, but the sciatica AND the lopsided soreness made the movement much more difficult.
I got to the gym late and while I was expecting Wind Breaker on machine #3, he was actually on #2. And some other guy was on #3. But #1 was free. I hesitated for a second because I really dislike that old dried mushroom smell, but I didn't smell it today. When the guy on #3 finished and left, Wind Breaker immediately reclaimed that machine. I did okay on the elliptical and the first set of pull-ups. The step machine was harder. And the second set sucked since my foot was asleep (very distracting) and the sore back made me feel lop-sided. Pedaling the cross-trainer did not feel good. It was only 15 minutes and at least the numbness didn't spread past my toes and the front of my foot.
The Aerobics Room was freezing and felt very good. There were several other people in there all doing their own things. I pushed through my general routine, but sciatica was not happy with Bird Dogs, or push-ups. Oddly, Air Squats were okay. I'll probably skip tomorrow.
I've also been watching some odd old TV shows. Yesterday, I discovered a hysterical series created, written and starring Alan Tudyk. It only ran for 2 seasons but I'd never heard of it before. Cameos included Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle, The Rookie), Sean Astin (LOT, Stranger Things), Amy Acker (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Gina Torres (Suits, 911), Henry Rollins... Tudyk's latest show, Resident Alien was great but unfortunately ended with the series finale in season 4. (I have yet to watch it since programs don't always end on the streaming network they began on.) This earlier show, Con Man, is hilarious, but I can see where it'd piss off a lot of industry people. It's apparently based on Tudyk's actual experiences trying to escape typecasting (Firefly).
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