So my back feels 110% better than it did a week ago. While it still has a ways to go as far as full range of motion and flexibility, I actually woke up this morning with no pain whatsoever, and enjoyed the best night sleep I've had in quite some time.I credit this breakthrough to two things.. the stretching I talked about in yesterday's blog post, and swimming. It's not so much swimming, as it is floating, stretching and slowly twisting and turning my torso in a weightless environment. With no pressure or strain on my lower back, I could actually feel my vertebrae relaxing and slowly cracking.
When I get out of the pool, it feels as if my back has been through a strenuous workout. It doesn't hurt mind you, it just feels spent and as if there's a void there. It's as if my brain doesn't know what signals to send me, as my back has been tight for so long. It's a weird, but it feels as if my back doesn't know what to do, now that it's no longer tensed up. I keep expecting it to tighten up at any minute. While it feels great to have no pain, it also feels kind of weak.
Tweaking my back last week wasn't the beginning of my lower back problems. It's been tight with limited flexibility for years. I even got disgusted years ago and gave up golfing, because I never had a good range of rotation for a decent golf swing. Usually a hot shower in the morning and ten minutes with my legs up in the recliner, would reset it for the rest of my day. The next morning, I would have to repeat this same process all over again.
I think that once I'm in the clear from the injury, I need to start trying to strengthen my lower back muscles. It makes sense that if I haven't had full range of motion for years, those muscles in my back haven't been used properly during that time either. For the time being I think I'll continue with this low impact exercise, and will soon start using techniques to slowly strengthen those weak muscles. I really do have a spring in my step today. Now I need to just remember not to get cocky and re-injure it!