Archive for the ‘health’ Category
Slow Recovery
Aug.18.2010
Either a slow recovery or perhaps a chronic condition. I am hoping it is the former and not the latter.
The onset of a different kind of back pain emerged late June, roughly eight weeks ago.
Having had a history of back pain, it is almost impossible for me to point to a specific cause. Too much sitting? Too much cycling? Too much lifting? Not enough core conditioning? I think it may have been a combination of bad posture at work and a bad fit on the bike. But I really do not know.
The trainer that I have been working with is without mercy. He pounds and batters this old frame of mine with all of these new exercises. I am getting increasingly uber-fit because he is an awesome trainer. But, is the training making a difference to the back?
For the most part I can sleep through the night without distraction. Mornings are still difficult. Overall I feel “stiff” in the mornings and my back in particular feels that way. That could be due to all the new exercises and stretching actions. The sciatic pain is, for the most part, gone although I do sense it lingering in the background when I move a certain way. Not the same stabbing pain that traveled down my right leg, mind you. Just lurking, underneath the surface, waiting to send a reminder that something, somewhere is not quite right. Of course, much of it is likely in my head.
The lower right part of the back is still “tender”. Certain movements will trigger pain but I can ride the bike, hard. I can do a challenging core conditioning exercise session with my trainer, hard. And I have no issues with back pain.
Where the back pain becomes very bothersome is in a car. 15 to 20 minutes and I begin to experience discomfort.
We have a lot of travel ahead of us next week. Hours in cars, hours in planes, hours in trains. I hope the back can withstand the demands of travel.
Push
Aug.12.2010
Personal Trainer: “Give me one more. Come on. I know you can do it. Push! Push!”
And I did another one. Legs burning. Arms burning. Heart rate anaerobic. Body shutting down. But I did another one.
Personal Trainer: “I’ve worked with a lot of people wanting to get into better shape. And there is one thing that consistently separates those who achieve their goals and those who do not: push. Trying to do just one more, working just a bit harder, always digging deep to make that extra bit of effort.”
Although his comments were in the context of an exercise session, I thought his words applied to other challenges in life.
And I pushed hard last night.
No pain, no gain.
Personal Trainer
Aug.10.2010
My session with the personal trainer went well last night. Compared to last week, I am not struggling with any significant, lingering muscle pain. But don’t let him know otherwise he may further intensify the workout. It is plenty challenging enough right now.
I rode my bike the day after the workout last week and I had a very difficult time keeping my heart rate aerobic. My muscles were hurting long before the cardio system felt anything. I was battling to keep the cardio intensity above a light recovery ride even though my leg muscles were in agony. Tough ride.
My trainer told me to keep today’s ride an active recovery session. Which means a very easy ride. Light gears, light effort.
Obviously, the overall objective is to improve core conditioning and to hopefully alleviate the back pain issues and not break any new cycling records. Recovery rides do not break cycling records and I try to avoid doing them as much as possible.
My theory, though, is that my personal trainer will create pain in the other areas of my body and I will soon forget about the back pain. It will seem very minor by comparison.
So far, this theory seems to be working.
Staring at Screens
Aug.05.2010
Sitting, it seems, can be a very dangerous activity.
In a study published in May in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, they reported that, to no one’s surprise, the men who sat the most had the greatest risk of heart problems. Men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars (as passengers or as drivers) had a 64 percent greater chance of dying from heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less. What was unexpected was that many of the men who sat long hours and developed heart problems also exercised.
I know that sitting really bothers my back. Depressing to learn that it also might kill me.
I wrote this post standing up.
Via.
Door2Door Fitness
Jul.13.2010
Started my first session with a personal trainer last night.
Yes, I am in great shape. And no, I am not in great shape.
Years of cycling have made an incredible difference in my overall condition. I have lost a lot of weight and, more importantly, I have maintained my weight. However, I have struggled with lower back pain for many, many years. Although I approached cycling with a high degree of intensity, I did nothing around the cycling work to build up my core strength. Nor did I do anything to stretch my muscles.
At this time, the major leg muscles — calves, thighs, quads, glutes — are rock solid. So are the forearms, biceps, triceps and shoulders. No surprise as these are the muscle groups that do most of the work when riding.
Midsection? Flabby. No surprise there either. I just haven’t performed any conditioning for the midsection.
Several weeks back, significant back pain emerged. Different class of back pain from previous years. Lower right side with a numbing pain traversing down my right side from the hip to around the knee. Really painful first thing in the morning. I am not able to sit for any length of time and it is really difficult to drive a car for much longer than an hour. Really difficult.
Although it is hard to say with certainty, I suspect this happened due to an aggressive cycling program and misalignment of my pedal cleats.
What my muscles are doing, in effect, twists my body out of shape. The muscles are so tight and the midsection so underdeveloped that I am experiencing pain when I do simple things like walking, sitting or raising my right leg off the floor.
Nino from Door2Door Fitness came over last night and took me through a series of routines to assess the current state. Bottom line: very tight, limited flexibility, and imbalanced development of muscle strength.
I have signed up for 16 sessions to start the process of core conditioning. That, along with a refit on the bike, should help to address the lower back pain issues. I hope. I may need to get things checked out to rule out any other contributing factor.
Nino said that I won’t need a lot of coaching: “You strike me as a highly self-motivated and very disciplined person.”
My wife thought that was an understatement.
Toronto Bound
Jun.11.2010
Heading off to the big city for a couple of days. Then I have to tackle a rather impressive to-do list of tasks that have been building up over the past several weeks.
Being busy allows a different, healthier focus to emerge. And I need to re-focus.
Cycling makes a big difference. Unfortunately, I did something to my lower right back, or hip, when cycling last week and I have had to take a bit of time off the bike to make sure whatever happened gets a chance to heal. I might also have to revisit my fit on the bike in case I have something like a leg-length discrepancy — which is what I think I am experiencing.
Cycling has a way of making things seem better. I hope to be riding again on Sunday. Weather forecast for Sunday looks mixed right now but maybe the sun will be out.
I could really use the ride.
Tinnitus Update
Mar.01.2010
I received a lot of emails on my recent post about tinnitus. Thank you for the kind words of support.
What is different for me this time around compared to when the tinnitus first emerged three years ago? I do not have the same intensity of emotional response to the condition. Is the condition challenging? At times, you bet it is. Last night, I awoke around 3am and I was shocked at the intensity of the ringing noise in my head. However, I was able to control the “fight or flight” response and I resumed sleeping. Three years ago, I would have been overcome with anxiety and nausea. Three years ago, I did not sleep at night.
The process of habituating to the condition seems to be going faster this time as well.
No question that it has been a setback in terms of quality of life. It is hard to describe just how terrible the condition can be when it is present in the conscious mind.
But for those who did write to me, I am doing fine and I am coping much better these days.
Tinnitus
Feb.20.2010
Tinnitus first emerged in December of 2006. It was a horrible time. A very dark, despondent time in my adult life. I posted about the experience here.
My last post on the subject was here. I was pretty proud of how I had adapted to the tinnitus. It no longer impacted my life and I did not notice it most of the time.
Until this week. On Tuesday, something happened and the tinnitus roared back into my left side. Although I did not have the same degree of emotional response as when it had first emerged, the symptoms of intense nausea, headache, stress, lethargy, discomfort and despondency all merrily jumped in. In a way, I was hoping that I had come down with a flu. Despite experiencing some severe nausea, no other flu symptoms emerged.
The intense ringing is back. Overshadowing life.
I suppose I am most upset because I did not think that the tinnitus would re-emerge. I am not the only one to have it return with a vengeance. And I have to be optimistic that I can re-adjust to the perception of the sound. It took about six months to adapt the last time it emerged. I’ll just have to accept it and learn to deal with it again.
Tinnitus
Dec.04.2009
It was almost two years ago that tinnitus emerged. A particularly dark time in my life as posted here.
I have had several people ask me about the battle with tinnitus. And, although it is certainly always there, it is never really there. In other words, I do not notice it most of the time. And for the times that I do notice it, I do not have any emotional response. To me, when I do perceive tinnitus, it is a bit like the noise of a computer fan. Present but not really noticeable.
The best counsel I can give to someone suffering from tinnitus is what I took from this website:
1. Don’t despair or Panic. The condition can be overcome. You will need to be patient and realize there will be setbacks, trials and tribulations as you move forward to your goal of habituating or no longer perceiving the Tinnitus. It is comforting to note that the vast majority of people who have Tinnitus are eventually able to habituate it. If there is no fear, anxiety, worry or negative emotion associated with Tinnitus sound then the autonomic and limbic system in the brain won’t perceive the sound in a negative light and the sound either goes away or is habituated (the sound is there but not noticed no longer perceived). If it is noticed it is no more annoying then your air conditioning fan or computer fan. In the beginning if there was no extreme physical or emotional stress the best course of action would be simply to ignore the sound and not to worry about it. For those that have had the condition for a longer period of time Auditory Habituation using sound therapy may be more appropriate.
2. Don’t believe all the negative literature, negative counseling and horror stories. When a physician tells you “You need to just live it” don’t believe it. There is a lot that can be done and there is a lot of reason for hope. The “wall of worry” followed by a negative emotional response is exactly what makes the condition worse. Unfortunately, many “Resources” out there don’t provide sufferers with much hope and practical suggestions. As a result the condition simply worsens.
3. Avoid trying so called “miracle cures” that are not supported by medical research. If a miracle cure fails your stress and anxiety levels will be increased. Again, the “wall of worry” followed by a negative emotional response is exactly what makes the condition worse.
4. Despite all the negative press more likely than not Tinnitus from a loud event (Disco Tinnitus) may go away as long as you don’t worry and develop a deep emotional response to it. Let it go its course and get plenty of rest and sleep. The worst case in most situations is that after treatment you will habituate or be able to ignore the Tinnitus. The noise may be there but most of the time you won’t notice it or perceive it as annoying. This is the subject of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). See attached links if you wish to find a professional registered in this technique.
5. No regrets. Although it is good to understand the events leading up to the tinnitus don’t beat yourself up over the cause or whether you could have avoided it. Don’t beat yourself up over events in your control that you feel have made it worse. Practice a no regrets policy; it is all water under the bridge. These kinds of things happen and you would be surprised to find out how many people you know have been affected by Tinnitus in some way. It is good to determine what the cause was as this will allow you to understand the condition and move on. Was it a loud noise, severe emotional or physical stress, or an illness that led to the onset of the ear noise?
6. Early on, it is often better to avoid using ear plugs or other hearing protection unless you are in fact protecting yourself from expected loud noises especially if you are hypersensitive to sound (i.e. people talking, loud children). The continual use of earplugs may trigger hyper sensitive hearing or Hypercausis in some individuals. (Consult your physician)
7. Focus on the positive. Despite widespread literature to the contrary the worst case is that with treatment you will habituate the sound after a period of time. This means eventually most of the time you won’t notice it. Studies have shown this occurs despite the pitch of the sound or the volume level. The best case is that the sound simply goes away.
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