"That whole area is completely solid.."
Me: Is that bad?
"Erm. Yes."
Oh.
"Those 3 joints are locked, so the muscles have tightened around them."
Oh.
"Just move onto your left side for me. There are 2 more lower down that have locked as well. I'm going to try and release them if thats ok. If it gets too painful let me know."
CRACK
For the last two weeks, my upper back has been pretty painful. I say pretty painful, I mean really fucking painful. My shoulders hurt if anyone touches them and after about 30 minutes at my desk I'm in pain. I hit breaking point yesterday and the combination of pain and nagging by co-workers pushed me into making an appointment with my Dad's Osteopath. the conversation above is a rough transcript of the session.
Basically, there are about 3 joints in my upper back and 2 in my mid back that had locked. In my upper back, the muscles around those joints had tightened to protect them. This causes pain.
The 2 in my mid back weren't as bound by tightened muscles and she said she'd be able to release them. She did this by making them crack.
Let me tell you, that cracking sound is one of the most scary things I've ever heard. It doesn't hurt, but you do feel it. It sounds like you're being snapped in two.
She seemed to think it was an accumulative thing, gradually getting worse over time until it started to hurt all the time. Apparently, some stretching exercises and a couple more sessions and I'll be ok.
The muscles were tighter on my left side, which is the side I tend to carry things on. A few hours later and my back feels fine, but my left shoulder is really sore.
I guess thats what I get for not doing any sort of exercise!
yikes, hope you're ok...
Posted by: peach | Monday, June 11, 2007 at 11:18 AM
I hope you're feeling better soon and that you don't have to experience these sessions too often!
Posted by: ruby | Monday, June 11, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Ouch! I always say that exercise is overrated until something like this happens. I hope you feel better. I find that Cosmopolitans or a bottle of wine are a girl's best friend in these situations!
Posted by: Beth | Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 04:40 PM
Peach - Thank you! I am SO much better after that 1 session I can't believe it.
Ruby - I'm feeling a lot better now, so hopefully it'll only be the one more, which is the one I have booked for this coming saturday. If I'm honest, I'd rather go through this a few times than suffer the back pain again!
Beth - For the first time in my life, I'm starting to realise that the exercise thing is important, once I get this sorted out I'll start some sort of exercise as a preventative measure. Luckily, so far I haven't had to resort to Dr Booze yet, but I like knowing he's there if it gets too bad!
Posted by: Beth | Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 10:46 PM
I totally know that cracking sound and it's really painful for a few days after but it's totally worth it when it subsides.
Posted by: Clare | Saturday, June 16, 2007 at 11:21 AM