One helpful outcome of our attempt at an at-home vacation (we bailed on our camping trip because of my bad back) was stumbling upon a NadaChair booth at the Minnesota State Fair. The chairs “effectively prevent slouching while relieving back pain related to prolonged sitting. Nadachair lumbar support cushions improve posture by using the knees to keep the pelvis stabilized in an upright position.” The thing really helped with my lower back pain whenever I needed to sit someplace — the car, movie theater, dinner table, etc. It looks a little weird to carry around. One guy mistook it for a rock climbing harness. I was hoping someone would ask me if it was a trapeze-type device for facilitating interesting sexual positions.
Last week I was finally got to the point where I was pain free most of the time, as long as I didn’t sit for long. I kept adding gentle back exercises each day from my new back bible, Backache: What Exercises Work and by week’s end, I was doing fast-walking at the Carleton College running track and climbing up and down the stadium stairs. I also started swinging my racquetball racquet at home, much to my wife’s dismay. But I wasn’t even tempted to ride our trials club’s two-day motorcycle event at Spirit Mountain.
Tomorrow I go see my orthopede about my knee with the torn ACL. I’m trying to decide whether to have it fixed now, later, or not at all and just figure out how to strengthen the knee and stabilize it with a knee-brace. My joint bible is Wear and Tear: Stop the Pain and Put the Spring Back in your Body and between the two books, I can see me continuing to be active with these joint-unfriendly sports for another 25 years or more. Hah!