McDonald's tonight...working out tomorrow.

So, yes we had McDonald's tonight. And yes we're planning on kicking our workouts into high gear tomorrow. I know everyone says that including me, but this time there's a bigger reason for doing so. Besides loosing weight and being able to fit into more than 10% of my clothes, I have to do this for my back. And also for Andrew! He's listened to my crying and complaining about my pain for far too long.

Back in high school I had my legs clipped from underneath me during a basketball game and I landed on my back herniating two discs - one on each side of my back. I visited a chiropractor for a while and that seemed to help for a few days at a time but we were never sure how to heal it. Eventually I went off to college and it stopped bothering me so much. Most of the time I didn't even have any pain at all. But a little over a year ago, I was walking my dog Brinkley, which by the way weighs nearly 100 pounds. I can't say exactly how or when it happened but somewhere in between his sudden bursts of energy, he jerked it out of line again. Even though he's the root of all my problems - hurt back, dirty house, etc. I can't stay mad at him!

So you may be asking why I didn't go to the doctor when it happened a year ago? Well, I did go to a chiropractor again and this time there was a new technology called "decompression" which supposedly works wonders and I'm sure it does. But when your insurance doesn't cover "elective procedures" and you'd be out about $4,500, that just isn't a practical option. If I had that much money just camping out in my bank account, I'd go tomorrow morning and give it a whirl. But, I had to move on to the next option.

I went to a neurologist or an orthopedist, I can't remember which one. Anyway, he thought I should have steroid shots - one in each disc. Well, it seemed like a good place to start except for the fact that my deductible is about $2,500. Again, don't have that kind of cash just lying around. (I totally need to get that changed but I wanted lower monthly payments so that's the price you pay:( Anyway, I researched that as well but quickly found out that they only work about 50% of the time and even then, it will eventually wear off since it doesn't address the main issue of healing the disc, it's simply something to help relieve the pressure, thus alleviating the pain.
So, since I want to figure out how to heal the discs, I put that on hold to explore other options. I feel like such an old woman! Why am I blogging about this? No one cares about an old lady's back pain!

So I've researched everything from modified yoga and the best tennis shoes to diets and vitamins to both relieve the pain and heal the discs. So I bought a back support pillow for my office chair, some new tennis shoes, back specific vitamins and a yoga dvd.

Everything I've researched says that strengthening your core will help the disc heal by themselves. So I'm giving this 6 weeks before I make an appointment with a back specialist. I'll post an update then!