Feeling electric!

It's been a pretty intense year. After spending 2010 working mostly on this blog and my book, this year I have been in worse shape physically - and have had time for reflection. After I got the grant to start a Norwegian blog about the health care system  I've been getting more involved in politics concerning chronic disease, patients rights and freedom of choice. With more pain, there is less energy, and I've also had to rethink many of my viewpoints on chronic disease and the biomedical paradigm (which I used to criticize abundantly). Things are changing, and I guess I'm learning and developing.

Today is a great day, because I've just received a new shipment of TENS electrodes from my sister in Austin. My last TENS electrodes were wearing thin already in May, and with a new cold season approaching and rapidly increasing pain levels I've been trying to get new ones, but they are hard to come by and ridiculously expensive here in Scandinavia. But with some help from my globetrotting family I have now received 48 new electrodes, which should keep me supplied for atleast a year:

These things aren't easy to find where I live...
but they work wonders for my chronic pain!

So for the next few months I'll be wired and electrified daily. I wear the TENS unit while working, driving, reading, resting... whatever I need to do - and it immediately diminishes my pain and helps me keep intake of medication low. I'm training a lot these days, following a pretty strict physical regime with ashtanga yoga and physiotherapy and I hope that will help me manage to stay on my legs through the winter!

With the TENS on my belt I am fully mobile 

It works!!

Day 8 of micro cardio workouts and it's thumbs up for this test, this actually helps my muscle pain! Lately I've had pretty bad neck pain and muscle pain daily, but I've noticed significant reduction this last week while testing out micro cardio workouts - even with certain slips. Maybe it's too soon to say for certain, but so far it definitely feels like getting my pulse up and circulation going for at least 90 seconds several times a day is helping on the general "aches and pains" and bringing my pain level down.

I'm going to keep working on cardio and see if that also helps my energy levels. If I have more energy I'll be able to get more active again after a bad pain period this winter. My goal is to be able to do a decent 4x4 interval session three times this week... without overdoing it.

#319 Prevent back pain

The last few weeks I have met some amazing people who have one thing in common: They all suffer from back pain. Stabbing, aching, debilitating. They do their best to participate in everyday activities, but walk around like frozen statues, aching with every step. Talking to these people inspired me to put together two posts especially about preventing and overcoming back pain, based on what I've learned about it the last 14 years.

PS: these are only tips based on my personal experience, and are not medical advice. Always check with your doctor before you make any changes to your treatment.

Back pain prevention 101:

Whether you've gone through several back surgeries or you have a recurring backache that is just a constant part of your life, these are some simple tips that may help prevent more pain.

1. Prevent flares. If you have a condition which gives you back pain regularly, focus on preventing pain flare ups instead of becoming frustrated and seeking treatment every time the pain becomes acute. Try to avoid activities that you know provoke your pain, adjust your schedule and pace yourself so you don't overdo it on good days and provoke a new flare.

2. Get physical and keep moving... Only a very few and extreme cases of back pain require bed rest, for most types of back pain, resting just makes it worse. Start by building support core muscle, through balance training, pilates, chi gong or specialized physiotherapy and work from there.

 3. Watch your posture, both when you're sitting and standing. Tuck in your chin and keep your back straight. Practice variation, swap between sitting, standing and moving around. Make sure you carry balanced if you carry at all, if you bring a laptop around with you, carry it in a backpack.

 4. Do some kind of gentle warm ups first thing in the morning before you start using your back for anything heavy. Start your day with a cold shower, then scrub or brush your back and legs and switch to hot water to increase circulation.

 5. Have a good bed, and support your spine with bolster shaped pillows or wedges.