Just hang'n out...

In all the months of marathon training I did last year I found myself to be one of the lucky ones. No injuries, no ailments, no knee problems, no muscle pulls, I never even had so much as a blister on my foot. I kid you not. While my friends were all complaining of lost toe nails, shin splints, and hairline fractures....I was breezing right along injury free.


BUT, I've been plagued with lower back pain all my life. The older I get....the bigger the pain. When I was younger is was just a tight ache when I was on my feet for long periods of time. When I started working as an RN the tight ache turned into a throbbing ache and when I started running the throbbing ache turned into sharp stabbing nerve pains. Running aggravates it. Sleeping aggravates it. Walking, sitting, and breathing aggravate it. When I had to stop running during last year's marathon my legs and feet felt great....it was my back that was doing me in.


I was seeing a chiropractor for more than 3 months in the middle of my training last year and it did absolutely nothing for me....other than drain our medical reimbursement account. He explained to me that my problem will never be solved until I stop sleeping on my stomach... to which I responded with a hardy...then why am I paying you for 3 visits each week? So I stopped going.


I'm a stomach sleeper. I canNOT sleep on my back. I slept on my stomach until I was 7 months pregnant. And then didn't sleep for the last 2 months straight. I always laughed and said that this was God's way of preparing me for the sleepless nights after childbirth. I've tried also sleeping on my side with a pillow wedged between my legs and that doesn't do it for me either. I need to be on my stomach. I even recently saw my OBGYN to rule out female problems as the cause of the lower back pain.


My parents just recently purchased this contraption as my mother has severe scoliosis...and severe back pain associated with the scoliosis....

An inversion table. It hangs you upside down. The gravity apparently has the same effect on your spine as it used to have on my hair. It elongates. I tried it yesterday. I didn't feel any different after only one use...I tried it again this afternoon and my back immediately gave a loud crack. I certainly feels great hanging there stretching out my back. I can't tell if it's doing anything for me when I'm upright. I figure as long as I don't suffer a stroke in the process it can't hurt to try.

If nothing else it could make for an interesting sexual experiment.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this thing or with lower back pain? Did it help?

Edited to add....there will be no M4M post tomorrow. This past week has been crazy and now with the hubster gone....yeah....well....it aint happen'n.