Hi friends, its been a full and productive day over here! Got a bunch of seeds started, ordered some special flowers for the week, created some content, walked Maverick and took care of some domestic duties. The weather is definitely turning and after the super cold weekend we just had, we seem to be past the double digit negatives. Spring is just around the corner friends - 17 days to go.
Today for Monday musings, I'm going to talk about something a bit different and that is the importance of fitness and a little info about my journey with back pain.
From a young age, I was very active and tried just about every sport I could. Thanks largely in part to my Dad's passion, I settled on golf and started playing competitively at the age of 13. In golf, there is a lot of twisting and turning, weight loading and transferring and it can be pretty physically demanding. So when I experienced back pain as a teenager, it was determined I had a lot of muscular imbalances and weaknesses and a slight scoliosis.
I worked with an athletic trainer and physical therapist to create a plan to strengthen my core and back. By working out 3+ times per week, I got stronger, reduced my pain and improved my golf game - a definite win, win, win.
After my amateur golf career fizzled out, thankfully so did my back pain and I didn't really have any further issues. I continued to work out and stay active and eventually got pretty into yoga. Even though I am quite physically capable, within the last 5 years though, to be honest, I haven't been that physically active, other than with gardening and growing flowers.
It is no secret that gardening and flower farming are very physical tasks that involve a lot of squatting, bending over, shovelling, lifting etc. etc. And in order to be capable of completing these tasks, you need a strong body and especially, you guessed it, a strong core.
I spent nearly the entire 2024 growing season with back pain, and instead of going to the doctor's and actually dealing with it, I decided to take more rest as a way of treating it. I was way more laissez-faire and hand's off in the garden, had Tom give me lots of help and I just avoided lifting or doing anything too strenuous. For some relief, I would stretch to try and relieve the pain. Even with all sorts of rest and some stretching, guess what? The pain remained. So, I soldiered on just did what I had to, to make it through the season.
Then came the new year and slow season and time to do something different because what I was doing was not working. I made an appointment with my family doctor and saw her the beginning of February. We chatted and she did some basic testing. She didn't think that there was anything structurally wrong (which is great), so no mri or serious further testing would be required.
She did however, refer me to the back pain clinic, where I was able to meet with a chiropractor for a rapid assessment. We chatted about my previous back pain challenges and my physical activity history. We then did some physical testing, which took about 30 minutes.
He confirmed that nothing major or structural was wrong - awesome. But, guess what he did tell me? That I have many muscular imbalances and weakness - ha ha! Of course I do. Then he told me, no stretching or yoga because I'm already flexible enough and what I need is strength! So he gave me a print out of about 10 exercises that I can work on everyday to strengthen my core and back.
I am 4 days in and I can honestly say I am already. feeling a difference and am feeling stronger. I still have back pain, but it will likely take a few weeks to subside. And then when it does, it is important that I keep working hard and doing my exercises so that I can maintain my core and back strength.
So, my general advice to you, even if you don't have back pain, is to strengthen your core. Your core controls so much and can make physical activities or just life in general, so much better.
Can't wait to report on a later Monday Musings that my back pain is gone! Until then, you can find me doing planks, squats and bird dogs!
Thanks for reading,
Laura
