My back is not a happy back. I'm pretty sure that I have a sacro iliac injury. Three weeks before I got married (in 1998) I hurt my back (in the sacro iliac area) doing kick boxing. I was seriously afraid I wouldn't be able to walk down the aisle. Fortunately, my chiropractor fixed me. I went to the chiropractor on and off for a while and then I felt pretty good. When I was pregnant with N (in 2001) I kind of re-injured my back (vacuuming) but I didn't go to the chiropractor because I was too scared it might cause a miscarriage. (I'd had one before and I was scared out of my mind.) After that pregnancy, I was surprised by how good my back actually felt.... I was thrilled!
Then when I was just newly pregnant with K, I fell and injured my back again. I didn't go to the chiropractor. I was worried that it might make things worse or that it might hurt the pregnancy. Silly me. Throughout that pregnancy, my back was not a happy back. After K was born, I started seeing my chiropractor again. It was just starting to feel pretty good. Then I got pregnant with T. This time, I kept going to the chiropractor till I was about 32-ish weeks pregnant. At this point, my joints were so loose that the adjustments only lasted for about 2 minutes. I decided they actually were making things worse too because I would walk and my lower back would click, grind and pop constantly. It was as if it was trying to settle itself. When I stopped seeing the chiropractor, it stopped doing that, but it still hurt.
The last 8 weeks of pregnancy I said, "My back is not a happy back." so frequently that my almost 4 year old would clutch her lower back and say the same thing in the same intonation that I said it. (It's so weird when they reflect you back at yourself.)
About 4 or five weeks after T was born I started going back to the chiropractor. I was in so much pain. My upper back was pretty screwed up too. My lower back was hurting the most, but the upper back gets a lot of abuse from all the lifting and holding of babies that I do. Since T's been born, I've had a couple of deep tissue massages. Not the kind that's relaxing. The kind that makes you feel beat up. They've helped a little, but not a lot. If I had all the time in the world I would get 2 massages a week and visit the chiropractor after each massage. I would also do more stretches and strengthening exercises.
Of course, if I had all the time in the world, I probably wouldn't be in such pain. I probably wouldn't routinely lug around 40, 26 and 14 pounds. On days when I'm alone with the girls, or even just with them all day my back kills me.
When I leave my chiropractor, I usually don't hurt too much. I heart my chiropractor. Of course as the day wears on after my visit I can feel my back going crooked on me again. I don't know how long I should give my back to heal. It's been through a lot. 3 pregnancies in 4 years and lots of lifting. I don't have a lot of time to focus on it. It needs time to heal. It needs some tender loving care. I need to do focus on it for me, but I just don't know when I'm going to find the time. (I find the time to blog because I can do it while nursing a little one. I get a lot of time for it because she loves to lay beside me and nurse.) I know what needs to be done, I just don't know if it will happen. It's very sad.
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