Step on a Crack, Break Your Mother’s Back

A few years prior to the allergy breakout, we had discovered that somewhere along the road of life I had broken my back and was living with the effects of an untreated compression fracture. I had been through a few months of excruciatingly painful physical therapy and was pretty much determined to never go back there again. But the pain was severe and was limiting my daily activities. I was unable to stand in one place for long periods of time and rarely made it through the folding of a batch of laundry before the muscles of my back were seized up into painful knots. Laundry, fixing meals, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping floors ... all of those day to day things a mom with a trio of children is required to do were painful and tedious. We got by and my husband was so wonderfully supportive. He had to pick up the slack quite often during those years. My primary care physician had sent me to the physical therapist and I had not enjoyed that experience at all. Coming back to my doctor again, he recommended me going through another few months of therapy. I had no desire to return, but this time he recommended a man who had just opened his office in town. He thought he would be very gentle with me. The experience I had with him was like night and day compared to the prior experience. He was a huge help to me and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him. During that time I also set up an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon. I wasn’t really looking for a surgical solution, I more wanted someone to give me help developing a lifestyle that would help me be pain free. Was there a better diet I could eat, were there exercises I could do? What things could I do differently that would give me a better quality of life?