Back injuries suck

In late August/early September of 2016, I injured my back. I'm not exactly sure how, but I definitely did not take care of it like I should have because it felt better while I was riding or working out and then hurt quite a bit later. In November of 2016, I threw my back out trying to shift my husband's truck seat back (while not sitting in it). 

My chiropractor was a lifesaver, but it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Worse than both of my broken arms. As I healed, I vowed to never feel that much pain again. So, I've worked really hard to strengthen my core over the last few years. 

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago tomorrow. My husband asked me to help him move the desktop he's helping a friend build so he could start sanding it. About 3 seconds after he told me, "it's heavy, be careful," he dropped his side of it. I had it and apparently wasn't smart enough to let go, so I twisted with it and in the process, pulled a muscle in my back. The same side I threw out 4 years ago. Great. 

I immediately started icing and taking ibuprofen to keep the inflammation down. It didn't hurt too much that evening, so I rode and didn't think much about it. By the next day, I was in quite a bit of pain, so I called my chiro and asked if they could squeeze me in that day or the next. I've been going 2x a week since, along with icing and ibuprofen as needed, and stretchy yoga a few times a week. 

I also have cautiously continued to ride. The Saturday after it happened, I was paying close attention to how my back felt and I noticed that the more I moved, the better it felt, even after I stopped. This was not quite the same injury as 4 years ago. 

So, I opted to ride on Sunday and when T asked what I wanted to work on, I said, well, I hurt my back the other day, and I'm hoping that riding will help loosen it up, so I'd like to just work on relaxation and figures at the walk.

It was legit one of the hardest lessons I've taken with her. So crazy how hard a walk lesson can be. We did 4 different sets of figures, including Jacob's ladder, Christmas tree (pictured below), and ice cream cone (also pictured below). I can't for the life of me remember the 4th figure, but I think it was harder than Christmas tree!

Christmas tree starts on quarter line, between K (on the rail) and D (which is on center line between K and F) and then you do 4 circles on each side of the straight quarter line path. I circled right first, then left, so the second set of circles was supposed to be left then right, third set was right then left, etc. We did that in both directions. It's HARD.

Ice cream cone is a bit easier. I did 1 loop from P to L and then a short diagonal from L to R. On the way back, I did 1 loop from R to I and then a short diagonal from I to P.

   

Tosh was not super excited to walk the entire time, but it was a great class. It really ingrained the feel of straight and moving my body around the turns. And, the motion of the walk loosened my back up a ton. 

When I got home, I took some ibuprofen and iced 20 min on-40 min off for the rest of the afternoon. I saw my chiro the next day feeling a ton better but still sore. I also did some yoga.

Since my back continued to feel better each day, I opted to ride on Tuesday but decided I wouldn't take any extra chances by jumping. I completed the flat portion of the class at walk-trot-canter and had a really balanced class overall. T excused us when it was time to jump. I untacked and threw Skylar back in his stall to pee while I watched my classmates do their courses. 

When I got home, I iced for the rest of the night. I did some yoga and saw my chiro on Wednesday, still feeling a ton better and much less sore.

Yesterday, I woke up feeling just a bit stiff, but grooming and doing my stall loosened me up really well and I hardly felt sore at all by the time I mounted. 

When T asked what I wanted to work on, I said I think we can start working back toward straightness, turning, and breathing again. My back is feeling a whole lot less stiff, with just some lingering soreness. I also told her I'd been doing yoga about 3x a week to stretch out my back and could consistently find my seat bones while sitting on the floor. Yay! 

Neither side felt any sort of way from my walk warm-up, so she sent me off tracking left to do ice cream cone. We did it from P-L-R and R-I-P again and then repeated it on the other side of the arena from V-L-S and S-I-V. She commented several times that my position was lovely, and my back and hips were straight and in line with Tosh's. 

Then she had me do a 3 loop serpentine from A to C without changing bend. On the way back, she had me do a 4 loop serpentine from C to A, with changes of bend. When we halted in front of her, she asked how everything felt. Felt pretty even. Turning left was slightly more difficult than turning right and I was tipping forward ever so slightly to the left. But, my balance was good and my body was straight.

We started trotting to the right and it felt really great! My right leg wasn't creeping up, my shoulder was mostly staying up and back, turning was pretty easy. We had some really lovely circles. Trotting left was very similar but the turns were still more difficult. I was struggling with getting my left leg at the girth, so I think it's for sure hips and back-related.

T asked if I thought I wanted to canter and I said, yes, I think my back is ok to do it. So, we started right again, and it was soft and relaxed, and turning was easy. I couldn't thigh-release to halt to save my life (hips and back, again), but Tosh knows his words, so he came down as soon as I said whoa. 

When we changed directions, I guess I was turned slightly outside, so I asked for the left lead and got the right lead. We swapped as soon as I looked where I was going and it was really lovely after that. Turning is much easier in the canter, as well, so we did a couple of nice circles and a loop from E to B and it never felt hard. 

There's just something about the motion of trot vs canter and the tightness in my hips and back. We'll get to the bottom of it eventually!

When I had finished cooling Tosh out, I got him 3 loads of hay. Then finished Skylar's stall once he went to the arena for his lesson (his was worse, so T asked me to switch) and got him 2 loads of hay. I got home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon with my ice pack.

Saw my chiro this morning. But I'm feeling a whole lot better and more mobile through my back and neck. Not out of the woods yet, but glad it is resolving itself fairly quickly!