Cold better than hot

I muddled through the day yesterday with my aching lower back. I still went to the gym although there were certain things I just could not do. Of course my IT band issue still remains so the combination of these two things had me pretty miserable.

When I got home I got the idea to use my heating pad that also has a vibration function. I laid on it for at least a half hour with both the heat and vibration on the max setting. When I tried to get up afterwards it was awful. Instead of feeling better my back felt worse, way worse. I had to struggle mightily to just get myself upright to walk. The pain turned to anger. I was angry at my body for failing me.

A little later I got the idea to try my oversized ice bag on the area. It seemed like that was more effective than the heat/vibration. Maybe it’s just because everything felt numb afterward. I took three Advil before bed as well as a Unisom, hoping I would wake up magically feeling better.

I am marginally better and am at least functioning at a base level. I obviously am not going to attempt a yoga class today although I may still slowly walk over to the gym and find things I can do that don’t aggravate my lower back. I currently have four or five parts of my body that are consistently problematic right now. As always I will keep hammering away until I I can hammer no more.