MEMORABLE BACK TWEAKS

Recently I wrote about leaning forward while sitting in a Taco Bell booth to take a bite of my burrito & tweaking my back big time. Thanks to all of you who wished me well. My back is better, not good yet, but better. Many of you shared your "memorable back tweaks" with me & I decided to do a follow up post with a few of your stories.

My sister, Karen, has suffered from severe back problems her entire life. She had a few stories to relate.This was my favorite: 

One of my most memorable tweaks was in 1988. I only know the year because of where we were living at the time. Bruce Springsteen was playing somewhere & this was back in the day when you had to call BASS for tickets. That usually meant re-dialing forever until you finally got through. So, I finally got through, scored two good seats, hung up the phone, started dancing around with joy & WHAM!, out goes my back. It literally brought me to my knees. I told my long term chiropractor how it happened & she said, "I'm going to write that in my notes. I've never heard that one before."

My good friend, Deb, had this to say: 

The worst funky back pain I've ever had was back when I was about twenty. I was flipping my hair in the shower & my back goes out.

Another long-time friend, Jan, related this seemingly innocuous task that wreaked havoc with her back:

Once upon a time, I Iifted two glasses from the top shelf of the dishwasher and put them into the cupboard.  Big time tweak. !!!

Lou's sister, Judy, described this injury to her back. This one was legitimate - not a hair flip, glass reach or burrito bite:

I know the pain.  When I was 25 my ex and I separated and I went to live with my sister, Inge, in Shreveport.  I was applying for a job and walking down the steps of city hall outside when I slipped and fell, papers flying everywhere. Lots of people ran to help me but I was so embarrassed that I got up, picked up my papers and drove myself back to Inge's home. Of course I slithered out of the van and crawled into the house. There was no way I could walk.  I spent the next few weeks recovering in bed.  What was funny was the way I ended up getting out of the van when I got home. I opened the door and then just like molten lava, dripped out of my seat and onto the ground. What a sight!  

About 35 years ago, my mother-in-law, Bruni, developed a terrible back problem while at work in Wisconsin. Here is her account:

So on this very hot day they put up all kinds of fans and one of them hit me right in the back. What a draft that was! Well, from that I was crippled up with terrific pain in my lower back and it got so bad that it even affected my neck. I went to a chiropractor for help and he said that I probably will suffer from this for the rest of my life. I did have back problems all my life but I am happy to say that I never had it as bad again as that first time, but I always made sure I was not sitting in draft. So who knows what all can throw your back out???

Now, I'm thinking this probably fell into the same category as believing that a cold is caused by being cold, not by viruses. I figured that Bruni must have injured her back by sitting too long at work or twisting weird, BUT I got online & did some searching. Low & behold, there are a ton of people who believe that cold drafts or fans caused their back pain. There is no scientific evidence to support their claims but they are an adamant bunch who swear it's true! I am surely not going to argue with Bruni or any of them.

Finally, my friend, Darlene, who is currently dealing with back pain, doctors & MRIs, had this to say:

If rest and wine would fix it, I'd be all in!  (And Darlene is not a drinker!)