Although in my brain, I don't feel old... sometimes my body sends me little reminders that I'm no longer in my 20s! Of course, I'm not THAT old... I have hit my 50s yet, but I'm starting approach it. That even sounds quite strange to me!

Anyway, I've had an ongoing lower back twinge for the last ten or so years... and most of the time, it is no problem... as long as I am careful about the way I sit and do other things... especially when I'm sitting around in a modern orchestra and zoning out a bit.

So, what will happen once every other year is that I tighten up in the lower back... and then I get searing pain in the top of my foot! I've never had it looked at, and usually it passes within a few days... but there will always be a single day in the middle where I'm basically unable to place any weight on that left leg! And that sort of limits my mobility to a snails pace. Fun... and there has been one time when I've had to do a concert with that pain as well... not fun!

Anyway, now that I'm back in Australia... my sister in law is a physio, and over this last weekend my wife convinced me to go and see her to see if she had some insight into the whole thing. And she did... some pretty heavy massages into the muscles... a bit of a question and answer to try and figure out what might be the cause...

... the little weird thing is that if it was ONLY a nerve pinch sort of thing... then my foot shouldn't have been swollen and warm. That was what was confusing her a bit...

... but as we talked more about the history of the injury, the first time it had happened, I had smashed my foot into a concrete thing... and then took a long international flight, and got a stiff back on that flight. And apparently, it is quite possible that my body now links the two things... so that when my back gets tight, it "remembers" that my foot was sore and swollen from the injury, and it sort of recreates the swelling and pain!

Sigh... the body is a bit of a weird thing... and so, the massages into the muscles were a big help... and weirdly enough, took the pain and swelling down. But I'm really quite sore in the massage places today! That was quite some strong pressure there! And today it is really quite a difference in the back and leg!

I have a battery of stretches that I should do at least twice a day... and then constantly after the critical period is over, and yes... I have to really do my core exercising... sigh, I really find it hard to get motivated to do those... but my wife got so upset that I keep hitting this point that I really have to do it.

So, as soon as this painful period passes... I really have to discipline myself to do the right thing, and start and stick with the exercising!

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