For the first time in my life, I’ve dealt with back problems this last week. It probably has something to do with the fact that I don’t have a good office chair and have refused to buy one before our move to Montana in June. This means that I run my freelance writing business form 1) the Salvation Army chair that looks pretty nice but feels like I paid $10 for it, which is true 2) the free sofa bed in our living room that forces you to slouch and 3) my bed. It seems like as much as I mix up these three environments, it feels like I’ll have a hunchback by, say, Thursday.
The strange thing is that back pain isn’t the worst aspect of back pain. The worst aspect of back pain is that it immediately transforms you into a crotchety 80-year-old man. One moment I notice that my back was hurting, the next moment I was yelling for the kids in the street to keep it down. One moment I was feeling a little achy, the next moment I was hobbling down the street and mumbling to myself about the hardships of life. It’s as if the low-grade but constant and aggravating pain seeps into your overall view of life and the world.
If this pattern continues, I predict that tomorrow I will be wearing tube socks (one pulled almost up to my spotted knee, the other hanging loosely around my ankle) and telling long yarns about the very first horseless carriage I saw back in aught-nine.
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April 23, 2008 at 2:34 am
HiAmanda
Ooh, wait until your back goes out. Nothing makes you feel like a crotchety 80 year-old man like having to spend five full minutes getting into or out of a chair. Fun!
April 23, 2008 at 7:36 am
April
We swear by Tiger Balm in our house.
And that just sounds cool.
April 23, 2008 at 8:28 am
Ligoliowomi
Can you park yourself at a local library or coffeeshop with good chairs to get some work done?
You might also try some back-strengthening weightlifting next time you go to the gym.
April 23, 2008 at 10:51 am
HiAmanda
Oh, I also meant to say “Feel better soon.” Apparently, I lack empathy at 2:30 in the morning. Sorry bout that.
April 24, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Laptop at Home
I have back problems from getting thrown from one too many horses and falling down flights of stairs when I was young, so I have to be extra-cautious while hunched over my laptop. While I do spend money on a chiropractor, I find a good hot shower is frequently enough to at least temporarily relieve the symptoms. What I have discovered for myself is that the laptop has to be IN the lap so I can recline properly on the couch or in the easy chair. Otherwise, I too suffer from the “Hunched Back Syndrome”.
But posture isn’t always the fix. Sometimes you can have the best posture but be sitting in or on something that does not promote good posture.
My husband works at home from his laptop as well, and has resorted to actually setting up an office with a desk proper and office chair, which seems to be helping with his comfort levels over prolonged periods of programming. (That and he has space to do yoga on his office floor when necessary.) We also both use the bean-filled hot packs as needed, and when all else fails, we hit up the chiro for a realignment.
For those of you who think that working from home are dream jobs that are cushy all the time, please think again. There are a myriad of issues working from home can induce, not the least of which is comfort. My advice: try to give yourself as much physical structure as you can and hopefully your ability to focus will follow suit.
April 25, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Stacey
Hmm, back pain cause crochety man, eh? I’ll have to get on that for my cat lady research.
Maybe a less-costly/less-trouble-to-move solution would be one of those little back support pillow things, though I have never used one myself.
May 1, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Fightlinker
I feel your pain. I spent a few months writing on a futon bed and by the end of each day I’d feel like someone had hit me in the small of my back with a folding chair pro-wrestling stylez. But it was that or sitting at my too-high desk, which was like the ferarri of carpal tunnel syndrome … zero pain to sixty in under an hour or two.
I’m waiting for my brother to give me his cool ergonomic chair, he’s too fat to sit in it anymore but since i told him that he won’t hand it over. I think that’d be like admitting he’s let himself go. So i’ve screwed myself over! Curses!