The plan..

Today I managed to get an appointment with a doctor. I was hoping to see my PCM (primary doctor) because she is super knowledgeable and has a great way of explaining things. Sadly she's pretty hard to get an appointment with so I had to see someone else today. The doctor seemed surprised that I'm still struggling with pain after seeing the chiropractor for a month, and agreed that it's probably not the right avenue of treatment for me. She did a quick visual check to see if one of my legs is possibly longer than the other. My knees and ankle bones line up pretty perfectly and she did not see any visible difference, but it's still possible a very slight difference could be throwing me off. It's hard to measure. I went and got some x rays while I was there. She will review them and follow up with me. It will be interesting to see how they turn out after a month with the chiropractor, and if her interpretation will be similar to his. Also the x rays were taken with me in different positions than my first ones. This doctor thinks yes, it is probably my sacrum causing all of this. And what was most disheartening to hear... although I've come to suspect this recently... is I will probably have back problems for the rest of my life. Hell, I've had general low back pain since I was 18. This probably would have happened one way or another.

The plan now is to start physical therapy. I'll be getting a referral in a few days, and I can choose an off post PT and it'll be covered by my insurance. I found one that is close to my work and has good hours. Since I work an 8-5 job, and everything else on earth is 8-5, having a PT that will be open until 7 will be super helpful. I don't need to miss any more work due to this shit. Hopefully this will be my magic ticket... and that they can help me figure out how running fits into this equation.

Lately I have been googling "runners with SI joint issues" there are few... but for the ones I have found, it's a constant struggle for them. But they are still out there running, so that's a good sign right? The doctor said I should be able to manage 1-2 easy miles of jogging here and there. Not really what a person who runs 7 miles wants to hear, but hey, what can ya do. At least it's something.

I am taking the rest of the week off from exercise. The pain has been pretty bad today. Sitting, walking, anything. I woke up with pain today which has only happened maybe 10% of the time. Right now it's just ice, ibuprofen, and back stretches. Seems to be helping as tonight I'm not in quite as much pain. Tonight I'm going to buy some supplements... ginger or turmeric for inflammation. I don't want to keep eating ibuprofen, trying to keep this as natural as possible here.

My workout plan for the time being will strictly be muscle work - arms, legs, abs, total body everything. I will probably do yoga twice a week, but keep it to back friendly stuff only. No warrior 3's or half moons! Also I will try to walk every night so I don't go completely crazy with movement withdrawals!

Today I saw something I almost never see in my area - a car with a Spartan Race sticker, and then 5 minutes later a girl with a Spartan Race shirt, both on the way to my appointment to try and fix my broke ass self. Made me jealous... although I am still doing Warrior Dash in 3 weeks, back pain be damned! This will not become my white whale!