Friday, November 9, 2007

Writer's Back

IN THE NEWS: According to Fox News, "Officials at a U.K. high school were aghast after a stripper visited a student during class and whipped him in front of other students and a horrified teacher, Sky News reported Thursday.
A booking error is to blame after a mother arranged to send a "gorilla gram" to her son on his 16th birthday, an arrangement she cleared with Nottingham's Arnold Hill School and Technology College. Instead, the agency sent a stripper clad in a policewoman costume.
After whipping the teen, the stripper placed a collar around his neck and led him around the classroom with a leash, telling him he had been a "bad boy" for not doing his homework. She then put on a Britney Spears tune and stripped for the shocked class, witnesses told Sky."
(yikes!)


I've never had any sort of back problems in my life. Until now.

Lately, I've had this ache in my lower back that has been annoying me to the point that I can barely write or even check e-mail. I thought maybe my bedroom mattress was the culprit, but the more I think about it, the more I think it could be my computer chair--or as I'm lovingly referring to it as: The Crippler.

It's an old chair. My father's when he bought his first computer. I think I was in college at the time. This chair is the only thing in my new house that hasn't been replaced when I'd ordered the new Ethan Allen desk and furniture a few years back. Why? Because I was too cheap. I just couldn't spring for that $600 mustard leather office chair. (Don't you think that's a little outrageous for a computer chair?) Well, it doesn't matter. Because I'm paying for it now. Not in $$, but in PAIN.

I've tried everything: pillows on my chair, stretching in the bridge position, hot showers, even having my daughter walk on it a-la Mr. Bently on George Jefferson from The Jeffersons. I'm still uncomfortable. And frustrated.

Do you have a special work chair, or do you use any special orthopedic pillows when you write?

I may have to look into something like that.

Ugh. I'm getting old.

Have an ache free weekend! (I'm going to try to)

5 comments:

Chicki Brown said...

You're going through what I went through a couple of years ago for the same reason. Thinking it was my bed, I changed mattresses but the problem persisted. I finally broke down and bought a decent chair and an ergonomic back pillow. Haven't had a problem since.

Do you have an Office Depot near you? They run good sales on desk chairs.

Enjoy your weekend!

Stephanie said...

i'm with you. I bought an "L" shaped desk and turned our dining room into a massive study two years ago. My chair? Yeah, it's still a Wal-Mart special we bought SIX years ago when we could only afford the $20. But if you want to stay cheap and go for the pillow instead, Wal-Mart actually sells some really nice chairs online that are quite comfy, I'm just not sure how ergonomic they are!

Hope you get some writing done and are feeling better soon!

PatriciaW said...

Getting it right makes all the difference. Had an workplace specialist redesign my setup at work. Less tight muscles in shoulders, less aching in arms, less pain in legs.

Here are some websites that might help:
http://ergonomics.about.com/od/office/ss/computer_setup_4.htm

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/chairch.html

Chelle Sandell said...

Go shopping girl! Try 400 mg Motrin every 6 hours if you can...alternate hot and cold on the sore spot every 15 minutes for an hour 2-3 times a day. But keep moving when you can. Laying and sitting gives it time to stiffen. I not only have back problems but also went to school for Occupational Therapy. Hubby said I should've done Massage Therapy...for his sake of course. LOL.

Virginia Lady said...

I can't help with the bad chair, have one of those myself. But I can give you a good exercise to do that will straighten out your back easily and may provide some comfort, at least temporarily.

Lie on the floor on your back with a standard chair under the lower part of your legs, have your legs bent at a ninety degree angle, so that your thighs are straight up and down and your lower legs are resting on the chair seat. Relax. You will feel your spine straighten and stretch.

And I say we all buy ourselves a new proper chair for christmas, or at least beg our families to buy one for us. It really is an important tool in our work, we should treat it as such.