Tuesday 26^th May 2020

Over the last couple of weeks , I’ve developed a weakness in my lower back. I start walking and after a couple of hundred metres I’ve developed a pain above one of my glutes in the small of my back.

I had a few ideas as to the cause very early on. I’m working from home at the moment and rarely get up from my chair during the day to stretch. I’m not exercising regularly in the evening due to gyms being closed. When I do go out, I usually have a satchel with me which puts additional weight on one side – not a lot but enough that it’ll trigger pain in that side. I’ve also put on weight (Coronaweight as I like to call it), putting more of a strain on the back.

I’ve tried little things like remembering to take momentary breaks to stand up and stretch at the hips and shoulders to counter anterior tilt.

But I’ve now started making a point of taking a break at lunchtime to get up and go for a walk. I started at the weekend and progress was slow and painful. I have a little route that’s probably 2-3 miles. However, I’m now finding not only has my speed picked up, but the back is hurting considerably less.

I’ve aided this by swapping back from my satchel to a rucksack so any weight I’m carrying is more evenly spread.

Walking also gives me a lot of thinking time. I’m working through a number of new ideas at the moment, and as a result going for a nice 40 minute walk gives me time to put my headphones on, get some music pumping and start exploring those ideas in my head.

My aim is to continue with the lunchtime walks until I feel my normal gait has resumed, and then to build on that with some more core exercises. I’ve bought a pair of Indian Clubs (which look a bit like bowling skittles, and are great for arms, shoulders and upper body). And need to put together a routine for using those. I also need to start introducing some core exercises.

But for now it’s baby steps. Just like when I injured my leg, the trick is to build back up one day at a time.