Long anticipated, not in a good way, but part of progress, I may be entering a difficult aspect of my metamorphosis. Let me back up.
Part of my twisted, perverted, structural posture that evolved as I grew, included the an issue with my hips. I have pointed out before the sharp pain I would sometimes experience as a teen when I entered a car, which I believe would result in a bad adjustment, a twisting or folding of muscle and/or ligament out of proper position.
An odd result of this which I never questioned was that I could pick up heavy things without pain when observers thought it should hurt. By this, I understand now that I picked up things not using my legs, but my back, only, because muscles around my hips were out of place, too wrapped further up my abdomen on one side, back on the other, my muscles had incorrect leverage from a position/posture that an observer would assume was all back muscles and should hurt.
Well, I have long wondered if I would get those muscles in the right place, and what would happen as a result. Would I be vulnerable to back injuries? Strain and/or hernia? Would my muscle memory have me picking things up with my back still, without that leverage?
It may be starting. I’ve had substantial rotational shifts in both thighs at the hip and internal shifting in my abdomen (sometimes leaving me in gastro-intestinal distress afterwards, just to add, as I presume things work their way into positions, hopefully improvements). My lower back is hurting and tender towards bending, even lowering my head sometimes causes strain pain.
If only my gut were not so big and I could ascertain how my flexibility has changed. Still go just as far, but clearly more bending at hip, not back, at least until the gut gets in the way, lol. Anyways...
An issue at present is that my lower back need to strengthen and maintain an arch leaning backwards that it is not used to, while at the same time, my lower abdomen needs to crunch and cause tension as if an arch forward. Predictably, when I think “arch backwards,” the arch happens at my lower abdomen, not the lower back, and when I sit, my lower back is like the opposite of a lumbar support arch. To revisit a lyric from Oingo Boingo’s Not the Same Man I Was Before, “Everything you do is wrong!”
This is going to take some serious mindfulness. At least for now, I get quick and sharp pain reminders when I am doing things wrong. As I get a little better, a little stronger, I will have to start worrying about really hurting myself with a “traditional” injury, I believe.
The Summer cannot get here soon enough. I’ve gotten to the pool twice, but weather is still too cold, really. Hopefully, I’ll get good pool time before May rolls around.
