Lower Back Pain Hell

I'm a petite girl; at my best in the morning I'm a solid 5'3" and hover between 120-125 lbs.  I don't carry around a lot of weight (especially not since I got my boobs reduced) and have never had lower back problems.  In all of the pregnancy books I've been reading, they make it seem like you should EXPECT lower back pain.  So, I wasn't that shocked when, by week 13 or 14 I started getting these horrible pains in my pelvis and sacrum (butt bone area).  It would hurt when I sit and getting up from a seated position was absolutely awful.  This past weekend, my brother, who was visiting from Florida with his girlfriend, would remark (make fun of is more accurate) about my lopsided, straight-armed, grimaced gait.  I felt like I was 80 years old.  I mean, it's seriously so bad that when I lay down in Shavasana (corpse pose...like the easiest pose of all) at the end of my oh-so-strenuous prenatal yoga class, I can barely breathe it hurts so badly.

 I don't smile during prenatal yoga.  I'm in pain. 

I told my midwife about the problem and she automatically called and made me an appointment that day for a physical therapist.  Physical therapists are great.  One of Billy's friends is studying to be one and the training is rigorous, but I just wasn't impressed when I saw my physical therapist.  They focus primarily on retraining your muscles (neuromuscular training) to allow you better freedom of movement and health.  The PT I went to was really lacking in the bedside manner department.  She barely made any eye contact with me and conversed with the PT student pretty much the whole time.  I felt like she didn't have any idea what to do with a woman with my delicate condition and just started spouting off a whole laundry list of what could be done in the "lower back pain" situation.  Furthermore, during the evaluation, she asked me to bend over and then, as I effortlessly touched beyond my toes, had the gall to tell me that I was TOO flexible and that's why I had back problems.  I thought, LADY, I have back problems because I'm GESTATING a 1lb human being inside of my relatively small pelvis!  I was furious.  So, I left with a list of exercises to do at home and didn't call back for a second appointment.  I bought an exercise ball to use at work and honestly, that's provided more relief than those exercises.

Sometimes I have to be very careful with it because I'll cross my right leg over my left and if I lift my hands from the desk or keyboard, I quickly fall over.

So, after doing some digging, I found a chiropractic practice that focuses primarily on pregnant women and children.  I read lots of really great reviews about them and really liked their emphasis on holistic healing.  Chiropractors are viewed by many as quacks.  I'll admit: I was one of them.  However, I will say that if you're in pain there's not much that you won't try doing to get rid of it.  I did a quick PubMed search for any articles published about chiropractic stuff and pregnancy.  The data, although scarce, show that spinal manipulation was safe and effective for lower back pain in most of the groups studied.  So, I met with a chiropractor (Dr. Rebecca Lake, who, incidentally, had lived in Colombia) and she was awesome.  She gave me an hour of her time and did an extensive workup on me.  She had me do all these things and said that my pelvis was a bit off center, which, in turn, pulled on the nerves on the left side of my spine and caused me to have lower back and sacral pain.  

I went into my first adjustment hobbling and came out walking!  It's only been 2 days, but already I feel the tightness and pain creeping back in.  I go in again tomorrow to get adjusted and can't wait!  This is definitely going to become my crutch (like my monster pillow, which, by the way, I'm definitely going to be taking to Denmark with me, regardless of what I have to pay for an extra bag).  I'm not sure how I'm going to make it a whole month full of transcontinental travel and sleeping in god knows what kinds of beds...