Where to begin? Jay here. This is my first post. In March of 2018, I found myself unable to bear the drive to and from work. Traffic had gotten worse, but my body was the real issue. Even with a 1 week vacation and over two months of Tanya driving me to work, I was not ready to do the drive again myself, and it was driving her nuts. To give ourselves a break, we made a 4 week reservation at an extended stay between our old apartment complex and my work. One week into that stay, we signed a 2 year lease on a townhouse about a mile from my work. Leaving the boat was hard for Tanya, so we went to work making our new place comfortable. Two years on, we still mean Sea Story when we say home.
I’d been in varying levels of pain since about a year after moving aboard Sea Story, but it had nothing to do with living aboard. My dance instructor in Austin used to say I needed to correct my forward pelvic tilt and collapsed shoulders, but I didn’t understand. Everyone who works at a computer all day long experiences muscle pain in their neck and back. That is what I told myself for years. But after not being able to walk to the boat one night without fear I’d fall off the dock, I knew something had changed and it wasn’t normal. The next day I went to a doctor and was given oral steroids to reduce the inflammation and hopefully recover enough to start physical therapy.
My first physical therapist was only used to working with people who clearly had an acute pain or severe muscle weakness. I was still able to do pull-ups and push-ups. She recognized I had some posture problems, and she gave me some excises and stretches to help. I did them in mornings before work in the gym at Pier 32 Marina, and tried to do the stretches throughout the day, as well. Unfortunately the stretches were pinching nerves and the exercises weren’t making a difference.
Similar episodes recurred several times over the following years. During those years, I decided to give Qi-gong a try since I knew I also needed something meditative for the stress. I would practice Qi-gong in the middle of the lab at work, I would do it outside overlooking Lopez Canyon by work, and I would go do it in the dark at the gym at Pier 32 Marina. It was helping some, but I still needed an anti-inflammatory or muscle relaxant to sleep well. Eventually I started taking an anti-inflammatory just to get through the day, and I was stopping at Mission Bay park both directions to do some Tai Chi. It was time to try something else.
Although an MRI confirmed degenerative discs in my cervical spine, two doctors still told me I couldn’t be hurting as much as I was. I just looked too normal to them, but I decided to give physical therapy a try again. This time my therapist immediately recognized that I had some posture problems and a tendency to face slightly to my left even when someone sat directly in front of me. After a thorough examination of my musculature and posture, we started with trying to work on the unevenness.
Ultimately, he was able to help my pain temporarily with physical manipulation and helped me get some strength back, but the exercises caused too much swelling which impacted my ability to work for days afterward. Thankfully, I at least felt I had a better feel for my issues and some acknowledgement from a well meaning, energetic, highly educated, and always hopeful professional. He gave me several techniques for supporting myself in my weakened state, such as a lap pillow to rest my arms on. With suggestions like these and a few simple stretches, I was able to complete an RV trip to the Grand Canyon with Tanya’s parents. Of course, we did have to stop every 30 minutes or so, which chauffeur Tanya did not find amusing.
This is where we made the move from the boat to a townhouse, and I started biking to work again. To supplement working with my physical therapist, I took advantage of the acupuncturist at the clinic on the Qualcomm campus. While she was able to help me start developing meditation techniques, relieve some of the physical muscle tension from stress, and significantly reduce my pain for at least a few hours, she knew we weren’t making progress. Eventually she recommended that I try Iyengar Yoga. Encinitas happens to have an internationally recognized center for teaching using the Iyengar method, which was in the same medical complex as my acupuncturist’s former office.
While yoga wasn’t new to me, Iyengar Yoga starts with years of practice on improving posture and flexibility while using props when necessary to maintain correct form in the process. Additionally the pacing is such that I don’t always feel a need to shower afterward, so it was easy to do it two days a week before work and not feel the stress of stopping work at a fixed time for a class. I quickly learned that holding arms outstretch to my sides pose after pose was causing the same swelling which was a problem from PT. We figured out that I needed to keep my hands at my hips more while I slowly developed the necessary strength and posture. Along with Iyengar Yoga three times a week, I’ve been walking 30 minutes to an hour every day up and down hills, and Tanya found me a vibrating therapy ball which has kept me from needing to continually visit an acupuncturist.
When visiting family in May, I experienced a new level of pain. Burning pain. Something happened which caused the nerves leading to my left pinky finger to get pinched and it didn’t give up until I finally gave in and went to get a prescription for strong pain killers. Following this episode, I gave physical therapy at the Qualcomm health center a try again, and the therapist was able to help me restrengthen my hand and start using the lightest elastic strap made to work on the shoulder strength.
After that episode, Tanya helped me to undertake an elimination diet during the months of June, July, and August. This involved reducing my diet to eggs, some vegetables, and fish for a month before taking another two months to try something one day and return to the strict diet for two days. We found that my pain gets worse when I eat dairy protein and white potatoes, both of which were major parts of my diet before. Eliminating those foods has made a noticeable difference.
Recently I’ve been doing “kindergarten” Surya Namaskars (an abridged sun salutation flow) first thing every morning. Kindergarten because the flow of poses where practiced by my Sunday yoga instructor as a child in India. I’ve also found that my posture in a chair is greatly improved when I sit with crossed legs. I used to do this in my father’s huge office chair in our basement as a teenager. I don’t know if that is where I developed the pelvic tilt or if it just let me enjoy a pain free youth with the exception of the Accutane induced arthritis in my knees (oops!).
The combination of yoga, walking, cycling, diet, sitting cross legged, and rolling on my vibrating ball (much more fun than a foam roller!) has finally brought some more consistent relief and overall gradually improved my posture, strength, and flexibility without the pain from swelling after exercise. Additionally I’m working from home during the COVID-19 shutdown and can lay down on the bed for breaks whenever I’m willing to recognize I need it.
Now that I’m far more familiar with chronic pain, I’ve developed sympathy for others with chronic illnesses, challenging home lives, and other struggles.
SV Sea Story 