Pain Update 2020 !

Last December, I opted out of nerve ablation surgery the day I was supposed to get it done. They were gonna feed electrodes through the gaps in my vertebrae and burn off 6 nerve root endings in my low back spanning 3 vertebral spaces, effectively removing my ability to feel sensation in those roots and through the nerves down to my feet. I have a lot of words about why I opted out and will spare you the mess, but you can probably gather why from here. 

Since then, I have been working hard as FUCK every single day to stack and stabilize my spine to combat nerve compression in my low back. It took a really long time, but I’m seeing great improvements to things like shoulder flexion that I had to WAY SUPER FIX after accessing a straighter spinal posture (which also took a long time). 

A little background info + update for those interested: 

I’m super tough. I like to scale cliffs barefoot and also naked. I’ve been a watered down version of myself for the past few years. I’ve been in a lot of pain following an injury to my lumbar discs that never healed due to the long-term structural dysfunction of my body. I was always hurting, but sucked it up for so long that it became the norm. It wasn’t until a real injury in 2017 that everything came to a screaming halt. The nerve compression from two herniated discs caused debilitating pain that made it impossible to do anything, including eat or sleep. Let alone contribute to society or galavant outside. It took me a long time to figure out why anything was happening and why it was happening to me. I had zero validation form specialists despite seeing dozens of doctors over the span of two years between several different US states. I slowly realized that this was my body telling me that it had finally had enough. I knew I had to fix the root problem or risk never healing from this or any future injuries. 

Unfortunately, postural correction and it’s accommodating exercises aggravate my herniated discs and the resulting inflammation puts more pressure on the nerves in my spinal column, which affects them as they travel down my legs and into my feet. I also have compression in my thoracic spine that leads to burning sensations in my arms and hands. A lot of it gets aggravated with biomechanical rehab. My legs burn and tingle and my feet are often numb and white from lack of blood flow a few days following any rehab activity. Which is something that I do every day. Do that math if you like. 

It’s like working out to lose weight and watching yourself get fatter for the first two or three years, but holding out that motivation for that super long term positive feedback of finally maybe losing weight after that. 

I am still not sure what lead to all of this and may very well find myself with a diagnosis for a connective tissue disease such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome down the line. Until then, it doesn’t make sense to commit to some rudimentary surgical procedure that may cover up one problem and exacerbate the others.

I may be slowly losing feeling in my feet and still uncomfortable when laying or sitting due to unengaged stabilizing muscles and leaning into joint hypermobility, but I’ve come so far in terms of how I feel moving around and using my strength. 

I still stand by my decision to heal my floppy body all the way by myself without rudimentary surgical intervention that will inevitably fuck me up in a lot more ways down the road. It took me so long to figure out and I still have so much more to go but I’m glad I didn’t fall into the opioid hole or the old-guy-digging-around-inside-me pit and I know that once I get it together, I’ll be so full of gratitude for life after knowing so well what discomfort is like. 

If you wanna see all the stuff I had to/still do to fix my posture, you can check out the highlight do-hicky on my Instagram @pranamachine. All of my patreon tiers represent a big postural change that I had to make in search of long-term comfort. 

Your patronage helps me pay for gym access and PT as well as an entire plethora of pain mitigating tools that I would not fare so well without. Thanks a shitload. 

xx Prana