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Mia Garlock
Dec 21, 20224 min read

Happiest Winter Solstice!

First, I’m going to say Happy Winter Solstice! It’s officially the shortest day and longest night. The kids woke up at around 8am and we opened gifts and everyone is currently full enthralled with their legos and art supplies and other toys they got. It’s a good day for sure.

Now let’s talk about last night. As we know, I’ve been having some back pain this week, the muscles in my low back super tense and aching constantly. I’ve only been able to stand for about 20 minutes at a time before I have to sit down from the pain. Yesterday when I woke up, I felt fine. Still a little tender in my back, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I did my workout with resistance bands and felt good about it.

Then about halfway through the day, my back pain became much more intense. I wallered on my mat, I twisted, and tried to stretch, but my back had locked up down low, and I couldn’t even fold over my right side at all. Couldn’t lean into it or anything. I took a scalding hot shower, I didn’t even turn on the cold water at all, I just sat under the hot spray and cooked my spine, hoping my muscles would yield. Dinner time was closing in, so I got onto my mat again to try and find some way to release the tension that was steadily building. No dice, instead of helping, my upper back on my right side went into full spasm, and I was in tears. I couldn’t breathe because the spasm was so tight down my right side ribs. The pain started just under my shoulder blade, and traveled down my right side body. I was sobbing and gasping for breath, and my husband came running from his game to rescue me. His aunt came in the door to find me in a ball on the floor, and asked if she needed to take me to ER. I didn’t want the pain meds they’d try to give me, I just wanted the pain to leave.

I posted in the Valkyrie Discord that I was on the floor dying, and Sam immediately messaged me asking for details, where is the pain in my shoulder, how does it travel, can I move my head, my arms, etc. I told her I couldn’t pick up my head without feeling it in my ribs, and my right shoulder was up high in my ribs because I couldn’t lower it without screaming. My husband applied some pain salve to my back and a heat pad on top of the seized muscles hoping they would release a bit more. After a few minutes I was able to sit upright, and I followed Sam’s instructions on how to release my shoulder: I dug my thumb into my armpit and wrapped my fingers around my Lat muscle and dragged my fingers towards my armpit. When I tell you, that the relief was immediate. It only took me a minute to release my shoulder from the torture. It felt like I was dragging my fingers across some bubble wrap under my skin. Totally weird and shockingly easy to do for the level of pain I was in.

We have a machine, called an H-Wave, which is like a really advanced version of a tens unit. I had my husband place the connectors on my back where the majority of the inflammation was in my back. The swelling was visible and touchable, that’s how tight my back was. When I was able to get all the way off the floor, I hobbled to the recliner and sat there for another hour or two, working on my knitting while my dinner was made.

This morning I got my Solstice Miracle and I woke up with zero back ache. My entire back feels like one giant bruise that goes down my whole right side of my back, and my right hip too. I’m very tender. The pain I was in last night was the worst I’ve felt in a long time, even worse than when both my feet were shattered in the car accident. I’m forever amazed by the Human body and the things it does.

Needless to say, I’m taking it easy today. No hard workouts for Blade, only mobility and some really gentle stretching, maybe some more time with the H Wave unit and a hot hot bath. But that’s the extent of my plans right now.

I’m going to be adding some glute activation work to my daily regimen. I learned that the glute medius is the active stability muscle for your hips, but the low core is the lock that holds it in place. The only work I’ve been doing is focused core work, and I can do that until the cows come home, but if I don’t spend some time strengthening the glute medius, my hips will always struggle to stay properly in place, and my back will always default to the carrying of the burden. I want to heal my body, heal my muscles, and be strong and not so easily hurt. So I’m hoping that next week I feel more capable and I’ll start working on those glute medius exercises in the mornings with my core reset warm up.

Anyway. That’s my eventful evening and my morning. I’m taking it easy and am going to hygge it up with more knitting and hot drinks. I hope you’re having a Happy Winter Solstice wherever you are.

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