Night Elf Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 (edited) I hurt my back last weekend, Saturday morning. It felt better Sunday but the same on Monday and today. I have better range of motion than the day it started but it still hurts to stand and sit. I feel pain when I walk but it's tolerable. It doesn't hurt when I lay on my side with a pillow between my knees. That's how I sleep. I'm scheduled to volunteer the rest of this week at the thrift store. I love my job and hate the thought of missing a week but I'm not sure I should be moving around so much when I'm still in this much pain. I'm at the store for 2 hours. I mostly stand although I can sit down when I'm making price tags or rolling and taping fabric remnants. I don't know what we're doing this week. I help fold sheets, tape them, write price tags, and label the sheets. I wheel a 4-wheel table cart through the store to stock linens and pet supplies. I hang up linens, sometimes heavy comforters. The lady I work with is overprotective of me so I know she'll be there to do the things I can't do, but I'm wondering if I should even attempt this. I'm still icing my back once every 60 - 90 minutes looking for relief. I have no idea how long this will last but I read it can be 3-4 weeks before the pain is gone. I don't want to miss work for a month!! WWYD? I need to get on the volunteer site and remove myself from work sometime today. I know it reaches a time when I can't remove myself because it's too late and I don't know when that is. So I need to make the decision right now. Edited February 27, 2018 by Night Elf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 You may not need to miss an entire week. Can you take yourself off of the schedule day by day? Give yourself two days to recover, and then ask for more time off as needed. Hope you feel better. Back pain is hard to manage, because it hurts no matter what you are doing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 You may not need to miss an entire week. Can you take yourself off of the schedule day by day? Give yourself two days to recover, and then ask for more time off as needed. Hope you feel better. Back pain is hard to manage, because it hurts no matter what you are doing. Yes, I can do it day by day. I sign into a volunteer portal to schedule my time and can manipulate it up until the night before at some time then it takes away the 'remove me' button. I can also sign up for a time slot up to 20 minutes before a shift begins. So technically I can go ahead and cancel tomorrow and just wait and see how I'm doing. However, based on my research, this kind of injury can last weeks and I don't want to miss so much time. What I'm curious about is would there be a possibility I could prevent my back from healing if I try to do too much? The most I've been on my feet is when I went grocery shopping with DH on Sunday. We were in the store for about 30 minutes and I was able to walk fine. It hurt some but it was tolerable. I just didn't try to pick up anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 I would call off for today and schedule a doctor visit. You’re on day three so it seems reasonable to see a doc to determine if it needs rest or maybe some stretching or other exercises instead. I’ve had injuries where I thought I was doing the right thing by resting it and icing it but when I finally saw a physical therapist I discovered I should have not been babying it. I hope you find relief soon- back issues can be pretty awful. If you visit a doc, describe what your tasks are at work and I bet you’ll receive some suggestions to modify your tasks so you won’t have to miss much work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 I would make an appointment with my chiropractor ASAP. I would normally work through pain. However, in the case of volunteering, I might take a day off and then re-assess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 I would make an appointment with my chiropractor ASAP. I would normally work through pain. However, in the case of volunteering, I might take a day off and then re-assess. This is just what my DH is telling me to do. I just used up my 12 insurance visits for the year when I pulled a muscle in my hip/back area last month, so I'm back to cash pay. Rats! He'll fuss at my for lifting that tv set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 Update: I called my chiropractor as soon as they opened this afternoon and they told me to come straight away. He's going to file it with my insurance to get an extension saying it's an exacerbation of last month's injury. So we'll see. That will save me some money if they agree to that. I'm going back tomorrow morning and I don't know when he'll want to see me again. He's not there Friday afternoon and I have an important doctor's appointment that morning that cannot be rescheduled because it would take 4-5 weeks to get me in again. So he may want to see me Thursday morning unless he thinks I can wait until Monday. He has a funeral on Thursday afternoon so won't be in the office. He suggested I not go to work this week as he doesn't want me on my feet longer than one hour. I have to sit straight up and when my body feels fatigued or gets sore from sitting up, to go lay on my bed for 20 minutes. My sofa is too soft and not a straight surface. He said he's always glad to see me but he'd rather not see me when I'm in pain. Haha! I just finished therapy 2 weeks ago for my hip/back area. My next appointment was for maintenance and is in mid-March. I guess we'll cancel that one as I'll be in therapy for this new injury. I'm very disappointed that I can't work this week. I worked by myself last Friday and I was looking forward to Wednesday morning to find out how I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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