oh my achin' back!

apparently God's punishment for my sins is a bad back.

for the 3rd time in 3 years i'm dealing with back problems so severe that my knees buckle and my breath is taken away. say what you will, but i will trade back pain for a lifetime of childbirth any day.

i'm trying to hold off as long as possible from going to the doctor, since my last visit resulted in me being diagnosed with lumbago. to quote clark w. griswald: "no shit" (that'll make sense if you click the link). he prescribed physical therapy 3 days a week for (i think) 4 weeks. physical therapy taught me that my back problems were most likely due to weak abs and tight hamstrings. so i did core strength and balance exercises. i stretched my hammies.

i guess that's the infuriating and frustrating part. my core strength has never been better, thanks to a good workout program and climbing. my hammies are still a little tight, but not like they used to be (draw a mental image of a flimsy bungee cord strapped over the top of an '85 buick regal holding a mattress, box spring and television to get an idea of how tight they were...). i'm in the best shape of my life (minus the back thing). so why is this happening now? dammit.

surely out there in the land of the blog someone has back issues that they self treat. i'm all ears.

how do you fix a bum back?