It's Your Health

I recently threw my back out.  I've had lower back problems most of my life because of bad posture and little exercise.  I've not so much a couch potato as a computer jockey.  But the fact is, I find regular exercise boring.  Give me a chore, like raking the yard and that's fine, exercise in disguise, but have me do twenty push-ups and I'm outta here.

But the sad fact is I have no interest in writing when I'm in pain and the last few weeks have been painful.  Most of my life has ground to a halt while I nurse myself back to health.   And I've learned a few things in the process that I want to pass along so that you can avoid the same fate.

• Stiff muscles require stretching.  Figure out which stretches are best for you and do them, daily.
• Keep your muscles strong; so exercise them regularly to keep them toned.
• Good nutrition is important so that your muscles and joints work properly; I started taking a multi-vitamin, which my doctor suggested years ago.
• Watch your weight.  Excess weight can pull your spine out of alignment.
• If you spend hours in front of a keyboard, stop once an hour (or more) and stretch to relax your shoulders and your lower back.
• Above all, make a plan on how to keep yourself healthy and strong and stick with it.  I'm now on a routine of stretches and exercise to keep my muscles strong and the pain under control.  I plan to do this for the rest of my life since the pain was quite intense and anything that interferes with my writing needs to be deal with and resolved so that I can continue what I'm doing.

So take care of yourself and keep writing.