(almost) Pain Free

On Monday, I went barefoot all day for the first time in five years. And I felt GREAT.

Yesterday I spent three hours grocery shopping, in flat sneakers, with all three kids, and when I came home I felt GREAT.

Five years ago I went to see a physical therapist with crippling pain in my hips and low back. And when I say crippling, I mean that on several occasions I would lie down to rest in the afternoons with a dull ache and be unable to stand upright when I went to get up a few minutes later. A couple of times I had slide out of bed to the floor and crawl from my room to a low stool or chair in the living room to pull myself upright-- our bed was too high for me to reach the top to boost myself up. Many, many times my hips would bring me to tears in the evenings after a day of chasing toddler Sofi around.

The physical therapist helped me immeasurably, and also diagnosed a short leg-- my left leg is 3/4 of an inch shorter than my right. (*pause for Laurie B. to laugh hysterically*). She got me back on my feet and I wore orthotics for the next five years. Every day. Every pair of shoes. I never went barefoot for more than a couple hours-- hip pain sending me running for my orthotics every time. Exercise was key. Even a week of no exercise would send me into a spiral of worsening tension and pain.

Fast-forward to this past year. Pregnant, moving across country, highly emotional first few months. No exercise. I really didn't exercise AT ALL in the second trimester. Swimming helped keep things fairly flexible and loose in the last trimester. But after pushing out a ten-pound-plus baby, all hell broke loose in my joints and muscles. Back pain, knee pain, pinched nerve, bruised rib. I felt like I was walking around in the body of a seventy-year-old woman-- no offense to seventy-year-old women!

And then my mom gave me this book for Christmas. The difference is drastic. Miraculous, almost. I'm serious here. Anyone who's suffered chronic back pain will understand when I say that I crawled around on the floor playing trains with Judah yesterday for an HOUR and felt great afterwards.

So that's my testimonial. It's taking me SO LONG to get this written that I want to stop here for now and publish. I'll write again and tell a little bit more about what this method is all about and how it's working...