My back still feels pretty lousy, but I have to keep moving even though every muscle feels tired. If I rest too long, it tightens up again. I'm afraid jogging doesn't agree with my spine. I was careful to do my stretching and ab strengthening, and haven't been jogging more than once since I tweaked my back about a month ago, yet the jogging is still a prime suspect. About 5 years ago I really injured my back and was laid up for a couple weeks...also not long after starting a jogging regimen. At the time I got passed between many doctors and didn't feel like any of them really understood it, but the radiologist recommended that I don't jog. I was 20 pounds heavier then and thought that would make a difference this time, but I thought wrong.

There are other contributing factors, genetics is a big one. My grandma on my mom's side, who died years before I was born, had the same back problems I do. She said it was arthritis in her back, and it started in her 30s. She treated it with a remedy that included grapefruit juice and nobody remembers what else, and daily back exercises similar to the ones I'm supposed to do every day. I inherited a lot from her, I even look very much like her, other than I have lighter coloring. When it was bad, it would throw her back and hips noticeably out of alignment, same as with me.

Diet is also a factor, with a trail of avoids before each incident. Hormones are a factor as well, as it always starts in PMS time, and goes away completely when I'm pregnant and nursing. I, for one, wish gestation lasted 2 years instead of just 9 months; I feel better pregnant than not. That also makes me suspect an immunity link...but as an O, autoimmunity and inflammation are always a problem.

Anyway, the bad news is I'm giving up jogging, I'll miss it as it saved my sanity a few times. The good news is, today is the first day of my walking regimen (that radiologist and the surgeon he worked with also ordered me to walk 3 miles a day). And from this day forward I WILL do my back exercises every day.

Time to learn from history. It's much like being allergic to a beneficial, just an individual thing. I still highly recommend jogging for Os, just not for me.