True meaning of pain

I know I've been getting snide remarks for years about my bad posture in iai - the exact term having been "granny technique". I especially remember one certain iai seminar in England when a certain sensei, every time he passed by me, had to call me "obaasan". (Ok, it worked, I admit that. And snide remarks are what I've come to expect from old japanese men. Actually, I kind of feel betrayed if a whole iai seminar passes without any of them. But I still hear about it...)

But come and take a look on me now... Yesterday evening I REALLY looked like a proper 150-y.o. kotatsu-baachan - you know those old ladies that can be seen in Japan who walk with their backs at a 90 degree angle? Well, that's me right now. I will have my trusted chiropractitioner (is that a proper word?) crush me open on monday morning, but before that I'll be pretty much tied to bed (or the sofa, which however is too soft so that I can lie there for only some hours before having to escape upstairs on my futon) for the whole weekend. Well, obviously I already dragged my laptop here, I have my new and way-too-high-tech-phone to play with, books, someone to carry me coffee (ok, I have to get it myself, damn), my iTunes and almost everything one could hope to have to kill one's boredom. Except of course conversation, but hey, can't have everything, now can you?

Except that of course when one knows one can't be moving anywhere, the psychological (or something) need to do anything BUT lie still becomes overwhelming. It's strange that no matter how much I dream about being able to just spend time doing nothing but read, blog or whatever, when the time comes to do nothing but it it's actually the last thing I want to do. And this happens every damn time. (Nope, not the first time I'm down with back problems) But there's nothing to do but wait for monday and take some pills in the meantime.

And on top of everything else there's no food in the house. No bread, no eggs, nothing but 2 potatoes in the fridge (an ongoing joke in our family). So, on top of not being able to move, having a constant pain in my lower back, irritated by boredom, I'm also starving. :D Ok, it's not that bad, I'm only channeling all my boredom to my blogging, which is just too bad for anyone who reads this.

The main problem after the back pain itself, including the inability to walk, is that very soon the whole back from neck downwards is hurting, sometimes down until the knees. Actually the most painful part of the chiro isn't the point when the doctor cracks the back - the sound is sickening enough but it doesn't really hurt. What hurts is when he massages the back muscles open before the big cracking operation. That's when I shout from pain. Another problem is that if my neck muscles get cramped, I get huge headaches. So, in 2 days I should be a major pain in ass for everyone who is unfortunate enough to be near me. Including myself.

Thank gods (and bodhisattvas too, for that matter) I have the chiro first thing in monday morning.