kiteboarding better than sitting...well duh!

So, I am sure that we can all agree that kiteboarding is better for us than sitting.

Recently I have learned a lot about the "dangers" of sitting. For the last 13+ months I had been having pain. It seemed to move around on me, one day being in my tailbone, another day in my groin, and the day after that somewhere else. I went in several times to the doc looking for an answer for what was ailing me. All I knew is that something was wrong.

Well, this fall I started feeling pain in my foot. Pain that throbbed but also has an almost "numb" sensation to it. Right then I knew it was nerve related.

So I went in for an MRI and sure enough they found a herniated disk between my L4 and L5. The sciatic nerve is made up of 5 main nerves, one of the being the S1 nerve that comes out between L4 and L5.  The S1 is getting pressure on it from the bulging disk.

After finding this out I tried to recall or figure out "when" or "where" I hurt my back. Thank goodness my back had been hurting prior to learning to kiteboard, so I did not blame my new addiction for the back issue.
My doctor told me one thing after talking to me about my daily routine, "Sitting all day at your job is killing you." Pretty much, he told me my back will never fully heal until I am not sitting all day long at work.

While at work I am on a computer constantly and many times on the phone almost all day as well....so, the option of not sitting is really out of the question. However I have been getting up more, concentrating on posture, and working out at home.

I also started some Physical Therapy, mostly core exercises, for a couple weeks until I learned the excerises enough to do them myself at home. I also go to borrow an inversion table from a coworker of Becky's.  I recommend trying one.  It relieved a lot of pain almost immediately after using it, although the relief is short term.  We will probably get ourselves one very soon as we have to give it back to her coworker. ;(
Anyways, the back pain is still there although much better than before, but some days my groin, leg, and tailbone still hurt...but it is better and that is what counts right now.

Regardless, this will probably not be solved overnight.  But it is just one more reason why Becky and I making the move and redefining our career is such an important thing for us to accomplish. I want to be healthy, in shape, and would love to not have "back problems" for the rest of my life.

Anyways, today msnbc released an article. Doctors are now saying the same thing to everyone as my doc said to me... "Sitting is killing you!" And they literally mean "killing you" when they say it. Here is the article, take a read.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34956099/ns/health-fitness/

If you sit all day...reconsider it! I am not saying you should drop everything, take up kiteboarding and move to an island... but for Becky and I, that is the idea.