I have had sharp stabbing pain in the lower right side of back for a long time- 6–7 years. It has been on and off for me. Towards the end of the last year, my lower back started hurting.

The pain would be sharp and fleeting. The pain was restricted to a point just below my waist’s right side-back side. The pain grew worse; I could predict when the pang would happen. It had a pattern. Whenever I sat for more than 30 minutes or turned sideways, my back would hurt. I realized that pain, unlike previous occasions, wasn’t going away on its own.

I booked an appointment with the doctor, and the doctor asked me to get an MRI scan of the lower back, and the whole spine. I was at the doctor’s place with the MRI scans. I read the report even though I didn’t want to. I knew it was the doctor’s job, but humans are inquisitive. Although I didn’t extend my inquisitiveness to madness wherein, I would start googling about the terms stated in the report: building assumptions in my head.

The doctor went through the report; He checked where exactly I had pain. “Your l2 has a disc bulge, and that’s pressing the nearby nerve root; that’s why you have that sharp pain”, he remarked. He pointed towards the bulge, but I couldn’t notice any bulge. For me, the disc was as it should be. But I am not Trump or his supporters who would argue without any logic. The pain was there, so it had to be the bulge. He said, “Exercise is the best way to treat this. You will start with the Exercise tomorrow and do it every day.” I believe he wanted me to start exercising at his office, but it was late in the evening, so he spared me.

He showed me a few exercises and told me to watch a few youtube videos. The doctor reiterated that I must exercise daily and gave a hint that if I don’t do it, I will end up in an operation theatre. In the past, Doctors had advised exercising, but I was too lazy and ignored it. But this time, things were different, and I didn’t want to push things that far.

Initially, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I would struggle to complete sets and then have different exercise sets to complete. But I Knew if I stop doing this, the pain will get worse. And I have a habit of waking up early, so finding time for my Exercise wasn’t difficult. After all, waking up early isn’t a bad thing.

Living with a sharp stabbing pain in lower right side of back

As soon as I get up, I start with my Exercise. I know pushing it later in the day means I will never do it. Exercising for nearly four months, I wanted to share my view on human behavior. It’s not new, but It reminds us of human frailties.

• Get past the initial phase. I realized that starting with a new thing is difficult. The initial days will be difficult, and we may want to quit, but if we can get past this initial phase, the going becomes easier. For example, in the beginning, I would take 40 minutes to complete my Exercise. But after almost four months, it takes me just 20 minutes.
• Pushing things. I pushed things far; I got lazy and didn’t act until I was forced to. How often do we procrastinate and wait for things to go out of control until we decide to act?
• Find “your” why. To avoid pushing things, You need to know why you are doing what you are doing. In my case, when I felt like quitting, I reminded myself that the pain would get worse, and it checked my quitting tendency. We should have a reason-why- to do something. Of course, the ‘why’ need not be fear-evoking as in my case but can be a positive, lofty goal.

And yeah, after four months, my lower back is in better shape. Sometimes I have pain, but it isn’t sharp. And only when I exert my right leg, or my right side is under stress, do I have a hurting back.

Note.

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