Lotion is Motion:
From Back Strain to Completion of 120km Tassie's Overland Trek in 4weeks!

Just 3 weeks before my flight to Tassie, I hurt my back dancing. The dance form 'Contact Improvisation' is very physical and little me is often taking 60-80kg folk in balance on my Pelvis. Sometimes if the weight distribution isn't right, it's easy to overload my back and this is what happened.

Alas I kept going with gentle yoga and self treatment and it got better in about 10 days.. then, .. just one week out from Tassie I hurt it again. Lifting the wing of a Hobie Cat and 'it went'.. classical description. Still no panic, I knew it would be fine.

I knew it would be fine because I knew it wasn't an injury ie. no 'tissue disruption'. It made me consider what we often default to calling an 'injury'. I think most people would probably call what I had done on these occasions an injury, but when I self assessed what had happened, the lock up and bit of inflammation around my Sacro-iliac joint was just due to muscle spasm of all the muscles around it. There was no heat, no swelling, nothing to indicate damage per se.. Yes, it was painful and it limited my function, but it responded well and quickly to my self treatment which was basically movement. (Note: the right treatment and movement, which is why it's good to have physio guidance in these situations.. Ongoing pain doesn't necessarily mean injury.)

Alas we are on the shuttle to Cradle Mountain and I lift my bag and re-aggravate the lock up. I can feel my sacrum sitting off center between my pelvic bones (ilia). A practitioner might be able to adjust it and give me some relief, but it was too tense to respond to my attempts.

But again I had a different tool bag at hand – 'motion is lotion' and I was traveling with a friend who is an amazing exercise physiologist. Always better NOT to self treat and he kindly reinforced the 'no damage' line and gave me some fab exercises to work towards balancing the imbalance and well, using these exercises I gained many moments of zero pain and was able to keep going.  After a 20km day with about 1km up and down (altitude) it locked up again. I really thought I was done, but the next day after exercise I was good to go again.

I managed to walk 120km over 7 days, at least half of that with 15 – 18kg on my back; with pack off manage 6 mountain ascents (weather inhibited getting right to the top of Mt Ossa and Barn Bluff.

I am sharing this not to encourage you to push through, but to let you know it's experiences like this that give me so much conviction for the value of yoga and active treatment. Yoga isn't just the exercise, but it's the capacity to stay calm and with clarity of mind gather knowledge, apply it and test out without unhelpful mind filters.

So a few opportunities to hone such skills.. ;)