I somehow managed to do something to my lower back a week or so ago. I was lifting potted plants in and out of my car and I guess I put too much strain on my back and not enough on my upper legs. If I’ve been sitting in a bent-over position it really hurts when I stand up. If I walk around I’m okay after ten minutes but initially I’m groaning and bent over like a 78 year-old. It’s bad. Yesterday afternoon I went to a chiropractor, and he said right away that my right hip was out of alignment or wasn’t level with the left hip or whatever. He pushed and pulled and leaned in and made everything feel great (“I’m feeling better!”, I told a friend), and then 30 minutes after leaving his office most of the pain returned. I’m going back Saturday for another session.

I’ve had back issues all my life. Calamity #1 happened in ninth grade when I jumped off the top row of some wooden bleachers and injured my back to some extent. Then I hurt it even worse when I was uprooting some trees for a New Canaan contractor (“Big John” Calitri) and again I used my back too much. Calamity #3 happened in late December 1999 when I was flying down a snow-covered slope on a toboggan and then at the bottom of the slop[e went shooting up a small hill made of snow and ice and fell off the toboggan and came crashing down on my lower back or hip. Once you’ve had back trouble you never really get over it.