Back Pain & Running.

Remember when I mentioned in my Maybe, Baby post that I had back pain? Even after my lady friend came and told me I wasn't, I still had back pain. At first, it was lower back pain, but now it's crept up to my central, leftish back. So weird. It hurts when I sit, when I stand, and sometimes when I lay. I didn't mention it to Mr. Skinny for the longest time because I didn't want him to think I was getting out of something and I really try not to complain. It doesn't hurt really bad, but I have no idea where it came from. It's more of an inconvenience. It started, I think, when I started working again in mid-July. That doesn't give me a cause of it though. It's so weird.

When I mention it to my family, the first thing they think of is running. I don't know if I believe that, and I don't want to stop running. No, I don't love it, I'm not super fast, but it's the only type of cardio I really do. If I don't run then what will I do? It goes back to being scared of gaining all my weight back. I know you can eat right and loosing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise, but I don't want to stop running.

I've thought about it, and maybe I have bad form when I run. I've been known to have awful posture when I run, but I didn't think it would lead to near-constant back pain. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm sitting Indian-style (I know it's not the politically correct term, but I'm not saying "sitting like a pretzel - that's weird), and who can sit like that all day without their legs going numb?

What can I do? I've been thinking about laying off running a little bit, maybe 2 runs a week or so, and adding weights. I've wanted to add weights for months and months. I even have them in my living room, just collecting dust. I only have free weights, and I need someone, or a website, DVD, something to teach me how to do a whole body work-out with just free weights, any suggestions? I've also thought that maybe I have a weak core and that's making my back hurt, would that make sense? I want to stick with some yoga too, maybe add it something a little more hard core than relaxing hatha yoga. I dunno, I like going for my runs, and I'm not ready to totally change everything and changing my schedule. I feel like I've just gotten in a schedule and now I'm totally changing it.

We'll just take it one day at a time. That's all we can do.

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Tell me:


Do you go to the doctor's when you have pain? Or try to fix things yourself?
Any suggestions for free weight workouts?
Would a weak core cause back pain?