What A Drag It Is Getting Old

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old


Part of that song lyric applies to me this month, and not because I actually remember hearing that particular Rolling Stones song when it was new.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I twisted the wrong way lifting weights during my vacation, an action which resulted in significant leg pain. It is four weeks later and I’m still limping, although things are much better than then. I finally went to the doctor a few days ago and I now know what the problem is: sciatica. Actually I knew this before he said it, thanks to a well-read wife and some obsessive Google searching on my part.

According to one very helpful website, sciatica is usually caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from a herniated disc (also referred to as a ruptured disc, pinched nerve, slipped disk, etc.).

My doctor couldn’t determine the exact cause, but he thinks that the weight-lifting event may have pinched a nerve or something like that. He prescribed some miracle drug and says if things do not improve by my follow-up visit next week, I should get an MRI. Things have already improved, so maybe that won’t be necessary.

But here is something that bothers me almost as much as the limping: everyone boomer age and above that I described this to knew exactly what I was talking about. Most of my younger friends and coworkers generally had no clue. Even though sciatica most frequently affects 30 – 50 year olds, the term seems to be more associated with those over 50. If you know me (or read this blog), you know I’m obsessed with age issues and with convincing myself that I’m only as old as I look and act and not as old as I really am.

Fortunately I’m an optimist and I won’t end in the same place as the subject of the afore-mentioned Rolling Stones song. I fully expect to be walking straight, working out and off the meds soon. Then I can whine about, uh, I mean observe some other boomer issue.