After one such episode which put me out of action for six weeks I finally decided to act. Countless sessions with various different therapists over the years had helped relieve the pain, but not prevented the same thing happening again a few months down the line. The plain truth was the problem lay in the way I worked and took care of myself. It was an acupuncturist, who while struggling to get needles into my locked up muscle without them bending, put it best, he said "Tell me the most expensive, most used and most vital piece of equipment you have in your workshop?" with a bit of thought I replied "I think I would have to say my table saw" pulling another buckled needle from my back he said "WRONG! It's you." It was a was a good lesson that set me on a path to try to take a bit more care of my rapidly ageing self.
It's in our youth that we punish our bodies with little concern. I recall all the winter days I worked outside on sites, rain soaked and numb with cold with just a T shirt for protection. When young you brush this stuff off and recover quickly, but the neglect is slowly taking its toll and will return to torment you in old age.
All very well you say, but your back is still out of wack. Unfortunately twenty odd years of wear and tear is hard to correct, however this latest episode is the first in about two years, it only lasted for a week and even at the worst of it I wasn't forced to hobble around on my stick like Yoda.
Unlike a table saw, the body can't be replaced and upgraded when worn out, so my advice is show it a little tenderness.