This post is not about child endangerment or even prehistoric sap. The Amber here is our Gyrotonics instructor. She is a nice person and I really do appreciate what she is doing for us, but as with any physical therapy there is a love-hate relationship between the therapist and their patient. I love how her working with me is helping to improve my health, but I hate how I feel after one of her classes.

For the uninitiated, Gyrotonics is like Pilates, or so I have been told. I have never actually done Pilates, so I am making that statement on faith. The main difference between the two, at least to me seems to be that Gyrotonics employs medieval instruments of torture that look like they might have been designed by a Nordic Track purveyor. Each Gyrotonics tower is equipped with a series of pullies that are attached to weights. So, it is basically weight training, with the addition of stretching. “Elongate your spine.” “Shoulders down!” “Head up.” “Now, arch and curl your back.” You get the idea.

Lately, I have developed a lower backache. Some might say that I am a pain in the butt, but this is my personal pain in the butt. Sometimes the pain makes it difficult to do one of our long walks together. I do not know if there is any cause and effect between Gyrotonics and this back pain, but it is usually worse after a session. A couple of weeks ago, I took an Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) before our class, as a prophylactic. I have used this drug in the past and besides some stomach distress it has always been without other side effects. This time I had a mild allergic reaction. It was not bad, but it was bad enough that I did not accompany Anne to the studio. When Anne got there all alone, one of our former instructors exclaimed, “Amber, you killed one of them.”

I guess that joke alone, lets you know that we are not exactly at the top of the curve. This is somewhat disheartening when looking around at some of the other patrons of the Gyrotonics lab. Anyway, I was back there this week and afterwards I did not feel my back anywhere near as much as I had before. I guess that I will have to add Aleve to the banned substance list though. This is unfortunate since it is quite effective at dealing with muscle pain. I will just have to keep on trucking without it, because like a shark, if I stop moving, I will die.