....seem to be gone. For close to ten years I have been plagued with lower back pain and sciatica. I would go through periods of time when I would wake up in the morning and have to get on the floor and do a series of stretches before I could walk. Usually going about the day's activities would reduce it to manageable. Working on things at bench top or counter top level, in the shop or in the kitchen, would soon have my lower back feeling lame, not acutely painful, just lame. A few years ago, I went through some physical therapy (which was a wasted of time) and finally had a radio frequency ablation done on a couple of nerves. That helped, but I was told it would only last for 6 months or a year and I'd have to get it done again. I trided a series of stretches before bed every night that seemed to help a lot, but still far from perfect. I would get that shooting, sciatica pain, sometimes all the way to the bottom of my ankle, the lower back pain and lameness were reduced, but never really went away.
About a month ago, my wife said, "How do you feel about getting a new bed?" Well, we just got a new mattress and box springs about 3 years ago and i thought they were ridiculously expensive, but the girl works seven days most weeks, between her regular job and side gigs such as consulting and developmental stuff, so if she wants a new bed, who am I to say no? It turns out the bed she wants is this two-sided arrangement, with separate remote controls, one for her side and one for mine, and you can adjust the head and foot up and down, any way you like, as well as adjust lumbar support, has vibratory massage functions, and the mattresses are very firm. It doesn't stop there. The bed actually has sensors built in that monitor your pulse, respiration, air quality in the room, and other markers and feed it all, via your home wifi, into a server somewhere that uses AI to determine when you're asleep and whether you're in light sleep, REM sleep, or deep sleep. If you start snoring, it will prop you up a bit, or jiggle you slightly until you stop. It also will respond to sleep apnea episodes. Every morning, you get an email that rates the quality of sleep you had and gives you some "sleep coaching" to help you improve it.
I have been sleeping better and feel much more rested since we got this bed a few weeks ago. Then it occurred to me: I have had no lower back pain and no sciatica now in probably 10 days or 2 weeks. Completely gone, not even the little twinges down the side of my leg during the day. I'm not struggling with lower back lameness after working at benchtop level for a few hours now. I am impressed.
