I was laying in bed when the idea for NEWBaRest came to me.
It was a hospital bed...
I had been there for over a week and was gradually starting to be able to
walk again...
Never again would I want to be in that position.
For this to make any sense, I need to tell you a little about myself. I am
young(ish!) (42), physically fit and strong and, according to my doctor in
hospital, not overweight.
Up until the 14th of June 2009 I could do the following with ease:
Bicycle 60km / 40 miles
Walk 20km / 16 miles
Bicep curl 20 kgs / 44 lbs in each hand
I weigh 96 kgs / 210 lbs and my doctor said I could maybe lose 5 kgs / 11 lbs.
As I say, I am in reasonably good shape. The point is, it doesn't seem to
matter what shape you are in...
But I used to spend far too many hours in front of my computer. I work from home
and so going to the office involved a 15 second walk from the bedroom. If you
spend your mornings and early evenings commuting then this probably sounds ideal
but it does have its drawbacks. Particularly when my wife is away, I would get up,
sit in front of my computer and stay there all day. Lunch was usually forgotten and
work would often finish 9 hours after it had begun.
Then, on Sunday the 14th of June 2009, I got out of bed and my back felt
a little sore. It worried me a little but I was tough. I ignored it. I went into
the kitchen and made my wife and I French Toast for breakfast. I then went into my
office to hang up a jacket that I had worn the previous evening when we went out for
dinner with a friend.
Then it happened...
I felt as it must feel like when someone takes a very long, sharp carving
knife from the kitchen and stabs you in the back with it.
I screamed and fell to my knees.
The pain continued and I fell forwards onto all fours.
Still it continued and I fell on to my stomach and I lay flat on the floor.
The pain eased.
I could not move. Any movement at all that used my lower back muscles brought back the
knife stab pain. And let me tell you now, an awful lot of the movements that
we normally take for granted involve the muscles of the lower back. I was stuck in a
straight-jacket of pain.
My wife, upon hearing my scream, came running in and saw me laying on the floor.
She was desperate to help me but could do nothing. Again being "tough" and not
wanting to make a bad situation worse, I said "I'm ok. It will be gone in a minute
and everything will be fine".
I was wrong...
After four hours I gave up and agreed to go to the hospital. And what a four
hours it was. I kept reassuring my wife that everything was going to be okay
but every so often I would secretly try to move my toes to make sure that I still
could. I began wondering what life in a wheelchair was going to be like. Sounds
melodramatic as I write this but at the time it seemed perfectly plausible that
I would never walk again. Something had happened to my back and I had no idea
what. It was, strictly between you and me, terrifying.
Having agreed to go to hospital, my mind started wondering how I was going to get
there. By ambulance obviously but how to get to the ambulance? I live on the
third floor and the elevator is barely big enough for one bicycle. A stretcher
bed was not going to fit. It was going to be a wheelchair...
Ever see those Wild West movies where the hero is given a bullet to bite on whilst
the doctor saws his injured leg off? With this in mind, I asked my wife to pass
me a small, very hard rubber ring for me to bite on whilst the ambulance men lifted
me into the wheelchair. The ring in question is about 10 cm / 4 inches in diameter
and designed as a hand grip strengthener. I took it between my teeth and grunted
loudly as the excruciating pain in my back struck again as I was lifted into
the wheelchair.
When I arrived at the hospital, a doctor rushed over to examine me. It was
immediately obvious that I was in extreme pain and so I was sent to the neurology
department for further tests. They were wonderful. They did blood tests,
CT scans, x-rays, the lot. They filled me up with anti-inflammatories and
pain killers. It finally became apparent after all the tests that, fortunately,
"all" I had suffered was a very severe attack of acute lumbago.
It also became obvious that the cause of my trouble was my long hours sitting at a
desk in front of the computer.
I decided that never again would I find myself laying on the floor, in agony,
unable to move.
But what to do about it? Particularly given the fact that once you have an
attack, another one is quite likely... Truly scary!
I needed some way of reminding myself to take regular breaks and so the idea for
NEWBaRest was born.
Whilst doing research at home after being released from hospital, two things became
apparent.
Firstly, there were already products out there. Not many but a few. They were
either expensive (almost US$100 in some cases) and sophisticated or cheap and
ordinary. There was something missing...
Secondly, most people seemed to be like I was. Most people were looking for
cures to back pain (and RSI, neck pain, eye-strain etc) but few were looking for
preventative measures. Trust me, having gone through the pain, prevention is
certainly better than cure! Time to help change peoples perspective on the matter.
My NEWBaRest software is now available. Just click here to see it in action!
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