Sep 22 2008
Pain and the Writer
A week ago I was backpacking with a friend in a high mountain wilderness area. We had just set up camp and I was rock-hopping across a talus field to get water from a lake when my foot slipped on the jagged edge of a boulder. If you’ve ever crossed a talus field, you know it’s one of the last places you want to lose your footing.
I didn’t go all the way down, though. My instincts kicked in and I whirled and twisted violently to break my fall with my hands. When my performance was over, I sat down and thought, “I’ve really hurt myself this time.”
Then I did a quick assessment. My shin had slammed against the sharp edge of a boulder. I lifted my pant leg up, afraid to look at it. It wasn’t so bad. A cut – the beginnings of what would be a goose-egg the size of a Buick – but no break. I felt twisted and a bit nauseated, like I’d been put through a giant dough-kneader, but there was no sharp, breath-stopping stab of a broken rib.
Good – especially since we were in rugged terrain many miles from help and night was coming on. Still, something told me I had really hurt myself, even though I couldn’t feel or see anything serious. Fortunately, the friend I was with is a doctor. Unfortunately, he’s a gynecologist, and since I refused to submit to a pelvic exam and didn’t need a Pap smear, he could only provide emotional support.
The pain came later – a terrible back pain right up in the shoulder blade area. I have been dealing with it for a week now. It has kept me up nights and made my days a living hell. It’s the kind of injury you just have to let heal, like a broken rib, so it really comes down to pain management.
Which brings me to today’s discussion: What can a writer do about physical pain?
First, understand that people who write either as a living or as a part of their jobs are particularly vulnerable to physical pain. That’s because when we write we tend to be alone with ourselves, our thoughts, and yes, our pain. In the very process of writing, we tend to eliminate the external distractions that could otherwise draw our attention away from our pain.
Another thing to understand is that writers are prime targets for a wide range of chronic physical problems that cause pain: carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and back issues and so on. These are typically caused by spending too much time sitting still in front of a computer, and from making the same movements again and again and again.
In other words, as writers we tend to have a lot of pain and that pain is difficult to ignore or escape. So what can we do?
Drugs? Please don’t go there! Addiction to prescription pain-killers – let along illicit drugs – have ruined many good people. Safer long-term alternatives are available and hopefully will work for you, depending on the cause of your pain.
For example, I have found in the past days that regular breaks from my work help immensely. During these breaks I do what I have always known I should do to counter the dangers of repetitive motion injuries: I stretch. Fortunately, this also works for my back injury. Yoga movements and postures really help – not only fighting current pain, but helping to prevent future pain. Even stretching myself out over an exercise ball provides blessed relief.
These remedies won’t vanquish all types of pain, of course, but they are excellent when it comes to the kinds of problems people who write typical develop from sitting at their desks for hours each day writing.
They say pain makes us stronger. But ongoing, inescapable physical pain can be emotionally and professionally debilitating. Do what you can to prevent it. And whatever you do, don’t stop writing.
PS. If you have any suggestions on this topic, please share them with the rest of us!
It could go either way, and the meanings are clearly different. So the sentence is ambiguous. Shame on the writer.