Back in January, right after filming "Bum Fit" for Welcome To Lovejoy, I woke up the following Monday with acute pain in my right knee. Now, that in itself isn't unusual, but it was significantly more painful than I had felt since I injured it playing sports in 8th grade. Of course, being a man I shrugged it off, and just fought through the pain for the day, assuming I could walk it off, and it would get better.

But it didn't get better.

And within a week, the pain had shifted to my hip, and my left knee. Then to my ankles. And after two weeks of ankle pain, my ankles, and feet began to swell, while my wrists, and elbows began to feel a very similar pain. I'm stubborn. Even at this point I hesitated to go to the doctor, but at the urging of my kids, and my girlfriend, and several friends, I relented. A full day of physical exams, blood work, and x-rays revealed nothing.

I continued to experience the pain, but was treating the swelling in my ankles. I decided to go back to seeing a chiropractor regularly. Julie discussed my situation, and mentioned she has seen many similar cases. Some she treated successfully, and others were a bit more challenging. We began twice-a-week sessions to see if we could correct whatever it is that was going on.

I missed about two straight months of going to the gym. I was struggling to get up in the morning due to the pain. Stairs were ugly, but I forced myself to take them at work. Walking was difficult; running nearly impossible. But with Julie's help, I started seeing improvements within a couple of weeks. It's amazing how much better I feel now that vertebrae actually move noticeably better in my neck, and back. Things crack when I move again, which many might not consider a good thing, but it means that I at least have better mobility in the joints. I realized that a while ago, all of that cracking stopped. Things were seizing up. Pressure was building on the nerves of my central nervous system. Small aches, and pains should have been my warning, but I ignored them, and as I usually do, performed through them, regardless of what I needed to do.

I can run again now. It feels so good. I'm back to a semi-normal (normal for me) gym routine, and making progress toward my goals. I put on about ten pounds just from not being able to move well, and now I'm dropping that weight. I have a goal of 30 more.

But with soccer season upon me again, I know I can run with the kids. Things aren't back to the right strength, and endurance yet, but I'm making good progress.

The recognition here needs to be that I cannot ignore a single part of my body as I get older. I especially have to take care of the control centers that manage the whole thing. Back issues, even when they don't seem like back issues, can cause so much grief....