Pain in the wallet
It's delightful when there is a simple solution to a terrible problem. I had a pain in my lower back that was gradually getting worse. It got so bad that when I was tying my shoes two weeks ago, it took me five minutes to stand up straight, due to intense pain in my lower back. I also had difficulty getting in and out of my car. A quick Google search informed me about "wallet neuropathy," also called "wallet sciatica." My wallet has been growing over the past year because of accumulating receipts, membership cards and new credit cards because I'm in the process of switching from a big bank to a local credit union (I was provoked to do this by Arianna Huffington's "Move Your Money" campaign). The simple solution was to not carry my wallet in my back pocket (I've been carrying my wallet in my back pocket for year). The good news is that the pain has decreased to only barely noticeable, only two weeks after it was disabling. I'm thus sharing this simple advice to anyone else who has back pain who also carries a fat wallet: Think about carrying your wallet some other way. I'm also sharing this WebMD article with more straight-forward advice for taking care of your back. The section on computing and commuting was especially interesting to me.