Now, before I get into this article, I’ll make one thing perfectly clear – this is NOT your typical V/Line rant that I might usually come up with, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed.
Stick around though, because you will get a laugh at my expense.
Over the last three weeks or so, I’ve been having a problem with a pinched nerve in, err, my……buttocks.
(WAITS FOR SNIGGERING TO STOP)
The result of this pinching has been transferred pain halfway up my back, and most of the way down my leg. Some days, my back has been the biggest problem, but most of the time it has been my leg – it feels like a hamstring strain that just won’t heal.
Last week and over the weekend, it started to markedly improve. Still sore, but clearly finally getting better.
All of a sudden, come Monday it has been getting worse again – frustrating! This morning however, I figured out what has been going on.
As a regular V/Line commuter from North Geelong, I simply do not get a seat in the mornings. Invariably I end up sitting/leaning against the little shelf in the middle of a V/Locity carriage, just near the fire extinguisher sign and two upright bars in the photo.
When I plonked my butt down on this little shelf this morning, I noticed that the main sore point in my posterior perfectly matched the metal edge of the little shelf.
Interesting.
Last week, just like everyone else, I had two days off work for Easter Monday and Anzac Day. The other three days, I worked away from the office at a client site, and therefore drove instead of travelling by train.
Of course, on Saturday and Sunday I didn’t sit on my little shelf either.
This week, back to the train, and back to my little shelf that corresponds to the location of the problem in my derrière – and the pain is getting worse again.
It would seem that after month and months and months of sitting in this spot five days a week – (except for the very rare occasions I get a seat) – has created some kind of “repetitive butt strain injury”.
There’s a good chance I will avoid the little shelf from now on, but it would seem that I finally have proof of something we regular V/Liners have long believed.
That V/Line – quite literally – is a pain in the arse!