I am a 47 year old female. I was helping my dad in early spring get firewood. I picked up an ax and tried to split a log. I discovered I was a pretty good log splitter even with a plain ax. I just went out an bought a couple new axes. One was a 8lb wood splitting Maul. I love this thing.
I discovered I loved going to the wood and grabbing my maul and splitting a load of wood.
What happened a couple weeks ago caught me off guard. I swung with my maul and felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I tried to swing again. This time was worse. I babied it the rest of the day. The next weekend I wore a back brace and still babied it.
I was feeling much better this weekend. I still had my brace on. On swing three, I was hit with a blinding pain right in the middle of my stomach. It hurt so bad I could not catch my breath. Minutes later it was still bad pain. I rested and decided I would not swing anymore. I did try to pull to start a chainsaw and the pain hit me worse than ever. I was done.
I got home and managed to get a shower. I managed to get into bed with some work. I tried to roll over and could hardly bear the pain. The next morning I could not get up. I had to get my son to come sit me up. I discovered I can no longer use my stomach muscles because it is just to painful.
I do not see a sign of a hernia. I don't really know what to do. I do not have health insurance. I am just hoping the pain gets better if I try to be very careful.
I am sure my wood splitting days are over. I feel broken