I had my guitar lesson on Sat which is a 1.5 hour marathon playing and learning event. This past week I made it for 20 minutes and had to stand up due to the pain and discomfort in my back, shoulders and hip. I could not get comfortable even standing so my teacher instructed me to lie on the carpet on my back. This made things pretty bearable for me and allowed me to relax. While I was there my teacher told me a story.....
Karla, you are the best! Tackling this problem once again with all the intellect you have.. yep ACTIVE recovery = not the same as 'lazy resting'. Maybe you'll be more at peace with not working your ass off on rest days then?
Cold baths... ewww you're braver than me! Now, a quick & cold shower when you know there's a hot bath right there and/or you've come out of it and want to cool off = something else.
Thanks Espi... You know a realization came to me as David and I were talking actually. My teacher's conversation bubbled up as a result of this realization and I put it all together. The suggestion by David was that I go back to having a regular trainer. His logic being that I haven't been lifting long enough to be going alone and that is potentially causing some of my problems. I thought about it for awhile and then pushed back. The problem with David's suggestion and logic is that I did not and really haven't ever seriously hurt myself in the gym lifting. I am very, very careful actually while I am in the gym.
In fact it wasn't at all anything that I was DOING that caused this. It was more in what I was NOT DOING that caused this. As my guitar teacher's lesson came bubbling to my mind I thought about what a rest day really meant to me. Basically the ONLY definition that it had to me was that I did not have to do a gym workout. It never or rarely ever actually involved anything that resembled rest despite what the name implies. And it NEVER had anything to do with recovery... I was training like an athlete but not really acknowledging it.
Julie has a really good point with the Yoga (and my guitar teacher also mentioned yoga btw) I think the primary benefit of yoga for me would be in the stretches since my meditation is a completely different thing. I am going to go off and work on the yoga poses on my own since the classes all seem to irritate or frustrate me. I'll call it "stretching" (just to get over the hurdle of yoga) and it can be a part of my ACTIVE recovery plan as well. I have been foam rolling and stretching a bunch the past week and it really isn't all the hard to do. I can't say that there is benefit or not for me as I am doing so many things right now to heal but I certainly don't think it hurts me.
The cold bath thing is something I am very reluctant to do but will experiment with it as I get good at an Active Recovery strategy/plan. It will not be in the 1.0 revision I am pretty sure. LOL!
Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in chiros? I was kind of "meh" on both these things until today. Seriously... I feel 100% today. I mean there is really nothing at all stopping me in any sort of movement that I am trying. Tom (Stingo) and I had a good IM last night and he cautioned me to do nothing that resembles lifting until I see the PT as the Doctor recommended (AKA "don't be a dumbass") I think that is sound advice so my plan is to lie around for one more weekend and a day. I am excited to see the PT though because I believe he is going to be perplexed as to why I am in his office. Heck, I am perplexed too. The best explanation I can offer (if you believe in the work of chiros) is that I was so out of whack that my muscles were all swollen and firing. The first 2 adjustments made my muscles more pissed off and when I was in the Ortho's office they were mad. The ortho mention several times that my muscles needed to just relax. (he called it severe overuse) It looked to him as if I had multiple strains. The Alieve made the muscles more calm. The 3rd adjustment with the calmer muscles set things towards a healing place. I go tonight for a 4th but honestly I don't know what she is going to fix. I got nothing at all and am moving around like the old Karla. I want to go for a walk or run but am staying still as promised.
Tomorrow will be four weeks since the marathon working session which is also just about the time that small muscle strains and joint overuse seem to take to heal. So perhaps all these things are in play here? I cannot really say...
Am in a good forward progress right now and am planning on more rest so see nothing but good for the future.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
It sounds like you are putting together a good game plan. And I see there's none of that wimpy silly non-active recovery stuff here. No siree. Just the full throttle active recovery. Ok I'm teasing, but I love the idea of "active recovery." A little mental twist can make all the difference sometimes.
How do you feel about massage as part of your recovery plan? And about a documented stretching plan just like you have a workout plan?
Whatever you decide, we're rooting for you. *waves pompoms vigorously*
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"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in chiros? I was kind of "meh" on both these things until today. Seriously... I feel 100% today. I mean there is really nothing at all stopping me in any sort of movement that I am trying. Tom (Stingo) and I had a good IM last night and he cautioned me to do nothing that resembles lifting until I see the PT as the Doctor recommended (AKA "don't be a dumbass") I think that is sound advice so my plan is to lie around for one more weekend and a day. I am excited to see the PT though because I believe he is going to be perplexed as to why I am in his office. Heck, I am perplexed too. The best explanation I can offer (if you believe in the work of chiros) is that I was so out of whack that my muscles were all swollen and firing. The first 2 adjustments made my muscles more pissed off and when I was in the Ortho's office they were mad. The ortho mention several times that my muscles needed to just relax. (he called it severe overuse) It looked to him as if I had multiple strains. The Alieve made the muscles more calm. The 3rd adjustment with the calmer muscles set things towards a healing place. I go tonight for a 4th but honestly I don't know what she is going to fix. I got nothing at all and am moving around like the old Karla. I want to go for a walk or run but am staying still as promised.
Karla, this sounds a lot like my own experience with the chiro (and the acupuncturist). I was wary, but found a great degree of relief from chiro.
I need to go back and read to catch up on the goings-on in here, but in the meantime, try to enjoy the rest.
I'm walking 60 miles for a breast cancer cure, September 11-13, 2009! Please support my walk and help me raise funds for cancer research by donating to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/...nal&fr_id=1300
Looks good .. crossing fingers like crazy PT is going to be amazed & ortho discovers (s)he's a dumbass
I went off the Alieve and not as good as I thought, so the truth lies between the chiro and the ortho I think. We'll know on Tuesday a little more...
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregl515
I would never take a cold bath! Shrinkage!
Seriously though, I am sorry you are going through this. I had a slipped disc in my neck and it was agony! I felt like I was on fire.
LOL on the shrinkage thing... The good thing about the "no pain" weirdness is I really am not uncomfortable that much. My body just doesn't move like I know it should. Sort of like having big clods of dirt in the chain. I just stick and I know (now) that means that things are not right so I stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CloveApple
It sounds like you are putting together a good game plan. And I see there's none of that wimpy silly non-active recovery stuff here. No siree. Just the full throttle active recovery. Ok I'm teasing, but I love the idea of "active recovery." A little mental twist can make all the difference sometimes.
How do you feel about massage as part of your recovery plan? And about a documented stretching plan just like you have a workout plan?
Whatever you decide, we're rooting for you. *waves pompoms vigorously*
Massage is on the menu too at some point in time. I have never done it but the chiro keeps telling me I should. Thanks for the cheers. I sort of need it right now. I am lying around this weekend but suffering quite a bit from FUKIT attitude right now. I just feel like I got no direction right now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willie
Karla, this sounds a lot like my own experience with the chiro (and the acupuncturist). I was wary, but found a great degree of relief from chiro.
I need to go back and read to catch up on the goings-on in here, but in the meantime, try to enjoy the rest.
Thanks Willie... if anyone knows this game, you do. Am hoping to be back soon!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Massage is one of the best things out there, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I don't have it done frequently enough, but when I do, it's heavenly. However, that's how I feel after the appointment. During the session, I'm all "ow, ow, OWWW!" But as one of my friends put it, "how can something that hurts so much feel so good?" LOL.
Hope you continue getting more clarity and answers this week. Hang in there.
...Hope you continue getting more clarity and answers this week. Hang in there.
Clarity and answers all coming in! Sometimes it pays to have a team. After another week of 500 mg a day of Alieve, 2 more chiro adjustments and PT session with ultra sound I think we have a diagnosis and also a clear path to recovery.
The diagnosis by chiro and confirmed by PT is a sprain in the SI joint. Could be mucsles over or tendons of. There is also a strain of some sort in the scapula area (could be one of several muscles) and finally a very slight hamstring strain. (definately not grade II) This diagnosis explains why my whole body was firing off and bitching and how my joints all got involved as well. The SI joint happens to connect all the other pieces that got involved and when it got out of alignment it caused a lot of cascading issues.
So chiro with massage (by chiro) with ultrasound and now some exercises (by PT) and a tiny bit of chemicals (by Ortho) all seem to be paying off. Today I felt significanly better than I have in the past. I was able to do lat pull downs with 35lbs of weight (last week 10lbs hurt me) and it felt fine. I could do presses with 15 lb db for 20 reps (last week 10 hurt me) and I can do bicep curls even with 10's. This is very light weight but I am fine with that. I am not going to be "training" with this weight yet... I am just experimenting with it to measure how I am progressing. Last week it was hard to carry a 25lb plate even! I think I can say that I am safely coming back. I have a conservative estimate of 12 weeks until I am 100% in training.
Through this experience I have learned a little bit about my broken "pain meter" and I think this learning is very important to me. I learned that I can feel pain and also be very descriptive of it IF I am not stressed. It was Joyce who figured this one out for me! (THANK YOU GIRL!) As soon as I go under even a tiny bit of stress I feel nothing. I realized this yesterday at the PT. I went in completely relaxed from massage and chiro the night prior and all the resting. I had great feeling. Then when he started to work me, my muscles starting to spasm (he says that is normal for SI injuries). I could feel the spasms sending pain up my back, into my shoulder and down my leg. Then oddly there was nothing. I just felt numb all over and I could feel nothing. I remember when I broke my tibia, fibia and wiped out my ankle in a motocross race one day. I felt nothing except for the grinding of the bones. I thought I was in shock but I was completely calm and it did not feel life threatening. My body seems to this amazing protection mechanism that is perhaps a little too protective.
Not sure what I am going to do with this information yet but glad to have it as I think it will serve me in some ways in the future.
All in all I am feeling again pretty positive. I have a diagnosis and a clear path to rehab. I have a team of dedicated professionals by my side. I understand my body better and also I understand what rehab is about better than I ever did before and am willing to comply to the rules as I understand these things. This should translate to me not making stupid mistakes during this crucial time. We'll see.... One day at a time I suppose....
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Hey Espi... I missed the thread just for me but I just now found it. Doooop! I almost never check OT and yesterday I was not online much at all. Thanks for the birthday wishes. It was primarily a great day all in all...
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
With each day, the body gets stronger. Yesterday I had a whirlwind one day trip to CA and back for work. It is on a private jet but even so that makes for a physically tough day. To make matters worse, I was walking between all 5 huge buildings during the day to meet up with people, visit labs and stuff. I felt strong all day and even into the night. This morning I woke up a bit stiff and off. I realized that I did not take an Alieve for a long time so I popped one and all is well. So I know that I need to stay on the Alieve for a bit longer. That said I was able to go to my guitar lesson, sweep the sidewalk (I could never imagine sweeping last week) and even do a very tiny upper body workout. I started with just the exercises my PT prescribed then moved to some lat pulldowns, presses and tricep pushdowns. All super lightweight (20 reps) and not to failure even remotely. Mentally I am at great peace right now. I can see that I am going to come back. I understand the pain versus no pain thing enough to better assure no mistakes. I got a tiny bit of a swole on again. Life is good overall!
This experience has left me already with amazing learnings about my body. Besides the pain thing, I have learned a bit about why I could not squat squarely. I cannot really articulate what is going on but I think it has to do with my pelvis being out of alingment or not. Yesterday at work I crossed my left leg over my right. I realized that I never have been able to do that in the past. Of course I could do it, but it was always uncomfortable or tight. It was an exciting thing for me to be able to do it without any discomfort. Today I can squat ATF and I can lean either in my left or right hip without any discomfort. The right one still feels weaker but not sore or tight. This is a kick-ass learning.
Finally I noted today that I am very, very near or under the bf% that I was when I weighed 118lbs. I actually have more vascularity in my arms so it could be under. In any case I weighed in at 126 lbs today so have a total of 8lbs for sure gained during my bulk. I am very happy with the results of this past 10 months.
So for now, I will focus on healing and gaining back my strength... after that I am not sure. It makes me uncomfortable to not have a plan but I don't. Alan and I have to talk in order to figure this all out. I (of course) still want to shoot for the March show. He wants me to focus on the healing as a priority though so that is what I am doing right now.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
What happened that you can squat ATF more easily now? Did the chiro adjust you here properly?
I'm only able to do ATF with raised heels.. it's not tight hamstrings but very tight (& short) achilles tendons that spoil things.
What happened that you can squat ATF more easily now? Did the chiro adjust you here properly?
I'm only able to do ATF with raised heels.. it's not tight hamstrings but very tight (& short) achilles tendons that spoil things.
the issue that is cured now is not the tightness in the ankle thing so much as the shifting of weight at the bottom of the squat. I tend to shift all the weigh to my left leg in the hole. It is something I have had to be consiously fighting forever. Now I don't do that. I can evenly distribute the weight in the hole to my right side.
I can't wait to tell the chiro about this. Cool stuff...
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Thanks for the reminder guys. So far I am really holding back well and am quite proud of myself. And the best part of it all is that I did not really go too insane this time. I am allowing myself the rest and the sleep like I have never done before in my life. This is such a weird feeling for me because it is so unlike me...
Interestingly I am finding that my body is very good at telling me when it is sick or not. In the worst times of this injury, I slept like I never had before. (Some days 16 hours) I was groggy and tired. Now I am still needing more sleep than normal but not that much. I actually am listening to the cues this time instead of fighting them.
I was really pissed off at Alan last month when he told me that the show was off. I cried and cussed at him for a good few weeks. I felt like it was a completely unfair thing to do. To my credit, I did not argue it back and forth with him. I wanted to argue but I knew, by the way he told me the news that it was not negotiable. Now I can see that in some sick way it was good for me because I had no option but to surrender... or rather perhaps gave in. I was forced to just let go and deal with my body instead of the goal of showing. I think (as painful as it was) that was the best route for me to take. I really cannot think of any other way this would have happened in fact. I am in a much healthier place now in my head about this setback. Interesting... I think that Alan had other motivations for his actions than just this one, but at least I can see this being a good thing now instead of a bad thing. (slowly moving and learning here....)
Of course I still have not completely let go of the show... I still am hoping. (crossing fingers here) The intensity and fire about it is no longer there though now...
Today I did not need to take the Alieve. I felt 100% again for the first time since the first week of July. I actually was able to pick things up around the yard (nothing over 50lbs) and just move with a lot of freedom in general. I'll even do some general housekeeping again. (long past due now) Today there is no pain anywhere and my core is feeling strong again. In fact I feel better than I have felt in a long, long while.
Later on I will do my PT exercises again but will not do any sort of lifting (even though I want to) I'll save that for tomorrow. I am going to come up with an upper lifting routine for next week that will get me back into the game. Some sort of bodybuilding thing whereby I do bis/tris/delts one day and chest/back the other. I am excited as can be to start back!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
And the best part of it all is that I did not really go too insane this time. I am allowing myself the rest and the sleep like I have never done before in my life. This is such a weird feeling for me because it is so unlike me...
Too Insane? Time will tell
Of course I still have not completely let go of the show... I still am hoping. (crossing fingers here) The intensity and fire about it is no longer there though now...
Keep your goal in sight...just adjust the timing!
Later on I will do my PT exercises again but will not do any sort of lifting (even though I want to) I'll save that for tomorrow. I am going to come up with an upper lifting routine for next week that will get me back into the game. Some sort of bodybuilding thing whereby I do bis/tris/delts one day and chest/back the other. I am excited as can be to start back!
I wonder what the over / under is on you going too hard too fast?
Try to take it easy..you have lots of support here.
I'm walking 60 miles for a breast cancer cure, September 11-13, 2009! Please support my walk and help me raise funds for cancer research by donating to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/...nal&fr_id=1300
To repeat, just because you're not feeling pain doesn't necessarily mean everything's ok. Be careful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willie
Ditto.
From one weird "I'm not injured, it just hurts" person to another... please be careful!
Gotcha guys and thanks for the reminder. Kate, I am not a "denial" person WRT injuries. I honestly do not feel the pain. Once I feel pain, I stop, and I take that very seriously. In the past I was in denial simply becuase I did not realize this thing I have with my pain meter. It was very hard for me to put together that I was seriously injured when I had no pain and that caused me to take a very long time to heal from my hamstring injury. It was a mess and a constant battle between me and the PT.
Alan and I had a phone call yesterday and part of that call was discussing this odd "no pain" thing. He too believed it was about my will or mental toughness and he even really chewed me out at one point for working through pain. Now he realizes that it is honestly about a physical sensation deficency. With this learning he is also realizing the challenge that I am as a client because he has to somehow figure out the balance of taking me to ridiculous low bf% levels while somehow making sure that I do not get injured. I told him that it would be understandable if he wanted to drop me as a client but he says he wants to keep the challenge. (crazy man that he is...)
That conversation aside, we laid out the next several months of strategy and plans. Net is that we can still work for a show BUT first thing is we concentrate on the rehab and beyond that the lifting rules that I must follow to stay safe. So next couple of months I work on rehab and there is no weight gain or loss per se. I will work with Alan every day as normal and lay out my progress to him on daily basis. After some months IF Alan thinks I am healthy enough and IF we have the strategy down well enough he calls the shots on how we get to the show in March. I was very happy with this conversation because it gave me my goal, a flowchart (path to the goal) and motivation back which makes the daily drugery of reporting in and doing all the macro-management worth it to me again. So I am again re-focused on that front.
Finally, I saw the physical therapist today again. This is nothing at all like the first time around. This time I recognize that I am injured even though I do not really hurt so much. I am accepting my weakness and not trying to fight things. This guys seems pretty good. He is very easy to work with and is giving me great advice for my rehab plan. He added in the right lower workout for me to do. So my new plan is upper every other day and lower every other day this next week. I keep reps high (15-20) and weights very low. For lower I am to only use bands. Squatting and that sort of thing are still a few weeks away.
So I am back to the gym this week! YEAH! It is rehab sure but at least it isn't lying around on ice packs. LOL!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
15-20 reps are a challenge of their own.. I used to loooooove that stuff & even go for 30-40 reps. Actually a PT I've been working with twice in the past made me do exactly this for machines like leg curl/extension/press.. she also was the first to learn me squat , do GM & step ups (lower reps but still 12-15 !)
Just stopping by to let you know that I've been getting caught up. I often read your log just don't have much to add.
Those high rep weight sessions can be more taxing than you'd think. I've done them off and on over the years too and I think it's gone a long ways towards why many years of floor nursing hasn't done my back and knees in. There are times you need to be able to lift heavy but it actually did involve more of a endurance high repetition type of lifting/movement too. Both are good.
Ok I'm teasing, but I love the idea of "active recovery." A little mental twist can make all the difference sometimes.
I think I can say that I am safely coming back. I have a conservative estimate of 12 weeks until I am 100% in training. 
One day at a time I suppose....
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