Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Programmus Interruptus Before It Got Startedus

Well, I was all jazzed to start my program this week which included 3 strength training sessions but the overuse injury I got from last month put a damper on that.  (I want to note I'm not saying that program injured me per se but I should've listened to my body more and took a rest day or rearranged some days instead of being so strict about staying on schedule.)

Saturday I couldn't even reach the top shelf at the grocery store and the weight of my own arm was making me wince in pain.  Monday I made an appointment with the chiro since it had been a month of progress and backsliding with Saturday being the worst.  When I went in, he thought I was coming in for the usual leg stuff but I said "welp, I'm here for a similar injury as the Mr's!"  He laughed and asked if it was due to a skiing accident too and I said no and told him about the program.  He said the Mr told him a little about it but asked for more detail and it sounded like I might've injured it early on and then not having proper recovery time coupled with sleeping on it and even something as simple as reaching for a high item in the cupboard all likely contributed.

After doing an exam, I told him where all the pain was being felt, he felt the bicep tendon was overused and there is a "piano key" effect going on where it's been trying to heal on its own, would get re-injured and now scar tissue has formed from that process.  He said it's hard to pin down an actual diagnosis because the pain, while bad to me, is nowhere near as bad as he's seen but likely a mild sprain of the area.  It's an overuse injury that is compensating before going into a rotator cuff injury so he said my coming in at this stage was good because we can get in front of it.  He did some range of motion tests and the first time he touched the bicep tendon, I said "that's the spot that feels tight but it hurts with you pushing on it."  I told him about the pain in the "dent" of the top of the shoulder and he said that is where I feel the pain but not where the injury is.  (Much like the Mr's injury is in the same place but from bracing so he feels his pain in the bicep.)  So he did a massage on the bicep tendon that felt good at first but then began to ache.  I'm pretty sure it was to break up the scar tissue before he lasered it.

He lasered it for a good long time too.  I told him the Mr kept urging me to go so the shoe was on the other foot now but he's a believer and talked about how good he feels after the lasering.  The doc is very impressed with his progress using the combo of icing, ultra sounding and the tens unit.  For me, I have to ice it daily and while at first he said I could do upper body but nothing load bearing over the head or using the bicep this week, I told him it was scheduled for the next day and he smiled and said "let's skip that this week, I want to give it a chance to heal up."  So I go back tomorrow for another laser treatment and pin session.

I'm going to be a good girl and listen to him and rearrange my program to be cardio-centric.  Since we already have one lower body session down, I'll change the total body to another lower body session (where the weights are hanging and stepping down 5 lbs).  I won't lie, I'm super bummed especially since I took so much time in planning our program to be what I think our bodies will respond to but cardio is never a bad thing.  I just wish we were both 100% to be able to do what we want to do instead of what we have to do.  So I'm in the process of coming up with alternate schedules until I'm cleared.  The Mr is cleared for upper body as much as he can handle without pain and hopefully I'll be there soon too.

Last night we had upper body on the schedule but my shoulder hurt from an over zealous Turbo Fire session.  (Didn't hurt while I was doing it but next day soreness)  Since it was going to be the only day with no rain this week, we decided to hang out with the squirrels...


I thought we'd do two laps but my legs still weren't totally down with that after leg day Sunday so we settled for one trail lap and a quarter mile flat loop.  Funny how when you get out of the habit of walking regularly, you think you can pick right back up where you left off but your body says 'don't think so, babes.'  I'll also have to dial back the punches for a week or so.  I never thought I'd be so dang twitchy to get back to the old routine.  Sigh.

What's your favorite upper body exercise?  Let me live vicariously through you.

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2 comments:

  1. We're doing the right things to heal now which is good. Let us be a lesson to others out there. If you get any kind of range of motion injury to your arm or shoulder, get to the doctor right away, do not wait too long! I am also amazed at just how effective the laser treatments are. Star Trek!

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  2. I'm so glad you went to the chiro and got some good treatment. Sounds like he's a great doc and really listens and explains things very well. My upper body is not strong at all but I do like some of the machines at the Y. The chest press and the triceps machine I like a lot. The biceps one is harder for me because Wilma and Betty get in the way and have to rest on the pad with my upper arms. =o) And I so hear what you're saying about getting out of the routine of walking. I can my DVD's with no problems, but get me on that padded track and it's like my legs are on fire. It's 12 laps for a mile at the Y and so far I've only made it around 7 times. But at home with Leslie, I can do the 2 miles with no issues. Weird. But it's definitely a building up process.

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