Yeah, it's been that kind of week (or so).
The past week or two I had been dealing with muscle spasms in my shoulders. This is a recurring thing that happens to me when I am under a lot of stress. It happens once or twice a year maybe and passes in a couple of weeks. I have some good PT exercises to speed-up the recovery and a great massage therapist to push the timeline further.
Last Saturday, as I was heading up to Lake Tahoe with Mum and Daisy, I finally felt my shoulders release with a deep exhale. Driving long distances is very therapeutic to me and just the thought of the long drive ahead allowed me to let everything go.
Ahhhhhhhhhh. Sweet relief!
Until...
I picked Daisy up in a hurry as we were leaving the beach and strained my lower back and left I.T. band (a tendon that runs from your butt down the outside of your thigh and connects to your knee.) Ouch. Again, not a new thing for me. Back to some old PT exercises to release it.
It just started getting better a couple of days ago and then, hey presto, my right knee started getting shooting pains whenever I lunged forward to kneel down or (now) walk up or down stairs.
I mean, can I get a break PLEASE!?
Knee pain is new for me, sadly. Fortunately, at least right now, it is only hurting in those certain planes of motion I mentioned and there is no obvious swelling. Performing some Google research suggests that I probably have patellar tendinitis (also known as Jumper's Knee), likely a result of the increased number of plyometric workouts I have been doing to get back in shape. (So much for that.)
I have an appointment with my doctor next week for a regular cracky-cracky and we'll see what he says.
All I can say for certain is this: I AM NOT GETTING KNEE SURGERY. I am so done with surgeries. I just hope this doesn't result in months and months of physical therapy again, because I'm kinda done with PT too. I don't have time for this (or the money!)
Groan. I hate to be a moaner but nothing puts me in a worse mood than physical limitations.
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edited to add:
Shortly after writing this post I got excrutiating nerve pain in my lower back and hips; pain I have not had in a long, long time. I literally had to ice it until my ass was a popsicle, medicate with NSAIDS and do yoga breathing until I fell asleep sitting up. The side effect? Pain in my knee appears to be all but gone.
The ever-so-delicate phrase WHAT THE F***!? springs to mind.
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Something new
Recently I have had to admit that my workout "routine" (or lack thereof) is no longer working for me.
Getting up at 4:15 in the morning and driving myself the 10 minutes to the gym where I stare longingly at all the machines I can no longer use for fear of throwing something or other out and being incapacitated for days or weeks on end, is nothing but pure torture. There used to be a day, before hip and back injuries and prior to being exhausted mummy to an active toddler, that the gym was my "place"; my mental space for working stuff out and my place where I felt physically strong and in control.
Yeah, well, like I said, things have changed.
Not just circumstantially but in a lot of other ways too. For instance, my definition of strong has definitely evolved into being more about balance and resilience and support rather than muscle tone and the numbers on a weight stack. Also, I was given a series of exercises I can do pretty much anywhere from my physical therapist and trainer last year - no fancy equipment necessary. And, finally, since I've never been one for the whole group routine thing (it kills me that 90% of the overly amped-up teachers teach improper form and provide little instruction for their students who are yanking their backs around) I decided that the era of gym membership is, at least for now, over.
So, this morning I got up at 5am (a 45 minute sleep-in), put on my sneakers and walked outside to this.
Cold and foggy but also beautiful and serenely quiet. I soon woke up and the mental space that the deserted streets gave me was wonderful, although I did have NPR's Morning Edition playing through some ear phones.
I did my warm-ups, walked and jogged for 20 minutes, and then came inside and did some floor-work while my coffee brewed in the kitchen.
Right next to my office is my spare room where my Total Gym awaits for 15 minutes of strength training at some point in my day.
So, who needs a gym? I've canceled my membership, am saving $550 a year, and I feel great about it.
Woohoo to a new era of RantyPantsy-fitness!
Getting up at 4:15 in the morning and driving myself the 10 minutes to the gym where I stare longingly at all the machines I can no longer use for fear of throwing something or other out and being incapacitated for days or weeks on end, is nothing but pure torture. There used to be a day, before hip and back injuries and prior to being exhausted mummy to an active toddler, that the gym was my "place"; my mental space for working stuff out and my place where I felt physically strong and in control.
Yeah, well, like I said, things have changed.
Not just circumstantially but in a lot of other ways too. For instance, my definition of strong has definitely evolved into being more about balance and resilience and support rather than muscle tone and the numbers on a weight stack. Also, I was given a series of exercises I can do pretty much anywhere from my physical therapist and trainer last year - no fancy equipment necessary. And, finally, since I've never been one for the whole group routine thing (it kills me that 90% of the overly amped-up teachers teach improper form and provide little instruction for their students who are yanking their backs around) I decided that the era of gym membership is, at least for now, over.
So, this morning I got up at 5am (a 45 minute sleep-in), put on my sneakers and walked outside to this.
Cold and foggy but also beautiful and serenely quiet. I soon woke up and the mental space that the deserted streets gave me was wonderful, although I did have NPR's Morning Edition playing through some ear phones.
I did my warm-ups, walked and jogged for 20 minutes, and then came inside and did some floor-work while my coffee brewed in the kitchen.
Right next to my office is my spare room where my Total Gym awaits for 15 minutes of strength training at some point in my day.
So, who needs a gym? I've canceled my membership, am saving $550 a year, and I feel great about it.
Woohoo to a new era of RantyPantsy-fitness!
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