“An injury is just God’s way of slowing you down.”
I read this quote last week on one of my favorite healthy living blogs, The Great Balancing Act. If you haven’t seen this one, please check it out. I find this one of the most inspiring blogs out there nowadays. And I really liked this quote!
Many of you have been asking how my shoulder is feeling and how my doctor’s appointments went on Friday.
First of all, thanks for all the concern!
Second of all, I think I am going to be okay.
Third of all, I think I need to slow down.
Friday I had three separate appointments:
- X-Ray
- PCP – pretty much a general exam / necessary referral step of the process
- Orthopedic – more specialized exam of my arm / shoulder
My X-Rays came out normal, as I was expecting them to.
The PCP prescribed me a heavier strength Naproxen and a muscle relaxer for that huge knot/spasm going on in my back. After that she pretty much shooed me on upstairs to the ortho floor, which was fine with me. I hate the mandatory PCP middle step anyways. They usually just say “rest and ice!” and bolt out the door as fast as possible, not caring about much more than how quickly they can get you out of the office so they can move onto their next patient.
The orthopedic doctor took a lot more time to listen to my story and do a fuller exam of my arm/shoulder/back. He pretty much thinks that for now I just have a slight strain in the rotator cuff area – the four tendons that are a part of the four shoulder muscles in the upper arm that help move and stabilize the shoulder joint.
He didn’t think that I have any severe tendinitis or tearing at this point based on my pain levels when pushing/pulling my arm in 329472 different directions. But if I’m not careful it could develop into that. 😦
Right now I feel a little crunching here and there, but I still have a full range of motion so I definitely don’t want to compromise that.
So pretty much I need to heat before my workouts and ice afterwards, religiously. I was also given specific moves to avoid doing: Any shoulder move where I lift weights overhead, out to the sides, or out in front. WORST news – no pushups. My class takers are probably cheering right now. Fresh. The good news is I can still do upper body moves that have more of a contained range of motion – bicep curls, rows for back, and tricep work should still be okay. Planks are fine on my forearms. And he said kickboxing is ok too, just keep the arm movements minimized for now and see how it goes. If the pain continues, at least now I have these initial steps out of the way and will be able to fast track any other treatments / tests necessary.
So let’s just hope that a few weeks of some TLC is all it takes to me feeling back to normal. I am probably going to get another massage – that really helped. And this muscle relaxer works wonders.
Question of the Day: Have you ever had an injury that held you back? How did you overcome it?
Thanks for all the concern!
Fitness & Feta 