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Shoulder Diagnosis and (Pending) Fix
I got an MRI with contrast last Friday afternoon. That process was quite unpleasant–I’d thought the contrast might be issued intravenously, but, alas, it was not. I had a shot into my shoulder socket. Friday night was rough, because the contrast caused serious swelling in the socket. It took until Saturday afternoon for me to get the swelling back under control with my measly, widely-spaced ibuprofen doses. I saw Dr. H for the results Monday morning, and there’s evidence of shoulder impingement from the shape of my acromial bone, plus some fraying (and possible tear) in the anterior area of my labrum. I got referred to Dr. H’s favorite shoulder…
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A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Almost three weeks ago, I attended a beginner’s yoga class. I’d attended that one a couple times before, along with some more advanced classes. As always, I only did a few chatarangas and planks, backing off before shoulder pain set in. I took full wheel, which went smoothly (as usual). Later that evening, my shoulder was in agony. The agony persisted to the next day. And the next. For almost two weeks. The standard muscular soreness lasted a couple of days, as I’d expect. It was a workout for my shoulder, so I expected the tightness. But the rest was weird. My shoulder kept clicking and thunking in the socket,…
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Ski Free
SkiFree was such an integral part of my childhood gaming experience that I couldn’t resist an offer to go skiing for a weekend at Sugar Mountain in Boone, NC. Greg, Deana, Meg, and I stayed in sleepy Blowing Rock (awesome food!) in a cozy little inn/motel. Unfortunately, I was sick. Quite sick. Snotting and coughing and sneezing. All the classics. When we arrived at Sugar Mountain on Saturday morning, I was feeling distinctly unathletic. A cold plus asthma generally makes for chill time. Deana was like, “No, no. Skiing isn’t really athletic. You’ll be fine.” Okay, then! As I watched people stomp around on their skis, I also got increasingly…
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Uncategorized
Last PT Session… For Now
So I got an MRI last Friday, and set up an appointment for next Monday (the 22nd) for the sports doc to review it. But the PTs have access to my electronic charts, so they thought they could review it for me on Tuesday. They forgot, so they said they’d take a look at it by this morning. The boss PT (who is the one with access) ultimately decided that it’d be better if the sports doc did the analysis. …How worrying is that? I’m pretty sure she peeked.
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Uncategorized
Too Many Shoulder Muscles!
Iiiit’s Exercise Time! I’ve had three working physical therapy sessions at this point, and my exercises have evolved a bit from the original posture-related set. We’re aiming for endurance and some strength improvements in the muscles surrounding the shoulder, so I’m doing what is (to me) a mind-numbing number of reps: one set of 20 (last week) or three sets of 10 (this week). I’m accustomed to using heavy enough weights that I do, like, 10. One set. Look at all these shoulder motions (“articulations”) and muscles. I’m not using all of the motions in my work yet–adduction work is still out, as are transverse flexion, abduction, and adduction–but I’m…