Sunday, July 18, 2010

June and July @ R2W


Ok, I know I should have written a post for June but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was immersed in World Cup Soccer and I've been feeling blue (don't worry, it comes with the territory). Plus, I only spent two days at Roll 2 Walk and not much happened… then again, I don't remember a lot of what happened.

The biggest "development" was that we (Gray, Chad and I) determined that my hip flexors are tight and that they need to be stretched out. The guys showed my mom how to do that so we could do it at home and we've been doing that the best we can since then. The guys and I continued to work on my shoulders and posture. The work that we've been doing on my posture has vastly improved and every day, while I'm sitting at my computer or in front of the TV, I work on it. I think I'm more aware of my posture now, than I was before I started Roll 2 Walk. We also tried some hands/elbows and knees load bearing, which was pretty exciting. I was worried about my wrists hurting once we got to my hands and I was worried that my triceps were going to hold very well, but Chad assured me that he had my elbows. I was ok for the most part, I mean I did have to rest every once and a while because of my shoulder and neck would get tired, but that's to be expected.

Now that I got you up to speed on June's shenanigans, I'll let you in on the highlights of this month's trip or what I like to call the "Return to Pain" trip.

Monday was a LONG day! From the time I woke up to the three-hour drive to Austin and then the three-hour workout. I was exhausted by the end of my workout; which after five months of going to Roll 2 Walk you'd expect I wouldn't be exhausted. Au contraire, mes amis. We didn't do anything different – range of motion, TG, core exercises, kneeling and standing in the standing frame. But for some unexplainable reason I was sore right off the bat. I was having bad nerve pain in my left hand, so maybe that was sucking the life out of me. Nerve pain, if I haven't told you what it is, is the worst kind of pain imaginable, worse than breaking bones, because the pain doesn't go away. Imagine your hand or foot on fire and you can't put out that fire, that's what nerve pain is like when it's at a five on a scale from 1-10. Anyway, the nerve pain was making things, like doing the sit ups and back extensions, difficult and was frustrating the hell out of me. I was having one of those days.

Tuesday I was so sore I was having a little trouble pushing my wheelchair. It was fun! I eventually loosened up a little bit, either that or I just forgot about how stiff I was. The rolling exercises that I usually do without any problems were hard for me to do, that's how stiff I was. Ok, I'm going to stop whining now. I did the usual exercises – range of motion, TG, kneeling and standing – with a couple twists added. After I did some kneeling I got on my hands and knees and worked on connecting to my triceps while working on squeezing my shoulder blades together. I would like the hands and knees exercise more if it didn't bother shoulders and neck so quickly. I guess I'll get used to it. Anyway, after that I got into the standing frame but Gray wanted to try something different. Instead of having the seat of the frame holding me up Gray got behind me and sat in the seat so he could easily adjust my hips. It was quite cozy back there. A tad bit uncomfortable but it helped my hips and back get in the right position.

Wednesday I wasn't as sore as I was the day before. Probably because of all of the Icy Hot I used the night before and the good night's sleep. All in all I felt better and was ready to get to work. The workout was pretty much the same as Monday and Tuesday, except Chad wasn't there (his baby girl was sick – you were missed, Chad). It was pretty much a laid back work out. We did the rolling which was 100 times easier to do than it was Monday! We also worked some more on my shoulder blades. The general consensus is my right shoulder blade is winging out and it's not doing the same thing that my left one is so by concentrating on just on retraction (squeezing my shoulder blades together) will strengthen that rhomboid muscle and kind of correct the "curve" I have. As I was doing the exercise I could feel it making a difference. Right in the middle of my back at the bottom of shoulder blades I felt the muscles burning, something I haven't felt back there a long time. Since Wednesday I've been doing the exercise while I'm sitting up and I'm now convinced the chair back is partially the culprit of my bad posture and shoulder problem. But I'm just blaming the chair back because I'm not a big fan of it. At least it's better than the back on my power wheelchair. After the rolling stuff on the table we did sit-ups and back extensions, then TG and then, I think, standing in the frame and that was it. I wish we had stayed one more day but it wasn't in the cards or budget. It was short but sweet and fun three days.