Well, I was happy last Saturday, when I was able to do so many pushups, even if they were with the knees on the floor. I shouldn't have been. My shoulder has been very troublesome ever since. I'm even having trouble typing.
The aching shoulder meant I forewent iaido on Monday, but Wednesday I took the place as teacher, so that went well, at least. Kali saw me in a wee bit of pain, and in the end I had to forego one of the exercises on Tuesday, thogh Thursday was better. Yesterday, however, when I was so very, very much looking forward to the weekly sparring, I was down with a nasty cold which, as they always do with me, lodged itself firmly in the throat, and has now evolved into full-blown coughing-apart-my-lungs. Of course. They always do.
I get incredibly frustrated with my many issues, illnesses and aches, big and small alike. After all, I have started resting, but when that doesn't seem to help - what then? And, resting is all good, but the frustration in the head when I miss out on something, is definitely not enjoyable! Nor is the one in the body. I'm worried about my back, and the muscles there, so I am going to focus on trying to do "fifteen minutes a day" at home, too, and not just iai and Kali.
Now, rest is all good, but my shoulder has been like this for years by now. I'm thinking of trying some kind of private doctor or bone-tweaker - it can't hurt anything but my wallet, after all.
When you have recurring aches and pains, what do you do? Do you have a recommendation for me? If resting doesn't make things better with your body, do you have some sort of go-to? Or, if you do rest, how do you cope with not being able to work out? Maybe it's a relief, a well-earned rest, or maybe it's frustrating - do tell, and I'll reply!
Ah, the body and its various weaknesses... I'm sorry to hear of your temporary incapacitation. Myself I've been battling recurring colds and an injured knee for some years. The colds are not much to do about other than waiting them out and trying not going crazy for missing out on so much training and other fun things. Even though the rest might be well-needed for my body, I'm still mentally climbing the walls.
ReplyDeleteThe knee, however, is different. I first injured it about five years ago, twisting it in some bad way while grappling with a friend (made all the much worse by me losing the grappling). It took some weeks before it felt good enough for me to go back to fencing again, but when I did I was lucky enough to have a trainer who happened to be very knowledgeable of knees and the healing of their injuries. He poked and felt around my knee, asking me where and when it hurt, and could then state what was wrong just like that, something which the doctors at the medical centre had failed doing. Then he taught me how to walk in a way so that I would not put more strain on my knees than I needed, and told me to continue to do so even when the injury had healed. He also gave me some exercises, and taught me how to be mindful of how I was standing and moving during fencing so as to build up the right muscles around the knee and not strain or hurt it further. For a long time afterwards my knee still hurt at times, but thanks to his advice and expertise I could still participate in training, albeit very carefully at times. Even years later my knee would start hurting when I put more strain of it than usually, once to the point of having to quit my summer job (which included a lot of stair-climbing). Running longer than a couple of kilometres was out of the question, right until I switched to the barefoot technique, as I have told you before. Now I think the running has done my knee a ton of good in building up the right muscles around it, because it hasn't troubled me at all ever since.
So, what I would recommend is to let someone with some expertise when it comes to shoulders take a look at it, give you advice and maybe some exercises. Possibly a doctor, but knowledgeable people can obviously be found elsewhere as well, not least within the martial arts communities. Beware of naprapaths and the like, though, their methods have been known to be ill-grounded and possibly harmful.
I hope you will return to health soon!
Ouch and darn, that's not a very nice thing to have happen to your knee. It is very good to hear you found someone so knowledgeable - all too often, we have to suffer for a long time, just because people... well, let's not get into that.
DeleteAnyway, I am very happy it's become so much, much better. I can recall all those times when I thought I'd done enough, and suddenly find out with both knees and shoulder that nope, I had not.
The dashed shoulder keeps acting up, but the liniment does help. I do have a budo friend who's got some experience in just this matter, though it's hard to find time to meet. But I am still considering the naprapath, as they were the ones to finally, FINALLY figure out what was wrong with my back and, no less, fix it. Oh, I'm not going to just anyone, but to a clinic which is well-known and professional. I do have a friend who runs his own clinic (he's studied a lot of medicine, not just "alternative") but again, time, time... he's fully booked most of the time.
Well, the stupid shoulder and I are at odds, but I'm keeping it in check at least! As you are, with the knee, which is great!