saffronhare

Seems like we're all having fun with chiropractors this week. What the hell is going on? Are we all just getting old? Or is there some sort of musculoskeletal disintegration conspiracy?

I had an appointment yesterday and mentioned during check-in that my shoulder had been a bit torqued up but seemed okay, and she said hey, let me check that out for you. Then she proceeded to adjust my shoulder, my elbow, and my wrist...all while neatly dodging the instinctive left hook I kept throwing at her. After giving me a moment to sit and sweat, she adjusted my neck and back. Then we went back and adjusted my shoulder again -- just for fun -- as it had slipped in the intervening 237 seconds. .

Based on the x-rays she'd gotten from the orthopedist when I first started seeing her, and the examination yesterday, she doubted there was very little other than muscle keeping my shoulder stable. My rotator cuff is pretty ragged; the joint itself is getting arthritic. I'm under strict orders to muscle up again -- or face some other drastic intervention in the near future. She figures it just won't stay solidly aligned until the muscles are built up again...and says I should thank every god I please that I have more upper body musculature than they typical female.

She even had me start the resistance therapy last night (instead of next week, like I'd planned). I hedged and asked if maybe I could wait until it hurt less and she said that day was simply not likely to come. Since I'd been functioning fine with it mildly mis-aligned, she didn't see any reason to wait. I should do as much strength work as I can bear and she'll adjust it every time I come in until it stabilizes. Really, she said, I bet I could adjust it twice a day for you until then -- would you prefer that? I assured her that I would not, in fact, prefer that.

So. Much cursing last night with my stupid 1-lb. weights. At that weight, I'm supposed to work them as much as I can bear (pain-wise) every day and aggressively increase reps and weight up to five pounds. Once I reach five pounds on the weakest areas (ten pounds on the stronger areas), then I can back off to every other day since it'll be more about muscle fatigue than pain tolerance and recovery time will become a factor. Really, I bet I'm in less pain than most of the injured people I know...it's just that the rest of the supporting musculature is very off-pissed at me changing the rules right now. To his credit,

agrnmn hasn't said "I told you so," not even once.

As of last night's session, the supraspinatus is my least favorite muscle in the whole entire world. If you thought my shoulders were broad before, just give me a couple of months. Ugh. Ice is my friend, and I'd better start budgeting for massage again.

Here's where I ask for help: I wouldn't say poking is welcome, but if friends could remind me about keeping this strength work up in the coming weeks, that would help a lot. I'm a cardinal sign, so the first two weeks or so should be okay...after that, I'll need a bit of help overcoming intertia to make it a habit (maybe 8 or 9 weeks to get to habit stage). Other suggestions are welcome.