Monday, December 7, 2015

Back in the Saddle Again

After 18 months of interruptions to my prescribed back exercise plan, it is time to reboot. 

To recap: February 2014 I fell down my stairs. Result: bursitis on my left hip and several months off from any exercise requiring a lot of hip action.

November 2014 I lifted something badly and hurt my right rotator cuff. Result: no overhead lifting of my right arm and very little loading on that shoulder.

May 2015 I was powerwalking and hit uneven pavement. I was walking so fast I couldn't stop myself from hitting the ground, but my right arm valiantly took the blow. Result: ridiculously stubborn arm sprain that only recently allowed me to grip, move and load the arm.

Okay now, stop your smirking! 

For those of you who do not know me, I must stress how unlike me it is to have such injuries - to fall or pull or lift wrong or hit anything.

And for those who do know me, well, you have even less reason to smirk as you know this is not representative of my physical movement through the world. 

I don't know why these things all happened with such quick succession.  Could it be my scoliosis is impacting my balance even more than usual?  Or is my mind so preoccupied with brilliance that I am less aware of the pitfalls in my paths?  Or am I at an age now when I just don't bounce back like I may have done before?  Whatever the reason or reasons, I am suitably chastened and must constantly remind myself to keep mindful of my mind/body correlation. When I go down the stairs I must focus on the fact that I am going down stairs. When I walk over a slippery or bumpy surface I must pay attention to the undulations and conditions beneath my feet. When I lift or carry anything I must use my body correctly.  Sounds obvious, but which of us do any of these in a hurry, or while talking to someone else or checking a text?  I rest my case.

So, now I am well and strong and must get back into the routine of back exercises that has been so haphazardly kept.  You can imagine how pleased I was to find that the Scoliosis SOS clinic in London now provides 1 week refreshers (reboot camp I think of it as!) instead of just the 3 hour assessments to those of us who have completed the full 4 week course.  So I postponed my trip until I could afford the week there, and have now arrived in London in the lovely season of wet and mud, that is to say, early December. 

Actually I am incredibly curious to know just what my initial scan will reveal. Even though I have not followed my back exercise routine a lot, I have been very active. I take pilates classes twice a week. Yoga once a week. Swimming once a week. Swing dancing once a week. Walking an hour or so three times a week and very often another walk of 2 or more hours. Gardening. Stretching. And physio exercises for my hip and my arm and my shoulder several times a week. No sluffing off here! So would my curvature be the same as it was 18 months ago? Or would it be worse? I can't imagine it would be better. But I have lost a little extra weight now that I am slowly coming off the nerve pain medication (which added weight), so who knows? If nothing else it might be a good indication of just how valuable these scoliosis-specific exercises are after all, and whether improvement is even to be hoped for.

So, I am back in London, drinking a quick coffee at one of the little places I used to go to when I did the clinic in May, 2013.  Que sera, sera!

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