Saturday, November 3, 2007

Rehab

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re·ha·bil·i·tate (rh-bl-tt)
tr.v. re·ha·bil·i·tat·ed, re·ha·bil·i·tat·ing, re·ha·bil·i·tates
1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education.
2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity.
3. To reinstate the good name of.
4. To restore the former rank, privileges, or rights of.
(Source: freedictionary.com)

It's been four weeks now since I wrenched my shoulder. Luckily, since it's all just sprains, contusion, and a partial tear, the worst is pretty much over. A PT friend of mine from Berkeley likens inflammation to an angry bear - you just don't want to poke it in the eye, at least until it's all well-fed and calmed down (and that's probably where that little analogy breaks down - I have a really hard time seeing why you'd ever want to poke a bear in the eye, even once that's not-angry...).

My shoulder is now at that happy non-angry-bear state, and according to my PT here it's time to start poking it a bit with stabilization exercises while resting all the stuff that's not quite ready and giving it lots of icing/heat to get the blood flowing. Funny thing about my PT - he sized me up after talking to me during the exam, then told me that how quickly I'd heal would be entirely up to discipline or, as he put it, whether I can avoid being stupid. Now that there's not constant pain as a reminder, I'm starting to see what he's talking about.

And that's the program for the next three weeks or so - don't be stupid, ice/heat, and stabilize the shoulder while working around it to keep the rest of my body in shape.

Today, after a bunch of rain and ugly weather, there was sunshine, 55 degree air temps, and a nice 12-15 knot breeze on the bay. Since I'm a few weeks away from being ready to grab my gear and heading down to the water, I headed to the gym. Good motivation for sure.



1 comment:

PeconicPuffin said...

Re don't be stupid:

In shoulder rehab we get no points for toughing things out. Baby the slightest complaint from your rotator cuff...it will pay off later. Let the PT tell you when a little soreness is fine and when not. They always tell me: Fatigue soreness after excercise is okay (if it goes away and stays away with ice). Pain, or soreness during is a show stopper.

Also, the longer an inflammation lasts, the harder it is to clear up (I've been told). So saying "the heck with it, I'm sailing today and will treat it tomorrow" doesn't work very well.

Michael