Out for a run again this morning, up to 25 minutes non-stop running, and no pain, so that's great progress for me.
I was thinking today of things that I can now do that I couldn't do at all in the first month after the break.
Things I can do now:
Well, running of course is a big one for me. But other things are just as important for every day living ease.
Sleep! The biggest one really. I can now sleep, and I do sleep really well.
I can sleep on my left side, I can roll from one side to the other at night, with a few small twinges, but no pain. I can now sleep with only one pillow, like I used to. At one stage I had 3 pillows under my head and right shoulder to keep me upright, and the fort of pillows to prop up my back to stop me moving in my sleep.
I can use my left arm for washing my face, blow drying my hair (sort of), carrying things as long as they aren't too heavy, tying shoelaces, typing, putting moisturiser on my face and body, opening doors, hanging out washing. Those are all things that I couldn't do at all.
I can also move my body without pain now - I couldn't even lean forward to brush my teeth, or rinse my mouth out, or pick anything up from the floor. I can now pick up the cat without thinking about it, even using my left arm to assist (he's a very heavy boy!). I can sit down and get up without thinking about it, and without spasms of pain.
I can pull on tops over my head, and pull up trousers with both hands.
I can do the cat stretch from yoga, I can do threading the needle from pilates. My shoulder blade is still a bit more like a wing than I would like, but it's also getting better.
Things I can't do yet:
I can't do up my bra behind my back - I have to fasten at the front and swivel it round, then feed my arms in and pull it up. I am trying to stretch and train it by pulling my left arm backwards and across and up my back with a pashmina, but it's slow going. I can now at least get my arm behind my back, and across my back at waist level, but so far I can't get it higher than that.
I can almost shave under my arms properly - my left arm still doesn't go up and out quite enough, but it's getting better.
I can't lift my left arm above shoulder height unassisted, and even assisted, it doesn't go much higher out to the side. To the front it goes a bit higher, but still lots of room for improvement.
I can't take tops off properly yet. I can't even quite remember how it is meant to work I recall crossing my arms in front, and holding the bottom edge of the top in each hand and somehow pulling it up and over my head, but so far I can't manage that. I have to reach over my head with my right hand, pull the top up to my neck, then over my head, then once it's round the front of me, feed my arms out of it.
Exercises and stretches:
Interestingly, it doesn't actually seem to be my shoulder that is causing the limited movement, well, not ONLY my shoulder anyway. I feel that my tricep and bicep are both very tight, and aren't keen on stretching out. My hand also doesn't like to stretch to the limit of movement. And my shoulder blade / wing is also restricting things in my upper back.
My neck is really, really sore after I swim breaststroke, so I've stopped doing that. I just do backstroke now, a bit of crawl (my left arm just does dog paddle), and stretching exercises in the water.
I do stretches out of the water as well, to try and get external rotation happening, and movement behind my back. I walk my hand up the wall, and see how high I can go (about 3/4 of the way towards my head now).
When I think back to how awful it was for the first few weeks, and the pain and inability to do pretty much anything without agonising spasms, I am incredibly pleased to be where I am now. But I am also very aware that I need to keep pushing myself, and causing a degree of pain to myself, to continue to get more movement back, which can be difficult. I've been through so much pain that the absence of pain is still something I am aware of every minute, so deliberately causing myself pain isn't something I can do very easily. But I would also like my shoulder to work properly again, so I know I must.
I was thinking today of things that I can now do that I couldn't do at all in the first month after the break.
Things I can do now:
Well, running of course is a big one for me. But other things are just as important for every day living ease.
Sleep! The biggest one really. I can now sleep, and I do sleep really well.
I can sleep on my left side, I can roll from one side to the other at night, with a few small twinges, but no pain. I can now sleep with only one pillow, like I used to. At one stage I had 3 pillows under my head and right shoulder to keep me upright, and the fort of pillows to prop up my back to stop me moving in my sleep.
I can use my left arm for washing my face, blow drying my hair (sort of), carrying things as long as they aren't too heavy, tying shoelaces, typing, putting moisturiser on my face and body, opening doors, hanging out washing. Those are all things that I couldn't do at all.
I can also move my body without pain now - I couldn't even lean forward to brush my teeth, or rinse my mouth out, or pick anything up from the floor. I can now pick up the cat without thinking about it, even using my left arm to assist (he's a very heavy boy!). I can sit down and get up without thinking about it, and without spasms of pain.
I can pull on tops over my head, and pull up trousers with both hands.
I can do the cat stretch from yoga, I can do threading the needle from pilates. My shoulder blade is still a bit more like a wing than I would like, but it's also getting better.
Things I can't do yet:
I can't do up my bra behind my back - I have to fasten at the front and swivel it round, then feed my arms in and pull it up. I am trying to stretch and train it by pulling my left arm backwards and across and up my back with a pashmina, but it's slow going. I can now at least get my arm behind my back, and across my back at waist level, but so far I can't get it higher than that.
I can almost shave under my arms properly - my left arm still doesn't go up and out quite enough, but it's getting better.
I can't lift my left arm above shoulder height unassisted, and even assisted, it doesn't go much higher out to the side. To the front it goes a bit higher, but still lots of room for improvement.
I can't take tops off properly yet. I can't even quite remember how it is meant to work I recall crossing my arms in front, and holding the bottom edge of the top in each hand and somehow pulling it up and over my head, but so far I can't manage that. I have to reach over my head with my right hand, pull the top up to my neck, then over my head, then once it's round the front of me, feed my arms out of it.
Exercises and stretches:
Interestingly, it doesn't actually seem to be my shoulder that is causing the limited movement, well, not ONLY my shoulder anyway. I feel that my tricep and bicep are both very tight, and aren't keen on stretching out. My hand also doesn't like to stretch to the limit of movement. And my shoulder blade / wing is also restricting things in my upper back.
My neck is really, really sore after I swim breaststroke, so I've stopped doing that. I just do backstroke now, a bit of crawl (my left arm just does dog paddle), and stretching exercises in the water.
I do stretches out of the water as well, to try and get external rotation happening, and movement behind my back. I walk my hand up the wall, and see how high I can go (about 3/4 of the way towards my head now).
When I think back to how awful it was for the first few weeks, and the pain and inability to do pretty much anything without agonising spasms, I am incredibly pleased to be where I am now. But I am also very aware that I need to keep pushing myself, and causing a degree of pain to myself, to continue to get more movement back, which can be difficult. I've been through so much pain that the absence of pain is still something I am aware of every minute, so deliberately causing myself pain isn't something I can do very easily. But I would also like my shoulder to work properly again, so I know I must.
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