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Week 25: More Physio

Plus, a bunch of posts this week, apparently I'm feeling chatty.

Back at the physio yesterday, in a pretty good mood after Sunday's pain-free run. Straight down to the gym floor, and attempting some rope pushdowns with the addition of letting it go up above my head while I squat. 5kgs only at first, which was easy, but made the squat part tricky as there wasn't really enough weight to pull it up above my head. He "assisted" by digging in around my left shoulder to get it to release. We upped the weight to 10kgs, which was much harder, and he had to actually pull it down from the top for me to start. I struggled a bit to push it right down past my hips, and when I said wow my back is weak, he just said "Oh yeah". Made me laugh so much I lost all form and couldn't really get back to it.

No fake platitudes with this one.

I also do box prayer, as I am calling it  (T-Spine Mobilisations). Kneel in front of a box/bench, put your elbows on it with palms together, looking like you're praying, then try and get your back arched with your chest pulling down to the floor.  That actually felt quite good, particularly when he put his hand flat in the middle of my back and pushed it down - that's exactly where the compressed vertebrae are and one of the most difficult movements for me to accomplish without someone applying some external force.

After that, back to the clinic for a painful massage, and done. I mentioned that I'm back to see Mr Shoulder in 6 weeks or so, but the physio thinks he will be thrilled with my progress. I want it to be a whole lot better, and stronger, than it is right now.

Hopped on the airbike for 20 minutes after that, and my fitbit decided it was an elliptical. Fair enough. Some final stretching with the bands and a foam roller, and hit the showers.

I am quite impatient to get my arms, back and chest strong again. So today, I was working from home and took the opportunity to go for a run. I did the ITB set before I went, to activate my legs and glutes, and then had a good (slow) run. Was over taken quite a bit by some other lunch time runners. Oh well. I did Pilates Band when I got back, and some of those were quite tricky.

I also ended up stuck on the floor for a while - I was on my back and my arm finally was able to drop down to the floor while stretched out along my side.So that's a huge milestone for me. Unfortunately, it then wouldn't come back up. And when I tried to roll towards the right it was dropping even further back and REALLY hurting. Trying to sit straight up also caused the same effect. Hmm. Eventually managed to get my left arm bent and across my stomach, and pushed up with my right hand. Ouch.

It's *possible* I may be in danger of over-doing it a little, but with the sort of weights I'm able to use I think it's unlikely. Off to the physio again tomorrow, as Friday doesn't look possible this week because of work. Hopefully I'm not too sore tomorrow after the band work today.


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