I complained about my shoulder pain the other day. You probably remember. It was just over the weekend. Its been this constant irritation, but besides the fact that it hurt, I was frustrated with the unanswered question of it. If I pushed through the pain, was I making something worse? Was there true damage in there? Was there a build up of fluids that I should be worried about? Or was this just a strained muscle that was taking longer than average to heal itself?
So I went to physio. My physiotherapist is one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. And she’s SO warm and soft. And funny. I like her a lot. So naturally, I got in touch with her. However, she specializes in women’s health, specifically the pelvis, these days. She said she would absolutely do her best for me, but if she wasn’t confident, she’d refer me out. I was willing to take that risk, and booked her soonest appointment. Tuesday at 3:30.
She came to the waiting room around then and called someone else. She looked at me and apologized for running behind. I assured her it was fine. I’m willing to wait for a person who I know won’t rush me through either. She takes the extra care needed every time, and I knew this wouldn’t be any different.
She first asked me how my family was. I told her about our scare with Waverly, and she just stared at me as I gave her the details. Somehow its validating to have people around me also not have knowledge of breath holding spells. It makes me feel less idiotic for not already knowing about them. I know. Pride. I’m learning, I promise. There is ALWAYS more to learn. We did eventually get into the details of my shoulder, and she pulled out detailed diagrams of the muscles in our bodies, and we discussed what hurt where and what’s all connected. She always brings it into perspective anatomically, and I love that. I actually loved the “bones and muscles” part of biology in high school 🙂 So this was right up my alley. What she said made a lot of sense and we got to the treatment.
She checked my neck and back and shoulders. She confirmed that I do NOT have curvature of the spine 😒 Surprise surprise. She had me move my arms in different ways and we talked about how different joints rest in different ways. Finally, I lay down and she just worked on the sore spots, opening them up, relaxing the muscles, and elongating things. I sat up and she did the same. There were times we laughed so hard, her head was on my shoulder. It was such a good, uplifting appointment. She has that quality that Dr. Guselle has, that leaves me feeling lighter and hopeful after every appointment.
We had no big resolution. She gave me some good stretches I could do, but mostly, she took the fear out of it. No, I wasn’t damaging anything by using my arm. I was allowed to push through the pain. But she advised me what not to do to give myself a bit of a break.
It appears the muscles all around my rotator cuff are angered, and just need to let down again. She said its not uncommon at all for all kinds of shoulder tightness to gather up exactly where my pain is. So its nothing so scary. She said many people with this kind of pain come to her all hunched over and pinched, but said I’m still doing great for mobility! So thats a win! She reminded me to open up my shoulders when I’m reaching up, which I don’t think I ever do right.
Time to be more intentional about how I lift things. Also, intentional about doing shoulder rolls, neck stretches, and all that good stuff!