I had my PT session today with Not-Paul, who is Kyle. Kyle gave me a good working over (hand bicycle machine thing, pulleys, curls, and the new ones described below), and when he was done, I felt sore enough to get the shoulder iced there at the clinic rather than waiting until I got home. That's the measure of a bad or not so bad session: If I want ice there at the clinic, it's a bad day. If I can wait until I get home with my frozen peas, it's not such a bad day.
Good news: Kyle says that he can tell that I've been keeping up with my homework, and gave me a gold star for being a good, compliant patient. I'm regaining my range of motion in most of the areas very well. He also says that I'll be surprised at how well I start doing once we can start strength exercises. Which is good, because...
Bad news: When I was finished with my new exercises today, I felt like a good candidate for one of the new decomposing walkers coming up in Season 3. I feel so wrung out, weak, and sore that I can't imagine being ready to go back to work 3 weeks from today. I can't do anything for myself yet, and have to be able to get myself dressed, drive the half-hour commute, work my shift, manage my lunch and potty breaks, and commute back. I'm only sleeping 2-3 hours at a time for the most part because my shoulder keeps me from being able to change positions. So I nap throughout the day to make up for it, but I don't think my company will be happy with my working from 7am until 9pm so I can be sure and get my daily naps. A lot has to happen before I'll be able to stop worrying about starting work again. I'm glad that I work in a cube farm instead of on a real farm!
New exercises involve a stick. I am lying on my back and hold a broomstick across my body with hands 2' apart or so. My left hand helps (which is why the stick instead of a rope or something), but I need to raise that broomstick up to a 90* angle. 2 sets of 10 reps. Then, on my good side with bad side up, I rotate my elbow up. And there's something else about trying to raise my arm up all the way. I'll have to refresh on that when I go back in on Wednesday morning.
When Kyle stretched me after the exercises, he applied some pressure to the muscle in my upper arm (maybe the biceps? I do biceps curls, after all) in order to try to loosen it up while he was bending it. Whenever I do anything with the arm extended, like my pulley stretches, I can feel a painful 'click' as I move through a couple of degrees in the middle of the exercise. That muscle being tight is keeping the shoulder from rotating freely in its socket, and when it sticks, it 'clicks'. Ouch! So, yeah, please do whatever you're doing to keep that from happening. I find myself flinching in anticipation, just like when a novice shooter flinches when about to pull the trigger.
I hate feeling this sore, but am really looking forward to being pain-free when all of this is said and done. You only get one chance to heal right, so going through this misery is worth it. Speaking of misery, I am going to see if I'm ready to move up to a 3-pound hand weight for my curls next time I go.
Next up: Dr Latshaw tomorrow morning.
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