Blogger's Elbow

I pretty much gave myself tendinitis this past month or so.  Tendinitis on the outside of your elbow is usually called tennis elbow (on the inside is golf elbow) but I am renaming it blogger's elbow because mine is from typing a lot.

Tendinitis is a tricky injury to have, mostly due to overuse of the body part that is hurting.  The muscle, after repeated contractions, causes its tendon (how the muscle connects to the bone) to be inflamed.  The inflammation of the tendon and the tightness of the muscle cause pain.  Many people with tendinitis aren't totally sure how they got it.  They say that the area just began to get irritated and then started to hurt, and then they couldn't use it without pain.  When tendinitis gets bad you begin to have difficulty lifting and carrying objects, turning door knobs, and even begin to have pain at rest.  Don't let your symptoms get this bad people!  If you have had soreness for a few days that doesn't seem to be going away by itself, go get treated and nip it in the bud.

In my last post "Where It Hurts Is Not The Problem" I explained how just because it hurts somewhere doesn't mean that that area is the root of the problem.  And so it goes for these tendinitis issues.  In the case of the elbow it is smart to look to the neck, shoulder and spine for restrictions that may have caused the muscles of the elbow to work harder than they were meant to work.

For tendinitis you can ice, massage, and gently stretch the muscles that are sore.  You can use an anti inflammatory cream such as Traumeel (see my older post) to help with the inflammation.   But rest is the order of the day for tendinitis.  If you keep using and aggravating the area, it will take longer for it to heal.  And begin to look to the other areas of your body that need attention, the neck, upper back and shoulder to be specific, but sometimes even the lower body needs to be loosened up.  Treating the whole body will help get rid of the injury and also help prevent new ones.

Where It Hurts Is Not The Problem

Consider the body as a whole, many different working parts moving together to achieve some task.  For easy math sake (you know I married a rocket scientist so I wouldn't have to do math homework) lets say that you have ten parts that must work together to move you.  Now lets tighten up one of those parts (that old hamstring strain you had last year when you tried to run the 10K without training).  Now nine parts have been taking the load for ten for the last several months and there is a fair amount of compensation going on in your body to account for the "lost" part.

Fast forward a few more months (or year) to when your right shoulder and neck start to ache and then you get this pain coming down into your upper arm sometimes if you sit behind the computer too long.  You think that you are working too many hours (probably true) and that the neck and shoulder just need to have a good rub down, so you go have a great massage to work out the kinks.  Only two days later, the kinks are still there...and you can't figure out why they won't go away.

Ever hear the little song that goes something like "The thigh bone's connected to the shoulder bone?"  Well it is true.  You have a connective tissue system inside of you called fascia (the sc is pronounced sh) that is a full body, head to toe, system.  If you ever went to see the Bodies exhibit and remember how the arteries looked like the shape of a person when everything else was taken away?  This is how the fascia would look too, but there would be even less open spaces in between.  This system is an amazing fluid system that carries energy, light and information to every cell of your body.  The system has been over looked in most anatomy books.  At least the ones I read in physical therapy school.

So back to the nine parts that are left doing the work for ten.  If your therapist (massage, physical, acupuncturist, body worker) does a fantastic job on the right neck and shoulder, but does not get to the old hamstring injury and release any myofascial restrictions that are left from that part of your body, then the body will continue to compensate for this "lost" part, and something else will start to hurt.  Where it hurts (the right neck and shoulder) is not the problem.  The core issue is the old restriction in your system that is tightening and binding down the fascia which because of its whole body connections is pulling or tugging or compressing other areas.

Moral of the story:  Work with someone who treats your whole self!  Your healing will be deeper, more comprehensive, and will last way longer.  You might even have some aches and pains go away that you never thought would be possible...

The Blue Floor - by Kim Fernandez

I am blaming the blue floor for sucking out my brain during my test last night.

Yul-Gok, I am convinced, was made up just to mess with me. I’ve never found TKD forms easy--nobody ever asks if my middle name is Grace--but this one refused to settle into the space between my ears. My arms and legs never remembered what to do despite the over-and-over repetition by my super patient teachers. 

We tested a week early (it makes for an excellent excuse) and yesterday, I sat in my office and watched the form on You Tube, clicking on endless versions of it one after another, parroting it with miniature moves at my desk, and whispering pleas to the heavens that one of them would cement itself in my head before 6 p.m. I paused the video after each step, strangling an innocent pencil while writing the moves down. And then I dragged my son into our largest room to practice, counting the steps out loud to ensure we had 38.

Three times, we did it perfectly. If only I could video record it and have that count. At 6, we hauled our gear and our water out to the car, and I put my ripped-out piece of paper on top of the mints and mileage tracker and pens on my center console, glancing down at stop signs to chant its steps to myself.

I knew it. I finally knew it.

The test started well enough--exam procedure punches, kicks, and fundamental moves. Nailed them. But when it came time for the form, that blue floor sucked my grey matter out of my right ear (I felt it!) and I got to about move six and blanked. 

Nothing. Ummmmmm...right.

We went through the form twice, with some gentle prodding from Master Holloway, and I still flubbed it. I knew this! I trudged off for my sparring gear underneath my own personal black cloud. Because I knew it. I could do it. What just happened?

This morning, I’m trying to let bygones go. Sparring went better than last week (that’s my goal--do just a little better than the week before), I didn’t break my foot on the boards, there’s a new stripe on my belt, and I know I knew that form. Next week we start anew.

I just need to figure out what to do about that blue floor.

Laura here:  I told Kim that we have all felt like this at one time or another.  There have been times that I have practiced so much, memorized the form down to the last tucked fist, and then completely blanked in the middle of it in a test.  I told Danielle last night (she was in the same test as Kim last night) as we were practicing her form, that it is not about being perfect, but that it is about doing your best and keeping going when you are tired, stuck, or think you can't...  I love taekwondo!

Kim and Joseph doing their form for their blue stripe!

Helping Others

Helping others by supporting and promoting their successes, dreams and goals puts you in the mind frame of positivity, which will begin to transform your own energy that will ultimately begin to attract that same kind of positivity and success.

So celebrate other's "wins"  - get caught up in the positive emotions of it, and watch and see how things begin to change for you too.

Therapeutic Exercise Class at The Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club!

I am really excited to announce the start of a long awaited exercise class, Therapeutic Exercise, beginning on Tuesday November 29th at the Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club.

In my 15 years as a physical therapist one of the most common comments I hear is that people are afraid to participate in a regular exercise class after they have had pain or an injury of some sort.  They know exercise is important but they don't want to risk more pain or another injury.

This class was developed with you in mind!  This class is for people who really want to start moving and shaking but are afraid they might hurt themselves if they begin a regular fitness center class and want professional guidance to start out.

This fantastic hour will combine things like body awareness, alignment and balancing of the muscular system, myofascial stretching and self treatment and gentle conditioning, all guided by me!  

WHEN:  starting Tuesday Nov, 29, 2011 and every Tuesday from 12:30pm to 1:30pm

WHERE:  The Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club, 8200 Hamilton Spring Ct, Bethesda,    
              MD, 20817

HOW:  Please call or email for more info, for a pre-class interview to see if this is for you, or to
           sign up.   Drop ins are welcome too!

FEE:  Class is $20 - drop ins are fine, or $15 per class if 6 or more are purchased

Laura Probert MPT * Bodyworks Physical Therapy  (240)328-6073  bodyworkspt@comcast.net
                                         www.bodyworksptonline.com

The First Step is Awareness

With whatever you are doing today practice a moment of awareness.  Clear your mind of the usual chatter.  Really try to get rid of the worry thoughts and the to do list.  Now, feel your butt in the chair.  Or your feet on the ground.  Take a deep breath and just notice anything you can pick up with your feeling senses.  Temperature, pressure, pain or tightness, heaviness or lightness.  What do your feeling senses notice, without judging or analyzing, continue noticing.  Thought will creep in, and all you have to do is clear your mind and ground yourself low into your belly.  Feel again.

Being awake and aware in your moments gives you a choice to respond to what is true and now.  To respond with your inner ninja, instead of your outer multitasking, over thinking and worrying self.

Practice.

Waking Up My Inner Ninja

My inner ninja (more to come) is awake. I will leave you only with this quote as a tease for information to follow:


"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
Ayn Rand