SIDELINED

This week, I got a little "off track" on my training due to what I thought was a training injury. Tuesday afternoon, sitting at work, out of the blue, my right scapula area started aching and was very tight. This is the same side that was broken in the bike accident, so I just figured it was from maybe overdoing it on the weights the day before. By that evening, my shoulder was hurting as well, and every time I took a breath I could feel it catch from the tightness. I stretched out the arms and shoulders and still didn't think too much of it until the next morning when I got up and wham! I could hardly move that side. Every breath hurt, and my scapula was really aching and painful now. I had planned to go to spinning that day and my weight class, but after it took me about twice as long to get dressed and ready for work (having already decided against the spin class), I started having doubts about my weight class that day too.

As the day went on, the mid-back, near the spine started really aching, and it was all I could do to stay focused at work because of the discomfort. I had started taking ibuprofen that morning and continued to stretch some throughout the day. By the time I left work, the pain was tolerable but still there, so I figured I would be okay by morning.

Wednesday nights are family night, so I had a houseful for dinner and pretty much was able to block out the discomfort in my shoulder/back, but by the time everyone left, I started becoming aware of pain in the right ribs (which had also been broken) and up into my armpit. All this brought back a lot of painful memories! I used the stick to work out some of the soreness and was really surprised at how intensely sharp the pain was. More ibuprofen and went to bed with the heating pad only to awaken about 4:30 am with pain that was so distracting I could not get back to sleep.

Thursday is usually a run/swim day, but even though my legs felt fine, my mind could not wrap itself around working out for any reason. After stretching, icing, using my shiatsu massager, and more ibuprofen, I went to work with a block of ice and my heating pad. I stuck the ice block under the arm and into the armpit and after about 20 minutes put the heat on. That seemed to help a lot, so by the end of the day I was actually feeling somewhat decent.

Still, on the way home, my mind somehow decided I should stop at the chiropractor's office just to see if there was anything that they could do to clear this up. I showed up without an appointment and was glad to see this was their slow day and they could get me in.

After an adjustment, I immediately felt much better. I asked if something was out of whack and was told I had "a rib head that was sticking up there." Well, so much for that! Glad I went in. I learned after my accident that my chiropractor was much more effective in helping me heal up than anything else I had ever done, and faster too. What I thought was a pulled muscle was actually just a displaced rib alignment, which can happen with as little as a sneeze.

Today I can breath without pain, have no pain or discomfort in the shoulder, ribs, scapula, or anywhere for that matter. I got ready to head to the gym for a spin class, only to have my car not start! Dead battery.

So this week has been 1 for 4. For all that, my legs should be more than ready for the 7 on the 7th tomorrow!