The Laughing Wolf

Why Does Everybody Assume

That I am going to try to push too hard, too fast, on my recovery? You would think that my ortho had known me for years: I got a lecture this morning. It was the two week plus check-up, and all goes well. Mobility is returning, pain and discomfort are down, and the future looks very bright. It is also time to start some serious physical therapy. Yet, before I was given my instructions, I got a lecture. Don’t do weights. Don’t do more than directed. Don’t push. The inflammation was/is severe, and overdoing things will make it worse, not better, and we can and will end up at Day 1 again.

Message received, and I really am trying to be good. So, to all my friends and doctors out there, please put down the rolled up newspapers and take a step back. I am trying to be good.

Of course, I say this after going back to the gym yesterday for a light cardio workout. I was going to do just a short time (5 minutes) on the elliptical trainer, slow pace, etc. It started out that way: I used my normal program in the same mode as the last time, and tried going about 100 paces a minute, but wasn’t surprised that 120 was more comfortable. I was less worried about pace than I was being sure I did not hold on with and put any weight on the right arm. I didn’t, and will have to admit I did the full cycle and ended up doing more than half of it at 150+ strides a minute. Great cardio, and felt good to be back. I then took a short break, and got on the treadmill. Had some problems recently with shin splints, and needed to check my shoes. Sure enough, different shoes and no shin splints – which means I’ve somehow managed to break the spine of my good workout shoes – and things felt so good I ended up doing two miles at 3.5 MPH and 4 percent elevation. Shoulder felt the movement, but did well. I felt great, and am looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Serious physical therapy begins tomorrow morning, and will be done three times a day from here on out. Turns out I had been doing some of the previous wrong, but part of that was an absence of written instructions. Not wrong as in wrong thing, but it seems I was doing more than I should have. That will be corrected, and everything done to the T. The incentive is that in six months I may be able to go back to doing fun things, like hiking, shooting, and even – maybe – Aikido. That gives me a very powerful impetus to do things as the doctor orders. Meantime, I am learning how to do a lot of things left handed, from rotating a mattress and changing sheets to cooking. Plan to add some left handed pistol work to the mix in a couple of weeks. Love that one of the physical therapy exercises is essentially punching, and they have no problem with me doing proper Aikido punches. Figure a few thousand times over the next few months will allow me to improve my form a bit.

Meantime, I really will try to be good. Honest. Borzoi, why do you still have that rolled up newspaper in your hand?

LW