So much for getting back to updating this blog regularly – but I’m still going to try!
I finally updated this website a bit, taking off pages for online fitness classes that I am not doing regularly anymore (though, I am available to schedule classes if requested!) and pages for YPS classes that don’t exist anymore (sadly).
As much as I wanted to get back to gymnastics, my body hasn’t been cooperating. Even though my left shoulder is nearly fully recovered from the rotator cuff tear, I was still having chronic neck and upper back tightness. Even just doing a handstand could trigger muscle spasms. I’ve been mostly consistent with physical therapy, working on retraining muscle balance and firing patterns, but it has only helped a little.
Finally this past week, I went to see my orthopedic doctor and she said, “You know, your symptoms are starting to sound like a cervical nerve issue.” She did a few movement tests and noted that despite all the PT I’ve been doing and starting pole fitness (more on that in a sec), my bicep, triceps, and infraspinatus muscles weren’t firing correctly. So, she ordered an x-ray and said there’s potentially some narrowing that could be pinching a nerve. GREAT.
So, I’m getting an MRI next week, and hopefully get some more answers and a course of treatment planned out.
In addition to my neck/upper back, just this past week, I started having severe pain in my right knee, stiffness in both ankles, and intense lower back pain. A couple weeks before that all started, I noticed my left ankle was swollen and felt stiff, though wasn’t painful to stand or walk on. My physical therapist noted that my left hip was not carrying my weight properly and was extra tight, therefore causing extra strain and impact in my ankle and foot. She pointed out that if this pattern continues, I could be at increased risk of a stress fracture in my foot. Cut to me noticing stiffness in my right ankle, and severe pain in my right knee, and then noticing that the top of my right foot was swollen and tender to palpitation. Now I’m freaked out that I may be developing a stress fracture in my right foot.
My ortho is hoping some physical therapy for my lower back and core (which she thinks is causing my right knee and foot pain) will alleviate those issues and we’ll re-evaluate my knee and foot after we get my cervical MRI.
So, I’m a mess and apparently falling apart.
But I did mention above that I’m getting into pole fitness. Not pole dancing – I’m not interested in looking sexy or dancing sexy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all and I WISH my body could move that way – but I’m not really that graceful so that’s not what I’m going for. I’m looking to learn more of the athletic aspects of pole fitness – doing spins, tricks, inversions, and eventually maybe drops. Things that require strength and coordination.
I’ve been trying to consistently go to a beginner pole class in Manhattan for a couple months now, and I’m learning pretty quickly I would say. My gymnastics and lyra background helps me understand the mechanics of most of the skills I’ve done so far, and I already know how to do the ground inversions, and I’ve surprisingly retained a fair amount of strength despite not doing gymnastics or aerial training in a while. So, I’ve been able to learn new pole skills on the first day that they’re introduced to me (except for one or two so far), and I recognize that I’m lucky in that aspect because the more typical rate of learning skills is much slower (taking people 2-5 classes to pick up a new skill).
I am horribly not coordinated, though, when it comes to piecing together skills around or on the pole. Trying to keep track of four limbs and where the pole goes in relation to those four limbs is apparently too much for my brain sometimes. I have some hysterically awkward videos of myself trying to figure what goes where in the middle of a sequence. BUT I am hoping that that will get better and moving around the pole feels more natural the more I do it.
I had to miss this past week’s class due to a combination of my knee pain and exhaustion because I’m not sleeping well due to the knee and back pain. My body demanded I take a week off. Hopefully I can be back next week!