Pain in the Neck

After two weeks of ridiculous shoulder pain, I finally made it in to see a doc.  Lo and behold, my shoulder pain is coming from a pinched nerve, a literal pain in the neck, that I got watching the Boston Marathon.

So, since the Revlon race on Sunday, I've been taking it easy.  I'm not particularly good at taking it easy; it certainly doesn't come naturally to me, but those were the doctor's orders and I really do want to feel better. 

I've also started physical therapy at Dasha Wellness.  So far, that's involved a lot of being poked and prodded and massaged.  They do "stim" where they contract and release your muscles using electricity, and tonight they put me into a contraption to stretch out my spine.  I totally felt like Frankenstein.  It was weird.

Everyone's really nice there, though, and they've got these awesome looking machines that I'm hoping to try out.  There's a PhysioRED bike, which looks like a cross between an MRI machine and a reclining exercise bike.  (Sadly, I'll have to do a real MRI soon... I hate those).  Anyway, it uses infrared light, which apparently has lots of positive effects.  I'll let you know that's all about when I try it.  There's also a SpineForce machine that looks kinda neat.  I don't really know how it works, but it looks like a disc that you ride like a snowboard.  I could be way off on that, though.  We shall see.

The good news is that things seem to be improving, so I can sort of get back to my normal routine.  CrossFit is out for a while (grrr), and if I run or spin I need to pay extra attention to my posture and chin position, but I'm free to do yoga, pilates and assorted low impact activities to my heart's content.  Phew!

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-