I went to physiotherapy this morning and it was wonderful. I love the lady I go to. She listens and is very activity based in her approach, which suits me just fine. Plus at the end we do neat stuff to me, like wrap me in a warm blanket and send little pulses in to my shoulder blade. It felt as if teeny fingers were massaging me in a warm bath. Which I enjoyed and almost fell asleep to. After that she taped my back straight so my shoulder won’t slump forward like it wants to! It feels interesting to have the tape pull you back in to alignment.
I have 5 new activities to do and they all sound fun. Some Josh will have to help me with but I know he will be willing. The physiotherapist and I are working together on making my quads stronger and my shoulder-blades centered. We shall fix the curve in my spine to correct my neck and shoulder pain, if that makes sense. (I was up until 1 am last night and had to be up early to be at my 8 am physio appointment so a lot of the info I understood but have forgotten the correct terminology.) My homework last time was exercise to make my quads and glutes stronger. If I could make my glutes stronger I would be using my butt muscles to climb the stairs rather than my knees, and it would also strengthen the muscles in the top of my feet. I have made progress! Really good progress. Now we have amped up my exercises to include the upper back.
I have to be able to do one minute of one of the exercises without tiring before I can consider running again. It sounds like a simple exercise but doing it with correct form is difficult. Jumps with a tension band tied around my legs. When I did the jumps with the tension band she could immediately tell that I have done ballet in the past. She says that ballet and running are a totally different way of holding your body, especially the knees, and that I will have to create a disconnect in my mind between the two types of training if I want to run without wrecking myself. So, when I am running I will have to consciously correct my form. Once I can do the jumps she prescribed for AT LEAST one minute without tiring I am allowed to get on a treadmill again. Ideally I would be able to do the jumps for two minutes. The last week before I go to my next appointment I can run ten minutes, alternating one
min of fast running with one min of walking and we will see how it goes. The goal is 5K without ruining my knees or back. She commented that if I come back and run on her treadmill with “sloppy knees” she will be “very upset on the progress”. Haha. She was teasing me sort of.
So that was my morning! Tomorrow I have my second ever “Adult Beginner Ballet” class and I am very excited. I skinned my knee quite badly yesterday so ballet may be a bit painful- but I’d have to be on crutches to miss a class since I loved the first one I did so very, very, very much!
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