update on everything not hip

So it's been 4-5 months since I've done a crossfit workout, and let me tell you with Christmas my diet went to shit.  However, with all of these things it hasn't been too bad.  I've gained about 3 pounds, and people are commenting how I don't look as bulky.  ...Shirts don't seem to be as tight-fighting as they used to be.  Probably the saddest thing to me was when the fiancee commented that my glutes seem to have gotten smaller.

I cannot wait to get back into lifting weights. I'm starting to feel really weak, and bicep curls really can't replace squatting.  ...Speaking of, I've started doing some isolation exercises like bicep curls.  It's very non-crossfit, but it's pretty much all I can do, and I need to do something to try to keep up my strength. I can't do anything kipping, and even getting into positions like a handstand pushup test the current flexibility of my hip (it's still swollen from the treatments).  All I really feel comfortable with is sitting and standing.  Weak I know, but I just don't want to push it and ruin all the magical work my body has done in repairing the labrum.

It brings me back to days of college, back when I was a gym rat with no core strength whatsoever.  This time things are different, I know so much more.

Post third treatment report

It’s been a few days after my third prolotherapy treatment, and like after the second treatment I’m worried that it’s not doing anything because I don’t really feel all that stiff/sore from it.  I know I shouldn’t be concerned because I am getting markedly better, and that everything is pointing towards me making a full recovery (which I still find hard to believe), but since my hip was so locked up after the first treatment I guess I feel like they should all be like that.

When I saw Dr. Hauser he said the next treatment was probably going to be my last one.  …That’s ridiculously good news.  I think during that session I might ask him to begin working on my shoulder, I’ll see what the fiancée thinks.  It’s really hard to believe it, but after maybe 10+ years of hip pain I am going to finally be rid of it.  And the thing is, that labrum is going to be 100% back to normal.  I’m not going to have to worry about it, I’m not going to have to have follow up treatments, it’s just there, as if nothing had happened.  The body is an amazing machine, and its ability to heal (if you let it) is amazing.

hip is getting better!

Met with Bobby yesterday, and he had some pretty awesome news

1.       The pectineus did not feel damaged.  It’s a stabilizer that is being made super tight, like the psoas was, to protect the hip joint.  I think I’ve always felt pain there, there have been occasions when I thought there was something wrong with a hip adductor.  I just didn’t really pay attention to it because my psoas was stealing the show being insanely tight.  Which leads me to my next point…
2.       My psoas was tight, but nothing like what it was three weeks ago.  When he worked on the muscle it didn’t put up a fight, it released fairly easily.  This is fantastic news, progress is being made!

I see Dr. Hauser this Monday for another treatment, and I have to say I’m super excited.  I never thought I’d look forward to having 60cc of sodium morrhuate injected into my hip through 60 injections at once, but that is the case.  The pain is temporary, which is way better then experiencing pain ALL THE TIME.

The next step is my shoulder.  I still have a lot of tightness in my scalenes that I work on constantly.  Bobby worked on them and there were a good ten or so knots in my neck that he had to work through.  On the ride home I felt more comfortable than I had in a long, long time.  My neck and tricep muscles are tightening up in order to protect my shoulder joint (specifically the Acromioclavicular joint, otherwise known as the AC joint).  I believe what is wrong with my shoulder joint is that rotator cuff injury I had four years ago when I just started crossfit, combined with sleeping on my side for years, which may have caused some weakness and laxity. 

How am I guessing this?  Back in June last year Bobby figured out that it was sleeping on my side that was causing all of my shoulder pain.  So I already know that sleeping on my side helped cause this situation and I have an injury to my supraspinatus.  Then I read this paragraph on Dr. Hauser’s website (excerpt from here):

The supraspinatus tendon often refers pain to the back of the shoulder. Sleeping on the shoulder causes a pinching of the rotator cuff muscles and can lead to rotator cuff weakness. There are cases where the cause of the rotator cuff tendon laxity was due to years of sleeping on the shoulder.

…This is exactly my situation, and Dr. Hauser seems to be once again promising a cure.  I told myself that I would wait until after prolotherapy proves to cure my hip to start working on my shoulder, but now that I’m seeing results I’m itching to end this shoulder pain as well.

Getting into wedding shape.

I just recently turned 32, and to celebrate my fiancee surprised me
with a trip to NYC to meet up with my best friend and cousin who live
there.  The whole time we walked through SoHo and other neighborhoods,
and the whole time I didn't feel any pain in my hip.  It was awesome,
I didn't even notice I wasn't in pain until late Sunday.  I've also
noticed that little movements that used to make my hip click no longer
do so.  Perhaps the labrum is healing so the tear is smaller allowing
greater range of motion?  If so that is completely awesome.
 
When I make a full recovery, I am going to celebrate by going to NYC
and staying a week with Allan (my best friend).  During my stay I
learned that he wants to lose some fat in time for my wedding so he'll
look good in pictures (he's my best man).  He lives very close to
Crossfit Virtuosity, a box that I have mucho respect for.  The idea is
that during that week I'm there we will work out together at crossfit
virtuosity.  Allan is having a tough time breaking the seal and going
to a gym, so the idea is I'll help break through that inertia of
sitting still and get him back on track.  There are a couple of
logistical issues I have because I imagine the ramp up with Crossfit
virtuosity is slow and my be only three times a week or even less.
However, I'll email the owner as the date approaches and we'll figure
something out to try to make the most of my visit.
 
This is all exciting news, really am hoping I'll be pain free in like
2 months or less.

Complication with the Pectineus??

Saw the Chiropractor the other day.  I haven't seen her for a while
because I am already spending so much money on the prolotherpy, but my
back was killing me for a couple of days so I figured I should see
her.  Another reason I haven't been seeing Dr. Mary, is because Dr.
Hauser said that I can't have the chiro manipulate the hip (would
increase the instability of the joint).  However, Dr. Mary uses the non-force technique 

which doesn't cause any cracking or anything.
 
When I saw her she first noticed that my pelvis was twisted.  This
doesn't really surprise me since my hip was so locked up after the
first treatment I wasn't walking very symmetrically for quite a while.
 I decided to let her fix that since 1) it was really causing some
occasionally debilitating pain and 2) the DNFT system is so freaking
light I can't imagine it making the joint unstable.  She also noticed
that there was something off with my pectineus.  This is interesting 

because it feels like exactly where I'm experiencing some
of the pain since I pulled my groin back in August.  Perhaps there is
still some lingering issue with this muscle, this could be where I
hurt myself and thought it was a sports hernia.  I am going to see
Bobby the massage therapist Thursday and I will make sure to ask him
to see if there is anything off with it.  Of course the
pain/discomfort in the pectinieus could be from the prolotherapy.
 

This issue is so darn complicated it could be anything, so I need to
figure out what it could be and then through process of elimination
figure out what it's not.  So my next step is to figure out how to
tell if the pectineus is damaged.  Hopefully Bobby will be able to
tell, and if not, well, I guess I might need to see the Orthopod
again.