Scared to celebrate

Well I have some great news to report.  For the past five days I have not had any hip pain.  Well, I sometimes feel some tightness in my psoas, but I rolled that out and I'm right as rain.  One reason for this could be I saw a highly recommended massage therapist.  He was definitely the best I've seen so far here in the Durham area.  He mostly worked on my back.  The more me and my PT work on my back the more we're finding out that the issues in my back are affecting stuff going on in my hip.  So I decided to direct the massage therapist to my trap/rhomboid/tricep.  He lessened the knots in my back, but nothing was released completely, like what Bobby does.  Sadly, I'm probably not going to be able to find a massage therapist as good as Bobby.  Regardless, the work this guy in Hillsborough did seemed to help quite a bit.

I've been squatting for two weeks now, as well as using the leg press and pistol progressions.  I've decided that before I start squatting anything over 135 pounds I have to be able to pistol squat with either leg.  Before, I could only pistol with my right leg.  I always thought this was odd given my dominant leg is my left leg.  Now, in hindsight, I see that I had no control over my left adductor so I didn't have any stability in my left leg.  So I want to know that I'm able to pistol with either leg.  The pistol progressions are also feeling like great physical therapy.  ...I should also mention that my glutes have been incredibly sore for the past couple of weeks.

So things are going great for the hip.  But to be honest I'm too timid to celebrate yet.  I've experienced some honeymoon phases before, and I'm just afraid that this is the same thing.  I worry that as soon as I start lifting heavy again, I'm going to go back to having hip pain.  I pray that this time it is different, but I'm very, very weary with this.

While all this news with the hip is awesome, now that my mind isn't distracted by any hip pain I'm realizing how uncomfortable I am in my shoulder/trap.  I am using a lacrosse ball like all of the time now, and nothing seems to help release these damnable knots in my back.  I have no idea what is causing them, but they are impossible to release.

I am going to try to convince my PT to start a Graston regimen, maybe twice a week?  I've only had one session and I felt like it was very effective.  I'm going to also ask my PT if we can figure out what the hell is going on in there.  We haven't done any tests for range of motion or anything one my neck and shoulder. So all we know are that there are some incredibly tight muscles back there.

If Mike says no to the Graston idea, then I'm going to see if I can get someone to do this for me with like a butter knife and coconut oil.  It's that bad.  Hopefully I can resolve this issue as well, and in doing so will fix whatever is going on with my hip.

I can start squatting again!!!

So it’s been a couple of weeks and up until yesterday it felt like we had stalled again.  When the discovery was made that my upper body is affecting my hip mobility, I made the suggestion that doing some graston on the knots in my left shoulder/back might help my left hip finally pass the Obers test (and thus indicating the femur is in the correct spot of the hip socket).  Mike just kind of grunted while looking across the room. Clearly he didn’t think that would help.

Anyways, I’ve been doing the PT and have been trying to keep good posture (keep the ribs locked down) but I still find myself arching my back, like even when I lie down.  I think the more I arch my back, the more my groin/psoas hurts. I’m not exactly sure where the pain is coming from, it’s very vague and ghost like.  Sometimes I think that I’m just too sensitive right now, I’m too in tune with my body so that any little thing that is off I feel.  Honestly nowadays I would describe it more as slight discomfort than pain.  I try doing some self-release and it does help, but I think I’m going to have to cave and see another massage therapist and get some help.  Someone who has no problem working the psoas and the pectineus, possibly the hamstring. For some reason I register knots in my hamstring as pain in my groin. At least, I think it’s my hamstring, it’s right where the glute and hammie meet, right under my sit bones.

Regardless, the last two weeks have felt like I’ve been in a holding pattern, trying to figure out what causes the pain in my hip (I THINK it’s my posture, but I’m not sure) as well as trying to figure out how I can pass my damned Obers test.

Well I saw Mike yesterday, and we had a re-assessment of goals and what I wanted to get out of this.  I told him I wanted him to work on releasing my shoulder a bit and see how it affects my hip. I also said it would be great to get back to lower body work.  …I think he’s been thinking about it a lot because he said he trusts me because I understand the underlying principles that explain why we do what we’re doing, and gave me the green light to start squatting again.

I can start squatting again!!!!

Of course certain rules apply: Has to be with super light weight and until I can consistently get correct pelvis positioning I can’t go up in weight. Also, I need to do hundreds, if not thousands, of reps.  So I’m thinking I’ll do 5 sets of 10 reps of squats every day I’m at the gym.  I can also do leg press, and the step ups.  I’ll do the step ups as progression for doing pistol squats.  Another prerequisite of mine is that I should be able to pistol squat with both legs (never could do it on the left side and its relaxed adductors) before I start squatting with any real weight.  So I have some new goals and I can start squatting again!!! Halelujah!!!

Also, I convinced Mike to work on my back and sure enough lo and behold after releasing my back some my right hip pretty much passed the Obers test.  So it looks like the issues I’ve had in my back/shoulder are connected to the issues I’ve had with my hip.  Who would have thought?  I did! I was the guy who thought they were connected!

Feel very proud of myself, as well as hopeful. I’m also excited to get back to squatting, and looking forward to finding a good massage therapist.  All in all, an excellent week.