Note to Future Self

Next month I’m going to use prolotherapy to treat my shoulder.  It’s been a ridiculously long journey to finally find the root of my shoulder/neck issues, but I seem to be near the end of it.  However, even though stabilizing my shoulder is necessary to get stronger a part of me is still really, really not looking forward to limiting my upper body strength training.  Yesterday I just overhead pressed 140#s easily, and my arms are looking bigger/better than they have in a long while, if ever.  The idea of no bench press or overhead press for like 3 months is scary, but I know treating my shoulder is the only way I can get rid of the constant pain in my neck/shoulder.  So to help remind me of how bad my current situation is, I decided to write down a day in the life.

• Wake up, crack neck from sleeping on my side/back.
• Figure out which ball to use to try releasing the knots in my neck, back, and arm.
• Try desperately throughout the day try to release various knots, sometimes being successful.
• Always feeling pressure in my inner ear, like I need to decompress my left ear ALL THE TIME!!!!!
• Sometimes crack my neck again, feeling the temporary relief as various muscles relax for a time.
• Feeling the mechanics of my left arm differ from the mechanics of my right arm in any pressing movement.
• Looking in the mirror and seeing more of my left trap than my right (I have noticed this since high school and if this fixes that it will be a great relief)
• My left shoulder muscles giving out on my near the 10^th rep of something heavy because they are already waaaay too tight and can’t be pushed any farther.
• This simple knowledge that I know something is wrong with my shoulder, sitting in the back of my mind the whole time.

All these things just wear me down, day after day. It’s so much of my routine I don’t even think about it now, but I want to be able to look back and remember exactly what I’ve overcome.

If this prolotherapy treatment works like I think it will, I will be in a much, much, much better shape.  I’m going to make video entries documenting my progress. I want the whole world to know about prolotherapy and how well it works as an alternative to surgery for damaged labrums.