Saturday, May 31, 2014

11 weeks out from second prolotherapy treatment.

It’s now less than one week from getting my third treatment, so it's been 11 weeks since my second treatment, and I thought to report in. As expected, things are getting better, things that used to work one way (incorrectly) are now working another way (correctly).  For example, when I do over head press now, I don’t feel my back muscles snapping over each other.

But the more things get treated the more stuff I find wrong with me. My lower back (seemingly QL) is really off and I'm coming to realize it's a factor
In what has been going on in my hips. Having a tight QL tightens up my piraformis, and that in turn tightens everything else up.  This may explain why when I’m sitting at the bottom of a squat my left hip is higher than my right hip: the muscles are tight in response to the tight/damaged QL.  I’m really hoping that this session will fix/treat everything.

I started squatting recently, and I wasn’t too excited because usually my knees hurt some.  It’s nothing I can’t handle but I always wondered if it was normal or if it was indication that something was wrong.  Well I think it was an indication that something was wrong because this time around my left knee didn't hurt at all, it felt... natural.  Hopefully I can get this going on with both knees.

This desire has led me to have Dr. Fullerton look at my right hip as well. I thought addressing my left hip would fix the right hip, but that doesn't seem
to be the case.  I'm hoping when the doc looks at my right hip he will see an intact capsule but some frayed muscles around it, since
I spent a lot of time and money fixing the capsule with Dr Hauser up in Chicago.

However, who knows what will happen.  These are the various scenarios I envision:
Everything is fine, tight muscles are responding to other tight muscles, don’t need treatment
Capsule is fine, but there some fraying going on
I have a sports hernia
The capsule is damaged some
The capsule is damaged some and I have fraying in the surrounding muscles.

Going back to the issues with my shoulder/back. although I'm getting better and I feel like my upper back is like one treatment away from being completely fixed, I don't want to go back to being inactive. I've found a sprinting group and I really like that, and I've found a weightlifting partner and am enjoying getting back into the swing of things.  In fact, because of my weightlifting background I have been asked to teach a class on cleans/snatches for the sprinting group.  Looks like they will have to wait about a month, but I think that will be a great time for me to plan and prepare for the class.

So I’ve made all this progress, I’ve made all these friends, just to take another month off.

But if this is what it takes to get better, so be it.

However,  I really don't want to keep having these setbacks. My wife has noticed me leaning out since I've started sprinting, and I want to keep
Going, keep getting faster, stronger, and leaner.

Having said all that,  I know that if I keep going as is, I will just hurt myself further.  Prolotherapy is, for me, the path to becoming 100%.  Just need to keep focus.  My next post will probably be the day after I see Dr. Fullerton, so until next week!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The more I read your story the more I notice that your are talking about and displaying classic typical signs of a pelvic asymmetry, and low right shoulder. Your QL spasms, piriformis, and high left hip scream out that your left ilium and si joint are outta whack and you are probably stuck in a left aic pattern. Ive dealt with this same problems to, its a never ending circle jerk until you deal will he pelvis and si joint issue. Seek out a PT whonwas trained by the Postural Restoration Institute and has pelvis a sij experience. Just never let anyone using forceful chiro-like popping techniques on the si joint, stick to safer muscles energy techniques and low grade gentle joint mobilizations. Look up don tignys si joint page, the 45 degree partner assisted leg traction is a life saver! Good luck

Adam said...

First of all thanks for your interest and comments, I'm glad some one out there is finding my story an interesting read.

It's interesting you mention all these issues because about six years ago I saw a Doctor of Osteopath for a time and he saw and fixed my twisted pelvis and out of joint SI (among other things). After a month or two of seeing him these issues seemed to go away, though I saw him about once every two months for about a year or two.

Also about a six months ago I finished seeing a rolfer, and although that provided some temporary relief it seems it did not fix the fact that I have some damaged muscles. I guess the muscles want to stay tight no matter what you tell them. This is why I seem to be having lasting success with the PRP, it's addressing the root cause of the problem, as opposed to the symptoms (in my case) like PRI.

When I saw the rolfer he didn't mention anything wrong with a twisted pelvis or an out of whack SI joint, though he may have found them and just not mentioned it. He did mention some tight hip muscles, like my right TFL and when he worked my left psoas it really improved my gait (for a week). I think if he were to work on my psoas now though the treatment would last a lot longer now that my left hip capsule is more structurally sound and thus the psoas doesn't need to tighten to keep things stable.

Again, really appreciate your comments, and any other insight you may have.