Two weeks out from Fourth Prolotherapy Session.

Concerning the shoulder/back, I'm still pretty weak/sore in the shoulder. Like grabbing and holding onto a soup can doesn't feel good.  It's weird how much it's affecting me. Like I rolled over onto this shoulder in my sleep and the pain woke me up.

I'm halfway there to re-starting weight lifting. Going to do rehab (phase 1) until it doesn't hurt anymore, then doing phase 2 until I feel good with that, then on to sprinting and lots of Pilates Barre method classes. I know I know, a dude doing pilates and barre. But they seem like a really good solution to working my core in the correct manner, and will help me get proper mechanics down.

Once symptom of the laberal tear is my shoulder gets reall tired with constant pressure. Like if I try to hold a plank or a downward dog it really wears out quickly.  So I'm really looking forward to see if I improve in that area.

I'm really interested in seeing how this past session changes things. I think he really got the remaining muscles that were bothering me, especially my serratus.  I'm really looking forward to trying out deadlifting again. I've never done deadlifts without hurting my back, so if this works it will be pretty damn amazing.

I just really hope that my back is done, that I can move on. I accept that the pit in my shoulder capsule may need a few more treatments, but as far as the muscles go I really hope everything is set.  I just wish the Doc had started treating the tear in my labrum, the pit in my capsule, sooner.  It still makes me pretty mad that he hadn't addressed it until now. Hopefully I can get some pity points and he'll do it for free while he works on my hip. 

Speaking of my hip, I'm definitely feeling different. Although it's hard to tell if it is the PRP because four days after seeing Dr. Fullerton I had a varicose vein removed in the same leg.  Well, not removed, but burned shut with a laser that was placed inside the vein.  While my body reabsorbs the burned up vein, I'm experiencing a lot of pain in my groin, not unlike what I was feeling before I started up dry needling.

I do find though that bringing my knee up doesn't hurt like it used to. I am now realizing how much I used to brace myself for pain while bringing my knee up, say to cross my right leg over my left.  It will be interesting to see how squatting will feel.   Can't wait really.

So I'm only two weeks away from being able to try out my new body, albeit I will have to approach things conservatively.  Still, there is a possibility that I won't need another treatment. The pit in the capsule could be completely healed, and it could be that the tissue in my hip Dr. Fullerton addressed is really all I needed. If that turns out the be the case, I will be overjoyed. Of course, if I need a fifth treatment I really won't be mad because I have been experiencing such progress over these past nine months.

As I read what I just wrote I see so much hope and excitement for what's to come. I can't help but think about how I've been excited for what's to come for years now. Heck back in '09 I was pumped because I just needed to figure out the pain in my shoulder and hip and I was good to go.  I wonder if this is normal, or if I am just really, really strange.  I guess I have to be constantly optimistic, otherwise I would just get beat down and wouldn't be able to keep going forward. Yes it's been a long journey, and yes I always think that I'm just one step away from being completely healed, but I figure as long as I keep getting better then I'm doing something right.

And I am getting better all the time. Every step I've taken has made me feel better. I guess my body only allows me to feel as certain level of pain, and as I fix one thing or another I realize how much pain I was actually in.  I am still surprised that I had so much wrong going on with my back and I was still able to crossfit.  Or even walk, for that matter.

For the first time, when I left Dr. Fullerton's office two weeks ago my neck/ear felt completely normal.  This is obviously a good sign. I just hope I don't need a second treatment for the shoulder capsule.

Day after Fourth Prolotherapy Treatment

I have to say I had no idea so much was wrong with me. Everything that Dr. Fullerton treats is getting way better, it's just there so much stuff that he can't treat it all at once. Each session takes like four hours of him probing around with the ultrasound wand, figuring out precisely what to address. Every time I see him and he's working on me he comments that he should use the ultrasounds he's taking for an upcoming presentation. Yesterday I finally asked him why he always says that. He replied that because of my musculature, the damage is really easy to see on the monitor. So that was a nice stroke of the ego. This time he looked at my back again, but for the first time he looked at and addressed my right hip.

What was found

Where do I begin? There was some damage going on with the lateral part of the QL, and there was also some damage to where the serratus meets up with the lat. That part seemed to be really the last part of my back that hasn't been addressed. I also talked to him about how holding a plank or downward dog

The (hopefully) final
few areas that were addressed

hurts my shoulder, and how maybe that was due to the labrum tear? He looked at the shoulder again, and despite the fact that he didn't find anything the first time this time he found some debris and a pit in the capsule. So it looks like I'm actually going to get that tear in my labrum repaired as well.

He took a look at my right hip and found some damage up in the high quad/pectineus area.

When he administered the injections to pretty much every area, that body part responded by twitching like I was going into a gand mal seizure. Concering prolo, the twitch seems to signify that there was damage in that area. The more the twitch, the more that muscle/ligiment/tendon whatever needed help. So it seems that all these new spots that we addressed today were really needing help. So I'm hoping to continue to see great improvements over these next few months.

Pain/ability

The pain right now isn't that great. I feel like I have some pressure in my back, like a hot water bottle is lodged underneath my shoulder blade. Uncomfortable, but not painful. I am really limiting the use of my right arm though. I find myself lowering my head to meet my hand when I shampoo my hair. I was walking the dog and pulled the lease with my left hand and I felt a sharp pain somewhere in my back. It kind of felt like an adhesion breaking up but I found it to be really unsettling so I am trying to use my left arm as little as possible right now.
My leg feels pretty good right now, the day of I was walking with a limp but now I think I can walk alright, even take on stairs without too much of an issue. 

Mental fortitude

I'm 9 months into this treatment and I have to admit that taking this upcoming month off is going to be frustrating. I was just starting to get some real strength back and I was also making some important strides with my technique in sprinting (get it?). I hope I won't lose too much strength/muscle memory when I get back into the mix, but I don't like being on the sidelines.
Hope this is the last time he will treat my back, but if it isn't I'm not going to be mad because I am making so much progress. Now that my body is becoming hale again, I think I'm going to look into some kind of soft tissue treatment. Like I might go back to a DO that does manipulation, or find a massage therapist. I'm not really too convinced that the rolfer I saw is the answer, because he treatments were so temporary. Of course, perhaps things will be different now. Who knows.