11 days out from my fifth Prolotherapy treatment

It's not yet two weeks out from the fifth treatment, but I'm really feeling better. I think a lot of the discomfort I was experiencing was stemming from the damage to my rib cage.  It's also pretty amazing how much my shoulder has changed after just one treatment to the shoulder capsule.

I don't know why, but Dr. Fullerton kind of ignored the shoulder capsule this time, even though I was pretty certain I could use another treatment.  He asked of I could hold a plank now, and I said something like, "Maybe??"  I didn't really know how to respond because I haven't tried doing a plank/push up since the last treatment.  ...I now realize that I should've simply said that, but for some reason I felt nervous and just didn't know what to say.

I'm still pretty impressed with how much more I can decompress my left ear now.  It's pretty much identical to the right ear.  Also I haven't felt as near as much need now to try to crack my neck, so that is obviously a good thing.

I still feel the need to try to roll out some areas in my upper back, like where the upper trap attaches to the shoulder blade, I think?   One of the hardest things about this whole process is that because it's my back, I can't easily point to it.  Like I can only approximate the location.  I think next time I will have to roll out and then turn around and show him where my skin is red.

I've really been tempted to go early this January and get a treatment just for my hips, but I think I will probably just wait it out for the next time.  ...if my shoulder/back is still giving my trouble I will book two sessions a week apart, and go from there.  So I guess I'm betting that I will need a sixth treatment on my back.  ...That's kind of sad, but I keep getting so much better after each session.

We will see;  we will see.

Phase Two of Rehab from Prolotherapy

8 weeks out from the first prolo treatment. I can see why Doc wanted to space these treatments out 9 weeks apart.  I'm still feeling everything... settle.  I now really don't feel any of the pain that I felt after the treatment when I hold things, and I'm still not cracking my neck like I used to, so that seems to indicate progress is being made.  I've started working on strength and range of motion.  I think, for my shoulder muscles, using the Indian Clubs is pretty much ideal. It works on strengthening and stretching at the same time, plus it's pretty fun.  In addition to using Indian clubs (I use them as a warm up) I am now doing an upper body day and a lower body day, here's the program:

Upper Body (A)

DB Bench press (5 X 10)

Lat pulls (5 X 10)

DB Rows (3 X 12)

Tricep extentions (3 X 12)

Bicep Curls (3 X 12)

Shrugs (3 X 12)

Shoulder Raises (3 X 12)

Lower Body (B)

KB stiff leg deadlifts (5 X 10)

KB Box squats (light) (5 X 10)

DB Lunges (3 X 12)

Leg Curls (3 X 12)

Leg Extentions (3 X 12)

Note: one thing that is important to note is that I don't have any movement where I elevate my shoulder past 90 degrees. I'm still not ready for overhead movements like incline bench or overhead press.

The frequency of my workouts is Day 1 is conditioning (sprints), Day 2 is A, Day 3 is B, rest day, then repeat. It's three days on, one day off, like crossfit.

Leg day killed me, especially the lunges. On the second set my hammies cramped up so I just stopped.

I've noticed now when doing bench press I experience a clicking in the very front part of my shoulder. It isn't accompanied by any pain, but this might be important because Dr. Fullerton thought there might be something wrong with the front part of my shoulder. Who knows.

I'm still feeling all the normal pangs, but then all the pangs are not bothering me as much as they used to. I feel healthier. I feel like I'm better. I actually feel like I can get back to 100%, something I haven't experienced in over a decade.

Seems to be a Connection between my Right and Left Hip

Interestingly enough, even though Dr. Fullerton addressed my left not-that-painful hip, the pain in my right pectineus has gone away.  I don’t understand the reason why, I mean how could a pit in my left hip capsule affect the front of my right hip?  But my right hip pain really isn’t there anymore. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was down to like .5, but now it’s where I forget that I’m pain free. It’s the kind of pain free where I haven’t thought about it, which is the ultimate goal.

I have to admit, I wonder how much of my struggles have stemmed from the injuries/weaknesses in my back.  I know the back muscles (especially the rhomboids) play a large part in stabilizing the torso with the front squat, and that was definitely where I would fail.  My legs could handle the weight, but I would still dump the bar on the way up because I’d lose my balance.  I’ve been doing dumb bell rows, and I’ve noticed it’s way easier to pull the weight with my right arm than it is with my left. The weakness has never felt like a strength issue, it’s always felt like a “muscle just stops responding” issue. Having a frayed trap/rhomboid/lavator will do that I guess.

…The fraying of the muscles in my lower back could also be a reason why I struggle so mightily with deadlifts. A common reason why people fail a deadlift is a weak upper back. If my lavatory, etc. are frayed and weak this could be the reason why I have so much trouble with the heavy pulls. Also, if my left spinal erectors are the ones doing all of the work, then that could explain why my lower back just kills me after deadlifts.  It’s never been a matter of leg strength. Never has been. I was doing leg presses (don’t judge) of 450# for 10 reps pretty easily right before seeing Dr. Fullerton, yet I’m struggling pulling 300# off the ground and doing anything above 230# with the front squat is killer.

All these things give me hope that once I’m healed I’ll have a much higher ceiling with the front squat, deadlift, pull ups, and rows.

And the Vlog continues:

FAI/labrum tear does not have to equal surgery!

So I just got a question from a follower from Denmark asking how I'm coping post surgery.  Maybe there's a bit of a language barrier, but maybe not and I haven't been that clear.

So let me clarify the record.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with FAI (cam and pincer type) and was told I may have a small tear in my labrum as well.

Incidentally I learned I had tight hip capsules.

I started seeing a massage therapist while doing exercises to treat the hip on a regular basis to release the hip muscles, and it starts to render me pain free.

Fast forward to August last year and I seemed to make the hip worse in an Olympic lifting competition.

I go get another MRI to see what's going on.  In the report it comments that my femur heads are nice an smooth, nowhere does it mention that there is an impingement.  It seems that my impingement has gone away.

I still have a laberal tear though (which seems to be the root cause of the pain), so I start seeing a Dr Hauser, a prolotherpist, and I seem to be progressing nicely.

Nowhere in there did I get surgery.  For me, surgery is not the answer for a hip impingement.  An impingement is the result of poor mobility, if you fix the impingement it will just come back because you still have the mobility issues.  Moreover, even if the surgery fixes the underlying issues it may not leave you pain free.  I'm willing to bet good money that the large majority of people who have pain and impingement actually have muscular pain and not joint pain.  If you fix the impingement, the muscles are still going to be too tight.  After months or years of learning how to be tight (and painful), the muscle is going to take a lot of attention to make it release and stop hurting.  If you go online and read people's blogs who just have the surgery, it just doesn't seem to work.  Even if you have multiple surgeries (like five of them).  Surgery is at best an incomplete solution.

First fix the mobility issue, the body will take care of the extra bone growth on its own (mine did).  If you already have a tear in the labrum, then try prolotherpy before surgery.  Prolo seems to be largely dependent on the skill of the administrator.  For example, the "expert" in Alexandria said he couldn't help me, but lo and behold I'm getting help from Dr. Hauser and it seems to be working.

My point with all of this is surgery is not the only answer.  Orthopods think it's the only answer because that's all they know.  They don't know anything about massage therapy or PRP treatments or anything else.  They just do surgery, and that's it.  So if you ask an Orthopedic surgeon for help of course all they are going to recommend is surgery.  But there are other ways, I'm a prime example.

[Edit 7/8/13: I am now seeing a PT who does dry needling, and it is doing wonders for the last remaining bits of pain. I highly recommend you find someone who does dry needling early on in your search for pain relief.]

Met with Dr. Hauser

The meeting was... interesting, to say the least.  He did a few, quick tests and felt that I really didn't have an impingement of the hip (this would kind of make sense since I've been working on my stretching my hip capsules for almost two years to the day now.), but he definitely felt some instability in the hip joint as well as that laberal tear.  This is almost completely opposite of what the PRP Dr Wager diagnosed like two years ago (no laberal tear, but FAI). Perhaps all the stretching and stuff has made the impingement a non-issue, that would definitely be ideal as well as the hope of getting all those massages. 

He told me that he felt he could help, and if I wanted to he could do a procedure in like 30 minutes.  ...He gave me the option of taking some painkillers before the procedure, as I will get poked by a needle 30+ times.  That is a ridiculous amount of needle, so I felt I would be best served by some vicodin.  However, I have a lot of work to do, and I can't really afford to take today off so instead I scheduled an appointemnt for the 23rd.

There is one thing that really, really bummed me out though, and that's the recovery.  One of the main reasons why I wanted to try prolotherapy before surgery was because of the recovery.  In the clip of Dr. Hauser getting an injection of stem cells (the stem cells come from the marrow in his own tibia) for treating his knee he talks about how he was running three days later.  Well, appearently with a labral tear I would have to be inactive to let the labrum knit together.  I can swim and walk,but anything that causes my hip to snap would be bad (so no more than 20 degree movement), and I wouldn't be able to do any external rotation as well.  ...That last part may mean I might have to hold off on dance lessons (have been learning how to dance with Kristin in preperation for our wedding). 

It's that last part that kills me.  I've really been enjoying dancing with Kristin, and that I would have to hold off on dancing for like eight weeks is sad news.  The recovery time for prolo is almost the same as surgery, so it makes the idea of prolo less appealing.  However, I know that surgery is not always the answer, in various forums there are people who are months post-op and are still expereincing pain just walking.

So I think I've decided to try at least one prolo treatment, but I swear I'm not as near as excited about this as I was when I thought I could immediately get back into squatting and stuff.

I will keep posting about this, as well as some other things.  I apologize for the lack of posts, but since I've become more inactive there hasn't been too much to write about.