I could have sworn something like this existed, but I can't find it. If a mod knows where it went, please feel free to move this there ...
Anyway, I figure we should have a thread for general PT/rehab encouragement and updates.
My story: I tore my ACL and had it reconstructed in 2016. It's not back to 100%, but I'm still seeing (glacial) improvement. I also have had shoulder issues on and off in the last year, most recently because I took a nasty digger downhill mountain biking. Generally speaking, I seem to be injury prone, so I've had experience with PT for lots of different things.
My shoulders are getting better (once again). My ortho surgeon commented that he expects to see me again - he says that some people (like me) just don't have as much space in their shoulders, so all the pieces tend to rub against each other. I'm taking that as a personal challenge, so I've been doing lots of shoulder stretches. My favorite is a passive stretch - lie lengthwise on a foam roller and let the arms hang in "cactus" shape for a couple of minutes. I also like holding a narrow PVC pipe behind my back in both hands - below the upper body - and stretching both arms back from there. And I'm constantly checking in with my posture, and finding it's off.
As for my knee, it's been a process. For a while now, I've been concerned that my right quad would never fully develop again. Part of the problem was that my knee hurt when flexing it much. One leg squats were too much. But I have a wonderful trainer who got me doing some modified lunge/squat exercises, and it really seems to be helping. That, and doing barbell squats. Front squat was great for my legs and balance, but it irritated my shoulder (typical impingement symptoms), so now I'm doing "regular" (back) squats. Very little weight - focused on form.
I'm getting back into deadlifts, and I would like to see how much weight I can lift if I really focus and train for it. This is a long term project. Deadlift has a way of shaking out any form/alignment issues. I'm working with a trainer, and as the weight goes up, alignment issues crop up. Same with squats. Then he does some analysis, gives me some MAT exercises (similar to PT exercises, but with a different focus), I go down in weight, and we start again. It's frustrating, but I see progress. As I go through this process, I am finding that I consider the alignment discoveries a feature, not a bug. It's more important to me to get my body right than to lift a lot of weight, but I think the two will go hand in hand.
Early this year, I couldn't do deadlifts because my right leg wouldn't participate fully. I'd end up putting more weight on my left side, and that inevitably led to back pain. Fortunately, a chiro session would instantly fix it, but obviously that's not a good scenario. The modified lunges and barbell squats (which require balance) helped me there. Now, I actually see that "bulge" on the outside of the quad on both legs, not just the left one! I slowly worked up the deadlift weight. It was a little frustrating. A few years ago, I could do 5x205. Starting over at 85 pounds, not because I wasn't strong enough but because of bad proprioception, was tough. But I got my legs equalized.
Then, the next iteration. One of my shoulders was lower than the other. The bar would hit the floor on one side before it hit on the other. Again, no good. My back hurt again. My trainer fixed this with some MAT work. I don't remember the details, but my shoulders went back to being more or less straight.
He's had me doing sets of 10 reps. I got up to multiple sets of 185. Then another thing cropped up, in both squats (which are still at 55 lb max - again, form limitation, not strength) and deadlifts. My feet aren't moving, but everything from there up is turning slightly sideways. You guessed it - back pain. So we're doing some more MAT - I have three exercises to work with - and I'm back to 85 pounds.
I guess some people would say to stop doing deadlifts. I'm finding them to be an excellent diagnostic tool. I hope that by doing this, I'll be fixing issues that would have plagued me as I age. Oh, and - get me to bigger lifts more safely
Anyway, I figure we should have a thread for general PT/rehab encouragement and updates.
My story: I tore my ACL and had it reconstructed in 2016. It's not back to 100%, but I'm still seeing (glacial) improvement. I also have had shoulder issues on and off in the last year, most recently because I took a nasty digger downhill mountain biking. Generally speaking, I seem to be injury prone, so I've had experience with PT for lots of different things.
My shoulders are getting better (once again). My ortho surgeon commented that he expects to see me again - he says that some people (like me) just don't have as much space in their shoulders, so all the pieces tend to rub against each other. I'm taking that as a personal challenge, so I've been doing lots of shoulder stretches. My favorite is a passive stretch - lie lengthwise on a foam roller and let the arms hang in "cactus" shape for a couple of minutes. I also like holding a narrow PVC pipe behind my back in both hands - below the upper body - and stretching both arms back from there. And I'm constantly checking in with my posture, and finding it's off.
As for my knee, it's been a process. For a while now, I've been concerned that my right quad would never fully develop again. Part of the problem was that my knee hurt when flexing it much. One leg squats were too much. But I have a wonderful trainer who got me doing some modified lunge/squat exercises, and it really seems to be helping. That, and doing barbell squats. Front squat was great for my legs and balance, but it irritated my shoulder (typical impingement symptoms), so now I'm doing "regular" (back) squats. Very little weight - focused on form.
I'm getting back into deadlifts, and I would like to see how much weight I can lift if I really focus and train for it. This is a long term project. Deadlift has a way of shaking out any form/alignment issues. I'm working with a trainer, and as the weight goes up, alignment issues crop up. Same with squats. Then he does some analysis, gives me some MAT exercises (similar to PT exercises, but with a different focus), I go down in weight, and we start again. It's frustrating, but I see progress. As I go through this process, I am finding that I consider the alignment discoveries a feature, not a bug. It's more important to me to get my body right than to lift a lot of weight, but I think the two will go hand in hand.
Early this year, I couldn't do deadlifts because my right leg wouldn't participate fully. I'd end up putting more weight on my left side, and that inevitably led to back pain. Fortunately, a chiro session would instantly fix it, but obviously that's not a good scenario. The modified lunges and barbell squats (which require balance) helped me there. Now, I actually see that "bulge" on the outside of the quad on both legs, not just the left one! I slowly worked up the deadlift weight. It was a little frustrating. A few years ago, I could do 5x205. Starting over at 85 pounds, not because I wasn't strong enough but because of bad proprioception, was tough. But I got my legs equalized.
Then, the next iteration. One of my shoulders was lower than the other. The bar would hit the floor on one side before it hit on the other. Again, no good. My back hurt again. My trainer fixed this with some MAT work. I don't remember the details, but my shoulders went back to being more or less straight.
He's had me doing sets of 10 reps. I got up to multiple sets of 185. Then another thing cropped up, in both squats (which are still at 55 lb max - again, form limitation, not strength) and deadlifts. My feet aren't moving, but everything from there up is turning slightly sideways. You guessed it - back pain. So we're doing some more MAT - I have three exercises to work with - and I'm back to 85 pounds.
I guess some people would say to stop doing deadlifts. I'm finding them to be an excellent diagnostic tool. I hope that by doing this, I'll be fixing issues that would have plagued me as I age. Oh, and - get me to bigger lifts more safely