I know, I skipped a week. I promise you that this post will be fulfilling. Okay, maybe not, but I’m going to spit out a lot of information. Some things have changed and I have learned a great deal of information in regards to my body.
First off, let me rejoice that my pubic bone and right abdominal wall burning pain is almost 100% gone. That’s not to say it won’t come back, because this recovery giveth and taketh in many ways.
My PT has changed me to going only 1 day a week now and she is going to recommend to my surgeon that I continue to go once a week for 6 weeks, just as an in case and then I should be done.
I have also been seeing a sports chiropractor in Tulsa for a few weeks now. Yes, it’s a long drive, but I believe it to be very beneficial. He has actually worked on my muscles very little, instead we have been focusing on breathing.
Breathing? Uhm, shouldn’t I already know how to breathe? I should, but apparently I’m not breathing appropriately. It sounds crazy, and I would think it was as well, but after working on my breathing, the aches and pains that I’ve had in my muscles have decreased dramatically. All the muscle tests that he does on me agree. I don’t want to get into too much detail and bore you to death, but basically if you are breathing correctly (through your diaphragm & stomach instead of chest/pecs) you are activating your “soft” core. When your “soft” core isn’t stable, guess what takes over and tightens up? Your “hard” core (hamstrings, HIPS, glutes, etc..)
Anyway, I have to do some exercises for 5 minutes a day that he gave me and see him in 2 weeks. Here is an article he wrote for Oklahoma Sports Magazine about back pain and there is an excerpt in there about breathing that explains it better than I can:
The Pain That Keeps Coming Back
Also, this all based off principles from Janda and Lewitt. Here is another article that kind of explains it as well.
DNS as the missing link?
I am continuing to do my PT exercises. I am also able to do 15 minutes on the bicycle and then 15 minutes on the elliptical right afterward with no pain. I feel hopeful that this will lead me on the right track to start running again. I’m not going to jump into running anytime soon, slow and steady is how this is going to go. I don’t want to have a setback since things have been okay lately.
I did get some dry needling done on my adductors while I was in Tulsa by the chiropractor. Dry needling is where they inject a needle, the size of an acupuncture needle directly into the muscle and it’s trigger points. It wasn’t horribly painful during the process, but afterward my muscles were awake and angry. It took about 4 or 5 hours for them to calm down, but they feel better afterward. If you are interested more about dry needling, here is a website that tells a little bit more about it and a video (not my doctor though):
