Hey everyone!
This is the 3rd instalment of everyone's favourite topic... my specific overuse injuries - whoooo!
Here are the previous journal journeys:
Figuring out the overuse injuries
Overuse injuries – 2 weeks later…
Overuse injuries – First month…
Essentially there are a bunch of things I'm working through, and here is the list:
1.) Golfer’s Elbow in both elbows
2.) Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain)
3.) Stiff neck headaches
4.) Lower Back pain
5.) Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles
I'm definitely seeing some really good progress, so that's encouraging. Legitimately it's this blog post series that is keeping me on track better than anything else. I'm keeping really good (although not perfect) notes and records of my activities and that's really helped me be consistent.
Consistency is one of the things I've really struggled with. Basically my usual cycle is:
Just that... for years and years.
In my defense... the rehab exercises are like 90 minutes of daily effort, which is time I'd really rather be spending on so many other things... but... it seems to make a difference, so I'm really working to plan ahead in my day to ensure I schedule them in.
So, let's see how I've been going:
These are the measurements I took this morning using my Renpho scale thingy:
Source : Renpho scale and app.
Generally I'm pretty consistent, I wouldn't really expect to lose any more weight at this point - there's not a lot of variation in my diet at the moment. My bodyfat has been 17.1% for a month and a half now, and my Visceral Fat (fat around the organs) has been 6.0 for two months.
Source : Renpho scale and app.
I expect most of these measurements to be very similar over the coming months.
I'm still extremely focused on saving money right now... I've actually only had take away/take out once in the last month and that was after a super stressful day at work and I had nothing in the fridge. I did manage to find a super filling (maybe too filling) Indian meal for $20 , which is significantly cheaper than anything else I've found... but mainly I'm just cooking and eating at home.
That's not to say that my grocery buying is perfect... I've been buying a lot of microwaveable flavoured rice packets recently - I do generally try to stay away from processed foods but they've given my lunches an extra little kick (I never used to have any carbs for lunch).
Generally though, I'm having porrige/oatmeal for breakfast, beans, rice and veggies for lunch and rice cakes with peanut butter for dinner. Dinner has to be light and early to help me sleep.
I've done this really slowly to ensure it doesn't cause strain on my lower back or golfer's elbows, but so far, so good.
So for the first two weeks of this last month I did this workout on Thursdays and Saturdays:
Morning
2 sets:
Afternoon
2 sets of 6 reps of pull ups
For the second two weeks of the last month, I increased the bench press a bit:
Morning
2 sets:
Afternoon
2 sets of 6 reps of pull ups
There's probably about 4 hours between the morning and after sets. Again, I'm going real slow to see if there's any affect on my back, but I would like to gradually increase the second work out...
I've been really conscious of the affect of these exercises on my plantar fasciitis and I think they've been okay. I haven't noticed an uptick in pain the day after.
2 sets :
I think I'm probably really to increase these gradually as well. I was sore initially a day or two afterwards, but I think I've been completely fine the last couple of workouts.
I generally don't want to push myself to feel DOMS the days afterwards... I think I need to do more exercises at a lower intensity to avoid exacerbating my current overuse injuries.
Since the last report on Sept 2nd, I have done:
20 minutes on the elliptical machine 8 times.
20 minutes on the rowing machine 5 times.
20 minutes on the stationary bike 0 times.
I just struggle to get on the bike... I'm just kind of uncomfortable the entire time. I do feel silly on the elliptical machine, but by the end of the 20 minutes I am absolutely dripping with sweat - way more than I get got running.
I think I've developed all the necessary calluses for the rowing machine now, so it's not ripping up my hands like it used to.
I would like to get out running away, it's just way more enjoyable to me... to get out and about... but until my plantar fasciitis is healed I'm not going to do myself any favors by getting back on the roads early.
I don't know if its dramatically better to do 30 minutes of cardio over 20 minutes (in terms of heart health, etc) but I still feel like I'm barely making it to the 20 minute mark, it's just, ah, pretty boring.
Alright... time for the good news...
**1.) Golfer's Elbow seems to have gone right down. **
In the last month there have been a couple of times when I felt a twang of pain... once during pull ups, but other times just randomly closing a window or picking up a bag, but in the last couple of weeks I don't think I've felt it at all. I'll keep an eye on it obviously, and I would like to work some bicep and tricep exercises in... but for the moment I seem to be pretty pain free.
2.) Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain) has gone down too... but it's not gone...
I reckon a month and a half ago I was feeling it pretty significantly first thing in the mornings and sometimes when I got up after lying on the couch. When I get up now, it's still there for the first 10 steps or so and then disappears.
I think I need to avoid running until it's gone completely, so I'll keep an eye on it, but I'll keep my routine as it is for the moment.
3.) Stiff neck headaches
I'm currently studying for a really hard cybersecurity exam, so I'm spending a lot more time in front of the computer, so this has been a lot bigger factor recently. When I feel my neck stiffen up I'm stopping and doing neck stretches, which I think has been keeping the headaches away. It's not an exact science... but I do think the eye is to do those exercises early... and do sometimes change up my study locations and situations so I'm not in one position for too long.
Also the course work is extremely dull... so I do have to change things up to stop myself falling asleep.
I do also think pull ups might affect this as well... I definitely seem slightly more headachey on pull up day.
4.) Lower Back pain
I've made some progress here too... but I'm not exactly sure what I've been doing that has made that progress. It still pops up, especially if I try and sleep on my stomach or bend over forwards (to shave or something) or stand for too long... but I don't think this pain is making decisions for me like it used to.
5.) Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles
One of the problems with chronic pain is that because its so constant, you put it out of your mind a lot... and so I think I do actually suffer from the above types of pain a lot more than I realize, and I just kind of subconsciously work around it. So I'm really trying to pay attention to the causes and affects of the things I'm doing and the pain I'm feeling.
I'm definitely in some level of pain 24/7 - so if I pay total attention to it I don't have any spare brainpower for anything else.
Unfortunately, I don't know if the hypertonic pelvic floor muscles have gotten worse, or I'm just paying more attention, but it's kind of uncomfortable all of the time.
The last couple of days I've been taking study breaks to do some floor stretches when sitting becomes particularly uncomfortable... and it seems to help at least for a short time, but I've potentially made negative progress here.
Sometimes it seems so irritated it disrupts my sleep, so that's not cool.
I'm definitely doing more stretches and exercises to try and combat it, it's possible that it's going to feel worse as it gets better... or I'm just making it worse... who knows?
These are the stretches I've been doing that I think are helping :
Definitely happy with my general progress though!
I hope your health and fitness is going well!
Thanks for reading!
Also shared to my blog : https://lifebe.com.au/fitness/overuse-injuries-month-2/
