(no subject)

[tylik]

Wednesday, when I met with my PT, I decided to make a big fuss about the spot to the right of my SI joint that hurts all the time, and has hurt pretty much all the time since I was in the car accident in 2003. By itself it doesn't really stop me from doing things, so I mostly ignore it, but it just feels kind of broken. It's an area I know I've had ligament damage in, but Alexa has been pretty happy with its stability recently, and frankly, functionally mostly so have I. Except sometimes, even when everything seems to be working around there, it just hurts.

So, after a number of rounds of "do this, do that" (and everything moves just fine, and yes, I have a hyperflexible spine, Alexa, is this news?) and a bit of "so what motion make it hurt?", and a lot of poking, she determines that it's probably not a problem with the spot where I'm actually feeling the pain and is in fact referred pain from L4 - L5.

Oh! This seems a little weird, just because the spot is near an area that has been damaged and has some stability problems, but it also make a great deal of sense. Even more so after playing with it for a few days, because if I'm careful about the L4 - L5 bit, it feels a lot better. So much better that I found myself possessed of an unconquerable desire to practice butterfly kicks through some of the less occupied halls over in HS... (This is my body saying "Okay, the break was nice, gentle restorative exercise is always good, but I'm feeling much better, it's time for wushu!" I think.) Um, well. This also explains why I'll occaisionally have PTs tell me I need to work on my abs, but then when I work on my abs the muscles are in great shape.

And then this morning, as I attempted to sleep in, I spent a while sleeping on my stomach. And when I sleep on my stomach, my back arches (stupid breasts) which hits the area in question, and sure enough, ow, the spot to the right of the SI joint tweaks. (Not that badly, I caught it early, and some of my more yoga based stretched seem to be corrective.) This is actually a problem that I'm more likely to run into because of the hyperflexible spine, even aside from injuries.

Of course, this means no more sleeping on my stomach. I kind of had been suspecting that it wasn't great for my back, so it's already been something of a guilty pleasure, but I do like it. There's that wonderful feeling of having my soft white underbelly all protected and safe... (Consciously, I think this is silly, but I'm a paranoid sleeper. By similar logic, I mostly prefer to be the outside spoon when spooning with someone, because then I can hide my soft white underbelly against their back, and I can tell if they're up to anything.) I suppose I could always put a pillow under my waist to reverse the arch, if I really really needed to sleep on my stomach. I've been sleeping so well on the boat that I even fall asleep on my back sometimes, so it's really not a big deal.

Meanwhile, I've managed to get up and do at least a moderate amount of stretching / yoga every morning before heading into classes this week. Predictably, this has me feeling better.

And yesterday, I succeeded in donating blood, and finally got my gallon pin (okay, silly, but considering how long they wouldn't take my blood, and then how many times I was either low iron or they couldn't get the blood out of me, this did take some doing). This also is the first time I've been able to successfully donated at a blood drive, rather than coming into the main center. Further note -- the intake person was complementing me on having a nice low resting heart rate. So when they got things started, I kind of had it on my mind, and I was kind of in a hurry, so I deliberately elevated my heart rate... and filled my bag in about two minutes. Why didn't this occur to me before? So much easier. Those cushy recliners at the center are just too comfortable.

This also means that my iron levels are okay again. Of course, since I've been eating more seafood, and increasing my plant sources of iron and cooking in the cast iron wok, it's no surprise. I'm hoping I can cut back a bit on the seafood because I'm feeling a little burned out on it.