The Long Road to Recovery

I have some news after my physical therapist appointment. Apparently, the exercises she had given me were too ambitious and have actually aggravated things further. We had to reevaluate things and modify the exercises I now have to do.

I was also discussing with her what the recovery timeline looks like for both of them and she said it is hard to say but it could be up to a year for both and even then, they will not be as good as they once were. I am also supposed to avoid things that aggravate them which is almost impossible to do, I think. Obviously, push-ups are still out and certain stances like the open-x are extremely difficult. On the positive side, the shoulder is getting stronger and we were able to add some more challenging exercises for it.

On another front, the seminar is progressing well and I am excited to where it will go next. I am hoping we can actually get into some competition type scenarios for those who are ready and want to. I will also be working with those not ready for that step, to continue to expand their skills through combinations, footwork and the techniques necessary to perform takedowns.

Sanda 2.0

The Sanda seminar I feel is going quite well and I feel like it is progressing how I had hoped. I also appreciate the help I am getting from the master instructors as it makes it easier for me to progress as they are able to correct groups without me having to break the entire group. I do think that we are getting into more advanced approached to the aspect of Sanda this time which is great.

As far as my injuries go, the shoulder is slightly better but still gets painful sometimes depending on what I do or how I move it. I think this is going to be a long road to recovery. My right hip has been getting tighter and certain stances are causing a lot of pain so I need to see what I can do about this. Open x stances are by far the worse but in a left lead cat, I cannot maintain my balance. I have a follow-up with the physical therapist on Thursday so I will discuss with her.

ThoughtsToday

So, I have been doing physical therapy on my shoulder for about 4 weeks on my shoulder and a couple weeks on my hips. I can feel a difference in some of my movements but honesty neither feel much better for it yet. The shoulder still has constant pain and sometimes some intense pain depending on what I do. I know it is not an immediate fix so I am not frustrated by this and will continue to do them and follow up with my physical therapist.

Today is also the first day of the Sanda Seminar and I am looking forward to it. There are some new participants this year so it will be interesting to see how they are able to do the techniques and how comfortable they will get as they progress.

Forms reps have been interesting as I switch between Lao Gar and Da Mu Hsing. This may be my next blog topic if I can translate my thoughts properly.

Tuktoyaktuk

I was able to get a couple of one-on-ones in this last week and I am glad I did. I fins that I sometimes get so much more out of them that I anticipate. I am not sure if its because it is more informal and I feel more relaxed or what, but they have been a great benefit to me this year.

This coming week will see me prepping for my seminar and refining my weekly plan. I have a rough layout of each week but will adapt to how things proceed and how the participants are doing, I am excited to see where we can take this and I am looking forward to it.

Just a quick note on where I was. I was in Tuktoyaktuk working with a huge drill caisson, removing all the fluids from it. While there, I was staying in a barge camp which was a floating camp where the oil rig workers used to stay while working out in the ocean.

Home for a Week (Almost)

So I am going to vent but just a little bit in this blog.

I just got home on Tuesday and I now am leaving again on Sunday morning. It is supposed to be for 4 or 5 days only but this last 2 months has been a lot. I have been only home for just over a week in that span over 3 separate times. Yes, it is my fault as I keep saying yes but when your work is project based, its not really an option to say no as the work will disappear. I was really hoping to be home for at least a couple of weeks but no such luck.

On a positive note, I was able to get on to the Physical therapist and now have a program for my shoulder and hips and they are something I can work on while I am travelling. It seems like a lot of my posts have been pretty negative lately (at least in my mind), I have to say, I actually feel pretty good where I am in my training. Could it be better? Of course it could. I have actually spent a lot of time on forms this year and have actually had some great one on ones about them.

Even though it would be great to be home all the time and be able to be at every class, that is not a realistic option for me. And, I think I may actually be in a worse place as being around all the time may lead to procrastination on my part. The thought being I will have time later. So, although I hoped to be home longer, I will continue on training wherever I happen to be.

Update on Things

I am starting to get ready for my upcoming seminar. I have a pretty good plan for what I am going to do but have been refining and making slight adjustments to the plan. I also know that sometimes the plan has to change to fit the needs of the participants just like when teaching a class. I am preparing for getting through what I want but will see how it goes.

I am also working on my shoulder exercises and have a follow up on the 1st. Are they working? I can’t honestly tell as its only been a week so hopefully I will get some feedback when I get my next assessment. I also want to see what things I can start doing in regards to my training.

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I am also looking forward to hopefully being home a lot more coming up as I have a lot of things I need to work on. I have projects at home that have been pushed off and I have some things I want to start focusing on with regards to my training. It is difficult to accomplish this with limited space to actually train or with someone to train with. Anyway, big plans that will be my focus next week.

Start of Physiotherapy

I was finally able to get in to see a physiotherapist on September 15th for my shoulder. The frustrating thing is they can only do one assessment at a time so I had to book a separate appointment for the hips and that is not until October 1st. Although it was good to get started on my shoulder it was not so good for the other part. They also want to follow up once per week for the first while to see how the treatment is working and what they need to add or change. With my work schedule, that is not going to be possible but I will try and do the best I can.

It does not surprise me that I have limited mobility and strength in my shoulder but the physical therapist will monitor my progress and see where it goes from there. There is talk of injections further down the road possibly but surgery doesn’t look like it will be necessary unless it somehow tears more so that was a bit of good news.

I am hoping by the time I get in that the shoulder is getting stronger so I can then continue that progress while starting to work on the hips both strengthening and increasing the mobility while reducing the pain. It is a big ask but I am committed to doing what is necessary to get past this (or at least make it more manageable).