20 minutes barrier

...finally through the 20 mins mark on the exercise bike. I pushed it today. Yesterday, I'd had an active 3 hours at Amwell Nature Reserve and wasn't sure my muscles would be up to anything strenuous today. Certainly, I didn't fancy any more walking but I figured a little light *cough, cough* bike work would be ok.

My left hip stabiliser and lower back are still playing up, which really is getting very tiring.

But, when I got on the bike, I just thought s*d it and went for 20 mins. For the most part it felt good. My left glutes twinged at the beginning and my right knee crunched at one point (as is its way, lol) but overall, it was smooth and painless.

Now, I'm sitting here with a hot water bottle stuffed down my back, lol.

Edited 10:20pm: Left hip/glutes and LHS lower back ache intensified as the afternoon/evening wore on. Definitely paid for pushing things today.

Aching

I'm going through one of those periods where various muscle groups suddenly decide to hurt or that deep-tissue aching is the order of the day. There's no obvious rhyme or reason to it. It just happens. It started a few days ago with my knees, then it was my lower back and yesterday evening, it was my shoulder girdle. The knees and back are still aching/strained....

Tonight, the ache throughout my shoulder girdle is akin to 'restless leg syndrome' (Link). I can't keep my shoulders/arms still - the ache becomes so intense I have to move the structures. It aches deep down through the front, top and backs of my shoulders, down through my arms, through my elbows and into my hands. As I sit here, I keep having to stop to move everything around, straighten my arms, shrug and roll my shoulders, stretch my neck and so on. I'll head off for a hot bath later and hope that that will relax the muscle fibres.

I've not done anything new or different. Today's exercises were the usual weekly set, concentrating on the arms and shoulders:
2 x 10 reps 1.5kg bicep curls; 2 x 10 reps 3kg bicep curls; 3 reps 5kg bicep curls.
3 x 10 reps 1.5kg tricep extensions
1 x 10 reps 1.5kg shoulder shrugs
40 standing rows using the red theraband.

Post-Two Week Break

My body seems to have benefited from the break from rehab for nearly 2 weeks. Injuries/strains seem to have settled down and the only problem areas remain my left shoulder and left hip. It felt good to get back to the pool today for hydro exercises. I made sure I stuck to the usual routine - no over-doing it. I also tried out my new swimming t-shirt (a ladies rash vest) which helped enormously to keep me warm.

I've made an appointment with a private physio who's been recommended to me. She sounded great on the phone and I'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks time, when she gets back from her hols. The 3 month wait for NHS treatment is too long and I'm happier to go with the good recommendation.

This afternoon, I do feel tired and my left hip/LHS lower back are achy/painful but it's not absolute exhaustion like it used to be post-exercise.

New injury

*sigh*....yup....after 3 days of nursing aching hip stabilisers, lower back and legs, I've managed to strain the intercostal muscles through the back of my rib cage. I only realised today how I did it when I tried the exact same movement again and made things worse! Basically, I've been doing lots of stretching (once warmed up) and the stretch I do lying out flat on my back with my arms over my head, straight by my ears, is the culprit.

I really hope these strains are only minor and will heal up quickly. The pain is quite unique and I'm absolutely fed up with injuring myself doing rehab!!

Trigger Points and Bursitis

I was back at the pool yesterday, getting in a hydrotherapy session before going on holiday this Friday. Things had been feeling good and for the first time in I don't know how long, I didn't have any specific pain/restriction in my hips/legs whilst in the pool. Of course, this meant I tried to do a little bit extra. I did more walking and I did 10 extra reps of the leg curl/press exercise. I came out of the pool feeling like I'd had a good workout.....

….Will I never learn?!

An hour or so after getting home the aches started. At first it was my left hip stabiliser (gluteus medius), and through to my lower back on the left hand side. As the afternoon and evening wore on, the aching was pervasive, through my hips, lower back and down my legs. It ached like you wouldn't believe! I tried massaging the trigger points (Link) with the tennis ball, I applied heat and lay down for an hour to rest all the muscle. In the end the gnawing ache was reaching the point of unbearable so I took the maximum doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen. That didn't completely eradicate the pain but it certainly helped. I also developed muscles twitches at various sites all over my legs and hips. Basically, I’d fatigued the muscles beyond their limit.

The main trigger points seem to be through the Gluteus muscles, Tensor Fascia and/or the Quadratus Lumborum in the back. Most often they are particular to the left hand side.

Trigger Point Diagrams (taken from here)

Gluteus Medius

Gluteus Maximus

Quadratus Lumborum

This morning, the aches through my glutes and the lower back on the LHS are still present but not nearly as overwhelming as last night, thankfully. I’ve had a 5-10 minute slow/gentle walk and thoroughly stretched out my legs, hips and back; did some tennis ball massage again and applied heat. Hopefully, the muscles will recover in a day or two.

The other news today is I had the ultrasound scan of my left shoulder. Essentially, it’s good news. The main tendons are healthy and intact. They are below average in thickness which could be because of my slim build or because they need some building up, who knows. Anyways, they’re healthy. The main finding was inflamed bursa around the infraspinatus tendon. The bursa fill with fluid to protect the tendon when it begins to rub on surrounding bone, hence the inflammation. It’s probably what is causing the pain and restriction on external rotation and abduction. The doc is recommending more physiotherapy, an xray to check for bone spurs and perhaps guided aspiration of the bursa.

Edited 01/09/2009: Saw the ortho guy today. Ultrasound (US) also revealed mild Supraspinatus tendonitis and an x-ray confirms no bone spurs. So, it's now a course of physiotherapy and hopefully I'll avoid the US-guided bursa injection!

6 months on

Yes, it's been 6 months since I bought the exercise bike. Today, I hit the 16 minutes mark for cycling time and it felt great. I'm still on the lowest resistance level possible but it's about increasing the endurance of the muscles/tendons rather than strength (initially). My weak left hip stabiliser/glute is still the problem area. It began to ache towards the very end and ached/hurt afterwards. I massaged with the tennis ball and then applied heat but the pain continued for most of the day and also affected my lower back.

It's taken 6 months to condition the hips/legs to go from struggling to cope with 3 minutes on the bike up to the 16 minutes. The left hip is the limiting factor.

Although the hydrotherapy work does include arm muscle exercises I also do bicep curls and tricep extensions once a week. I think I overdid it today. As ever, I forget that although the bicep muscle might be strong enough to cope with the higher weight, the rest of the supporting structures aren't. My shoulder girdle and left arm really ache.