Friday, February 06, 2009

Ouch. :(

Those of y'all who know me in real life all know about my... er... impressive array of twitches, tics, and other little spastic gestures I make when I get all wound up. You know, the hand wiggling, or the one where I rub my hands together real fast?

Well, it's the latter that seems to have caused me a problem. See, it involves a fair amount of isometric tension... and, well, I got all excited reading something on the interw3bz this morning, and unconsciously went to do the little hand-rubbing thing (flex across your shoulders and push in with your hands as though you were trying to crush something...) and *twang!* something let go across the top of my right shoulder blade. I don't know what I pulled or tore or strained, but it hurts pretty dang good.

I guess the right shoulder was ripe for something; it's had a lot of repetitive stress type activity, what with being my mouse hand and shifter hand and all the snow-shoveling lately, but still... How's that for an ignominious way to injure yourself? Not even doing anything; just sitting in a desk chair. Kee-rist, I must be getting old or something.
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35 comments:

The Old Man said...

Getting old ain't for sissies, darlin'. Suck it up (grin).

9:24 AM, February 06, 2009
Tam said...

I'll cowgirl up while lying on a heating pad and not moving my right shoulder too much. I need that arm to shoot with, dangit.

9:26 AM, February 06, 2009
Murphy said...

Heh, it's a direct result of your blasphmey of Glock!


Seriously though, I've had the odd tweak and it definitely isn't fun - here's to it clearing up soon.

9:41 AM, February 06, 2009
Carteach said...

Sorry if I am laughing at the moment... truly I am.

It just happens I burned one of my sick days today.... I think I have a torn rotator cuff, and the left arm is a paperweight.

Motrin, heating pad, and prop that thing up with no weight on it.

You get bored, give me a call and we'll groan in pain at each other (g).

9:42 AM, February 06, 2009
Drang said...

Try ice as well as or instead of heat. YTeah, I know, after all that snbow shoveling, the thought of ice is not atractive, but it might do good.

I wound up on a "no-PT" profile for a week once, threw my back out picking up a piece of paper from my desk. "And just how did you do that, First Sergeant..?" It wasn;'t the piece of paper, it was the fact that I had started to leave the office, turned and reached to pick up the paper...

9:45 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Had one of those twinges that hit you now and than a few years ago. Seemed to run from the back bone across the lower ribs on the left side. Three years later I found out it was a heart attack. Just a small one thank God.

9:46 AM, February 06, 2009
Hill Country Blogger said...

Without knowing what line of muscles you are referring to I can only suggest light neck roles. If you pulled a muscle you can speed your recovery by very light stretching.

I end up pulling muscles all the time with marital arts. It sucks, takes to long to heal, and makes you feel worthless. Just slow recovery and don't push yourself into reinjury territory.

9:49 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

I did something to my right shoulder a year and a half ago. Not even sure what. It hurt (a lot)to shoot even a .308 for 9 months. Once, while walking around in grizzly territory with the .375 H&H, I was taking a break, and suddenly thought, "Oh crud! I REALLY hope I don't have to shoot this!!!"

I keep hearing comments about age also. Whats up with that?



Malamute

PS. Can't wait to see "Way of the Gun" :)

10:00 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Just in the past year of so, I'm starting to feel a twinge in the peak of my right shoulder, when I hang my arm just right and move my right hand just so.

It just happens to comprise the motion of my right hand when I'm picking a lead part on my guitar.

This really blows. It's a cruel joke: you just about get life figured out, and shit starts blowing up on you.

Dammit.

10:05 AM, February 06, 2009
Frank W. James said...

Hope it ain't the rotator cuff. Three years ago I had a surgery in March and 30 days later planted 93 acres of corn (think 30 60lb. bags of seed being emptied off my shoulder into the planter) by myself. Not a smart move. Had to redo the complete surgery the following December. After THAT one I rested and didn't lift anything heavier than a coffee cup for six whole weeks.

I did do a lot of left hand shooting, though. I also bought a complete set of left hand IWB holsters.

All The Best,
Frank W. James

10:13 AM, February 06, 2009
staghounds said...

Bryan, if your marital arts suck, take to long to heal, and make you feel worthless, you might just be doing it wrong.

Or very, very right.

10:49 AM, February 06, 2009
Owen said...

Contrary to Carteach's advice: no heat for 48 hours. Ice, lots of ice.

10:51 AM, February 06, 2009
Carteach said...

Twernt advice, just what I am doing myself, as per nurseypoos advice.

Happens I have a doctors appointment to get it checked in..... OH CRUD, I gotta get going!

10:56 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Old age is teh suxxors, the mind is willing but the body ain't.

Get better soon Tam.

Gmac

11:42 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Welcome to my world!

It's always the seemingly innocuous stuff that gets me. I can lift and tote heavy objects all day long, but if I bend over and reach for a pencil in a certain way, I can throw my back into excruciating spasms that last for days.

Sometimes I wonder: if my 40s are this painful, what are my 50s going to be like??

-=[ Grant ]=-

11:56 AM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Triple ouch. Hope it's better soon. I have yet to have my ass kicked shooting by you, and I want it to be while you're full on capable.

11:57 AM, February 06, 2009
NotClauswitz said...

Right hand is the just throttle and you can lean down on it or add a quad-like throttle lever - left is the clutch, but then again you can just bang shifts with your toe, so no worries! :-)

12:18 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Have you considered yoga?

Maybe you could call one of the mobile hair care and yoga studios in Broad Ripple?

Shootin' Buddy

12:26 PM, February 06, 2009
the pawnbroker said...

in answer to someone's question above about what happens in the fifties...you really don't wanna know. it's like somebody flipped a systems shutdown switch or something.

that deal about odd movements doing you in is right on, too...i took a kingsize bed, entertainment unit, 4-inch teevee, and two sofas down the stairs and into the trailer all by my lonesome last week to bring stuff from ga back to fla, and no problem. then i drop the soap in the shower and reach for it and a weird little twinge develops the next day into near-total paralysis...m'er f'er!

this would be a good time to work on the ambi-shooty thing, though, i guess...but don't let a little pain interrupt the blog flow or you'll be directly responsible for all sorts of fits of withdrawal out here.

s.b., i'm wondering if there's some ulterior motive with that yoga suggestion...;0)

jtc

12:47 PM, February 06, 2009
Crucis said...

I pulled a muscle in my calf a few years ago---where the Achilles tendon attaches to the calf muscle. I did it stepping off a 4" curb and promptly fell betwixt two cars and couldn't get up. Had to have help and then couldn't stand on that leg.

Embarrassing!

Still hurts from time-to-time.

1:15 PM, February 06, 2009
Matt G said...

Years later:

"What, this? Eh. Old blogging injury."

;)

2:55 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Probably the shoveling. Dunno what kind of coverage you have, but I'd recommend having a specialist do a bit of investigation. Could just be a tendon was caught on something, but what was it?

3:36 PM, February 06, 2009
On a Wing and a Whim said...

I know heat feels good, but I highly, highly reccommend ice the first 24-48 hours, followed by alternating ice and heat after that. The reason is that right now your body is likely trying to stuff as much fluid in the area as possible to immobilize it - swelling is the basic way to immobilize things. However, it's bad for you, and makes recovery take longer. Ice and ibuprofin aplenty (with food!) to keep the circulation and the cells leaking fluid down, and only then heat to relax the muscles in place.

Out of five shoulder dislocations that I admit to, the fifth happened when I ignored the physical therapist's advice, slacked on the gym for several monnths, and reached up to change a lightbulb. My right arm, still holding the lightbulb, just fell out and headed straight for the bottom of my ribcage. NOT fun. Since then, I take much better care of my body.

wv: ecrepo. Not, I'm not ecrepo, decrepo, or decrepit! yet...

3:54 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

When I was in high school there was this guy that tore his knee out bad enough to require surgery....... {wait for it}

playing kickball.

4:11 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

Marital arts? Is that like a bit of light kung-fu in bed for the sake of warm up? </confused>

Also, I'm glad I got out of my old job when I did; there are people who have done it for 20+ years, and they're all broken. Thank you, not for me.

Jim

4:40 PM, February 06, 2009
Home on the Range said...

I broke a tooth not long back. Eating a bowl of clam chowder. Perhaps it was the heat on an old crown, perhaps a mutant clam. But soup?

Went to the dentist, he asked what I broke it on I told him.

I doubt my insurance will cover that.

6:51 PM, February 06, 2009
Joseph said...

Speaking of insurance, does VFTP central have coverage? Mebe Roberta can claim you as a S.O.?

6:58 PM, February 06, 2009
Roberta X said...

Joseph, I don't even claim myself as an SO.

Also, insurance at the skunk works don't play that, even if I was willin' to lie to 'em.

7:41 PM, February 06, 2009
Fletch said...

Oy. I monkey-read-monkey-did your shoulder hand rubbing thing, and my right shoulder popped loudly, and I immediately thought "Oh god, it's a trap!" Fortunately, no lasting pain.

As for tics, I bend my four fingers 90 degrees inward, and rub them up and down against each other to make a constant rubbing sound.

8:59 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

You've not been doing any stretching during this very cold winter. I pulled a large muscle in the back of my thigh last February, and it took all the way until Thanksgiving for it to heal. I never go to the doctor, but since it stayed rock solid, drum tight, and hurt for months, I went to make sure I didn't have a blood clot causing all of that. Nope, he said, just a bad pull, it'll be done at the end of the year. He was right, and he's been practicing for 50 ears. That was the worst of my pulls last year. The year before, I badly pulled my calf. It felt like someone shot it with a bb gun.

I went back to my stretching, and have had better luck this winter. Remember those stretches they had you do in gym class? Do them.

wv: fughboc? Hell no, I like Bach! It's energizing.

11:37 PM, February 06, 2009
Anonymous said...

This just in from Twinge Central-check into dimethyl sulfoxide, aka DMSO. Sold in tack shops for horse liniment, and not labeled for human use, but available in handy roller applicator bottles. Could be helpful, by all means do your research. In other sports, I've been told that rubbing my hands together is my tell for being about to either buy something at a gun show, or draw. Have to watch that.

12:17 AM, February 07, 2009
Anonymous said...

Toni gets twinges, aches, and pains. Always says, "But I didn't do anything." To which I reply, "That's probably what did it."

Make a note of that muscle group and try to work it once it's healed again. Strength, flexibility, and tone can go a long way toward preventing such injuries.

And, yes, this IS a do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do. Well... I keep MEANING to do it. ::weak grin::

M

12:25 AM, February 07, 2009
Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Getting old sucks.

I've had a hip driving me crazy for two months. As soon as I get off the road (in about 10 days), I'm heading for the doctor. Till then it's lots of Advil and avoiding sudden twisting movements.

Feel better soon.

7:44 AM, February 07, 2009
Anonymous said...

Not to bore y'all with chemistry, but if you take Ritchie's advice on DMSO, be sure that your skin is completely clean. Dimethyl sulfoxide has the quirky property of carrying with it any other chemicals that are present as it goes through your skin.

I don't want any Tiger Balm or lotion in my bloodstream; YMMV.

1:07 PM, February 07, 2009
NotClauswitz said...

Yeh, just wait till you try surfing... It's the onset of AltFartnHeimers, when something you did three days ago finally catches up.

2:01 PM, February 08, 2009

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