14 October 2012

Approaching the end of the road

Progress appears to be going well on my shoulder. Physio has now effectively discharged me. I have plenty of comedy exercises to do now. To date I'm up to:

Shoulder weights 2 off 10 reps with a mighty 2kg (two types)
Kneeling down with a band wrapped round me ankle and writing letters with me hand. 5 off 6s reps
Working against a band for shoulder yellow band 2 off 20 reps

Physio for feet seems to be going well. Having worked up to slow heel raises, 20 off per foot with 10kg on my back I'm moving to ballistics work. Ballistics following slow ones. 30reps on two feet now moving to 20off per single feet.

Physio also mentioned I needed to work on my core and hamstrings so started off with some plank. Been a while so started with 40s. will work up to a minute before reducing the time and moving hands/feet away. 



11 September 2012

Chronic Building Fires

Another week, another visit to the physio. The arm's progressing well with the ligaments on the top of my shoulder fixed up I'm now working on the muscles in my back. Turns out my bust arm's starting to switch off still and my right shoulder is pathetically weak compared to my good one. Lots of punching agaisnt a resistance band to see if that helps.

Finally got a good session with a second physio on my feet. Through various analogies includeding playing rugby, coaching a saturday football team and burning buildings he's pointed out that the problem is purely physiological. My body's been working round the problem and associates pain with the movement of my foot. The solution is to just work it till it figures out it's all ok and stops the alarm bells ringing that make me think it hurts. Notes from the guy that passed me onto him included the word "Chronic" and reading them he said "well we like a challenge". Current exercises:

Punching while holding red theraband until I'm too tired.
Bridge with a green theraband wrapped round my knees.
Squats with a green theraband wrapped round my knees.
Heel raises of a step. Started today doing reps of 20 with weights in a rucksack.
Lateral and vertical work with my right foot working against a blue theraband. 

Next foot physio 9th Oct
Next arm physio XXth Sept

Hopefully getting up 10mins earlier and working at it will make the difference.

Things on the shopping list for Christmas:
Trampette
Weights Vest
New trainers that are not just "good enough for keeping dirt off my feet and that's about it"

Weight for heel raisers 20 off at 3.75kg

16 August 2012

Tale of two Physios

Thanks to the NHS I'm getting Physio on my shoulder and feet. The shoulder's getting there slowly but I still can't drive or cycle so having to get the train everywhere. Got some bizarre superman pose exercises to do with a Theraband. Still nowhere near throwing a disc either.

Managed to get on the wrong train at London bridge and only realised as my train pulled away from the platform next door. Thankfully the physio was ok about me being 10mins late. The usual "what's wrong" sheet and a load of squatting hopping and bending later and he reckons its a problem with my stability. He made an analogy with the pain being mental. Not psychological but taught. If he gave me 5 glasses of wine and asked me to tell the difference between then I probably couldn't. Go away for 6 months and drink them lots and I probably could. Didn't bother suggesting that I'd be willing to try this as long as he supplied the wine. Figured turning up late meant we didn't have time for my hilarious comments. The pain is localised at insertion of my Achilles heel and I just need to teach it that it's ok and not to kick off pain receptors.

Squats and bridge with a theraband and it should tighten up my glutes. Heel raisers till it hurts and it'll teach my foot it doesn't really hurt. no running, jumping or climbing trees for a while but at least I know it's not a permanent damage thing just my brain being stupid. Time to show it the error of its ways. 

The Kapow website is up now and being feverishly populated. As I'm not playing I'll be trying to take some video and photos at the weekend for nationals. Getting the train on the way there and back also means there's potential for a couple of shandies to celebrate getting to Europeans.

29 July 2012

Back to the drawing board

Shutdown over, amazing warm sunny days, ideal for riding home...until I come off my bike near Woolwich. Net result is heaps of deltoid brusing and damage to ligaments around my collar bone. NHS A&E and aftercare great though and hoping it won't put me out for too long. If I ever get round to it a map of all the sporting injuries I've sustained over the years may look amusing.

Meanwhile....

Ka-Pow Ultimate storm through tour3 finishing undefeated and 5th. Sets us up a treat for Regionals in Wimbledon. I'm sure Smatt's Blog will give the lowdown. Gutted I wasn't there and won't be at regionals but there's a chance Nationals may be possible. Either way with Tooting and Burro looking shakey at Tour3 and us continuing to improve the likes of Fire and Clapham will hve a new team breathing down their necks. 


15 July 2012

Long days and bacon Jam

Squeezed a couple of short rides in during the week. Only from work to Woolwich Arsenal so about 5/6miles. Nice couple of pints later and amongst other things the subject of bacon jam came up. Never heard of it before but the Internet being a marvelous thing a quick search has given me this recipe. It's bubbling away in the slow cooker as I type so we'll see how it turns out. What's better than spreadable bacon? This may be the next option.

All set up for an MRI scan tomorrow at St Helier's up the road. At least this should give me a chance of playing some ultimate this calender year.

07 July 2012

New tyres thanks to Brixton Cycles

Managed to squeeze another 2 days on the bike to and from work tues/weds. Decided to take a different route home in an attempt to avoid the hill at the start and near Bromley onthe way home. Turns out The National Cycle Path 21 is amazing. A lovely flat ride from Greenwich to just North of Croydon. going fine till I get a puncture halfway through. Two inner tubes later and I am walking to the nearest station. Thankfully Nigel from Brixton Cycles was passing and offered to not only give me a patch but fixed the tube for me there and then. finally made it home:
Tueday
2.5mile to work
22.5 miles home
2.5hrs(!) complete with puncture repairs.

Wednesday
2.5miles to work
22.5 miles home
1.5hrs

On closer inspection and after Nigel's advice it turns out my rear tyre is wrecked. In way of returning the favour I popped up to Brixton to get a pair of new tyres, tubes and more importantly a spare set of patches! Really helpful shop, suggested a few options and I've ended up with Schwalbe Londons. Made all the more patritoic by the shinny "London" branding. Also meant I could get some more miles in before work over the next couple of weeks kills any chance of cycling.

MRI scan booked for 16/07/2012 so hopefully I can get diagnosed and patched up. Means Tour3 in Manchester is out but hopefully back for Nationals.

28 June 2012

Turns out the trip home from work is 21.5miles so today:

Cycle to work 2.5miles
Cycle home from work 21.5miles 1hr 40mins.

To add to that extra 1/2 mile it was 23degrees, 80% humidity and there was a lovely 15mph headwind. Hence the slow time. Record in previous months was 1hr 25mins so after a few weeks that's what I'll be aiming for before pushing on to 1hr 20mins. The biggest problem are the traffic lights and junctions. When not stuck at them cruising at 20+mph is possible with 36.4mph down Glassmill Lane top speed for the moment.

27 June 2012

In an attempt to keep up with Smatt's Blog I'm going to start posting up the fitbess I'm doing partly to motivate me to do it! So here goes...

22/06
Cycle 2.5miles to work
Cycle 21miles home 1hr 35mins

04 June 2012

Finally managed to get of some of the Voltatol Active spray. Tried it out on my heels and seems to have had an effect. Real test will come as part of a tournament though so it'll be in my kit bag for Tour 2. Feet stil la bit sore so still no running for me till next week. Tentatively thinking about cycling to work if only to combat the amount of junk I'm eating and the Victoria sponge that's currently in the oven.

03 June 2012

Turns out Voltarol is pretty tough to get hold of in spray form. No joy at Asdaor Tesco but found some at a pharmacy. The bzzagent vouchers worked now just got to see if it lives up to the adverts...

29 May 2012

turns out getting hold of Voltarol is harder than expected...no sign of it in Tescos.

28 May 2012

Growing tired of facebook and recently signing up to be a bzzagent means I'm actually going to use this site again...
1st on the list is trying to figure out how to fix my aging body, current injry list:
  • Haglunds deformity
  • Sprained tendon
Any suggestions on how to get this working again...shout.