Isn’t it funny, how sometimes, we don’t see ourselves clearly – especially when we’re looking at our body? I know this to be true, but I’ve been so busy lately that I guess I have not been paying enough attention to me.
Last week when I went for a Physical Therapy evaluation, I got a real wake-up call. I was there because of an injury I’ve had for several months. I overworked my psoas muscle a while back, and have been trying to rest it, then slowly get back into working it, but it seems that I just keep overworking it. I knew that I needed advice, so I got a referral from my doc to see a PT (Physical Therapist.)
Well, after talking with her for a few minutes about my injury, my wonderful PT had me get on her table and she pressed my psoas with her fingers. YOUCH!
She said “Wow, that’s tight!” I told her I knew she’d get right to the problem, as I attempted to smile through the pain…
Here’s what I didn’t see for myself. Not only was my psoas tight, but also one of my quad muscles. And an even bigger surprise was that my left leg was very weak. My right leg has been taking over in many of the exercises that I teach for so long that I’ve lost strength in the left one; I couldn’t believe it! I even found myself showing her a modified push up that I teach in all my Pilates classes and as I was doing the push up, I was saying that this exercise is all upper body, so this one can’t be affecting my hip and leg. Silly me! She smiled and said do another one and she put a little bit of pressure on each of my glute muscles. Feel that? She asked. OMG! In addition to my arms pushing me up, my glutes are also helping, but my right glute was doing all the work. The left side was simply around for the ride. She had me get into bridge pose, and the same thing. The right glute and quad did all the work while the left one just hung around. Omagosh, what a surprise!
Even though I help others find and repair their muscle weakness and injuries, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my own muscles and that made this injury worse than it was when I first overworked it.
This week I am doing stretching exercises and hopefully next week I’ll start some strengthening exercises as well. I am also paying MUCH more attention to both of my legs and glutes as I teach my classes, and making them each work equally as much as possible. I’ll be good as new in 4-6 weeks.
How about you? Are you paying attention to your body? Does your self-care include taking care of all the muscles in your body with plenty of exercise, eating well and drinking enough water? What can you do today to take better care of you?
If you’ve been thinking about joining one of my classes – come give it a try! They are all done via Zoom and we’re a friendly bunch! Join the laughter and good health. Email or call me to ask any questions and I’ll send you a link. You’ll be glad that you did!
Whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, you should read this good news article today. It’s about how positive people live longer and healthier than people who are not. I always knew that some day I’d be happy to be called “Pollyanna” by my family and friends! 😊Life is better when you try to be as positive as possible.
Best of Health,
Kathi
