Sometimes time passes quickly and sometimes time passes slowly, fortunately for me, this is one of those seasons when the days are just flying past.
So here I am back at MOST.
It’s been 3 weeks since my last Dr.’s visit and I am ready for my first follow-up since getting the cortisone injection and beginning PT. In that time, my range of motion has steadily increased; but, in all honesty I don’t believe the pain hasn’t gotten any better. It still starts where my range of motion stops, now it just starts later in the range. I would expect that this is a normal part of the healing process and will soon find out.
So as I run through all of the testing the Dr. Is pleased that I have added 20 degrees of external rotation (30% improvement) and 10 degrees of internal rotation (50% improvement) to my range of motion. A significant jump in just 3 weeks. On a different note, he was a bit surprised by continuing pain. He said that most people three weeks out from a cortisone injection have decreased pain and increased stiffness. I guess it just goes to show that I am not “most people”.
So the plan for the next month is to continue PT two times a week and home exercise every day. I also have 5 day prescription for prednisone to help with the stiffness and pain. I have a local 5k I will be running on Saturday morning so I hope the USADA folks don’t come storming in and have me pee in a cup! I think it is too late for a TUE for the race, unless I raced bikes for Team Sky then it would be business as usual.
But the best news is that I can begin upper body workouts again. At this point I just need to focus on lighter weights, higher reps, full range of motion and good technique. I will be back in the gym tomorrow!
Progress may be slower than I would like, but I continue to “Never stop moving forward”.