| | | Everyday I run into guys with joint problems. The doctors always say its arthritis, or a joint that needs to be replaced. Most of these guys have never really done anything to warrant a major rebuild, or its an old injury that comes back from time to time.
I've got a shoulder that I injure occasionally. It is a problem from my early twenties. Falls/slips on my ass have been the hardest on that shoulder. But I've also re-hurt it doing too much repetitive work. Occasionally I aggravate it by lifting beyond my limit. Pushing weight training to far to fast has been a nemesis from time to time. This last time, it went when I was raking gravel on a road I'm putting in.
So I iced it. wrapped the arm. re-hurt it. And then it just closed down. Time does wonders for injuries like this. I did a lot of cross fiber massage. i took a few muscle relaxers on the occasional day that it was really painful. But all in all I relied on Ibuprofen, D3, K, and rest. It seemed to heal slowly, I stopped the strenuous physical work, and waited.
Lately I've been wrapping it in a heating pad at night. (a thermadore) That has done a lot to reduce the contractions of the deltoid and the corocobrachialis tendons and muscles. I do some cross fiber with my hands and a vibrator. Some pressure point therapy. I have also increased my K intake to 5 mg per day. (400 mcg is the standard pill) Jarrow does a 5 mg pill and I will soon ramp up my intake.. I have yet to do the natto route as all I hear is how bad that stuff is, and that from my Asian friends..... But there are places in Japan where people consume as much as 40 mg per day of K. and they don't have much arthritis. So I figured I'd try and move the calcium from the tissues (tendons and muscles) into the bones via increased K intake.
My consumption of larger portions of K preceded my more rapid healing by a week or two. The heat at night definitely helps. It's cumbersome and if the heating pad does not have a very low setting or turn off it can be dangerous. But if you get a handle on using your pads safely it can work wonders for joint and tendon problems.
I'm going to up my K(K2,K7) intake to about 20 mg per day. and see what that does.
Two months ago I was almost convinced I would need surgery, as my muscle testing showed some major problems in the joint. A slap tear, likely from the original injury in my youth, seemed to be so bad that I was never going to beat the pain, or heal. But now I feel a lot a better. However I don't know how fragile I am. I'm going to have to move back into limited use of the shoulder in work situations to see.
I post this because, I don't hear advice on enduring this kind of experience from Docs in the profession. And I don't run into too many guys who are willing to admit they screwed up and do the time for a natural repair of the muscle-tendon complex. If you choose it you might want to look into finding a good massage therapist who understands tissue repair, pressure point therapy, and sports massage- which is basically cross fiber oriented treatments and muscle/tendon stripping technique. Stripping can be very painful, and you need a good therapist, who is in tune with your head.
The point is that you don't need to do nothing until you need to go get cut. You can choose to deal with your injury and it may just help you avoid the knife, the robotic knee, or the useless joint. In the long run you may suffer less pain. Or it may delay the operation for years or the rest of your life.
Doctors are generally well meaning, but they have followed the rope from their freshman year in college. They often do what everyone else does. And then is often not in YOUR best interests.
Fight the pain. Assess the problem, or have it assessed and identify the specific tendons and muscles that are injured. Know the specifics of the injury and how it reveals itself in your body. Take steps to help healing. Ice at first. Heat later. Compression is often a major help. (It has saved me on lessor injuries a few times this last year) See if you can take some natural supplements to help alleviate the problem (D3, K, magnesium, Copper(trace)). Begin natural methods of muscle and tendon massage and care to help tissues rebuild themselves.
Most of all, own up to your own stupidity. Stop being Lazy about dealing with what's wrong with your body. Deal with pain and restricted movement in a slow and calculated fashion. You likely will heal if you give you body time to do so.
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