Weird pain

[lafnjack]

This is not related to the pain I felt in the clubbell swinging (which I'll post). After my first FULL Warrior Wellness workout on Thursday, I felt a pain between my scapula and spine...hard to describe it. Tightness? It was just dull and I could feel it when I moved or stretched the area. I had issues there a long time ago that I noticed in bagua. I attribute it to possible muscle weakness that was braced by thickened tissue. It was uncovered on Thursday by WW. I kinda shied away from working out because it felt pretty strong through to today (that and I was busy and lazy...but let's assume it was the pain that kept me away). Not major. I was just worried. Well, I guess I didn't have to. Today's WW session cleared it up pretty good so far. Infact its 100% gone right now.

If anyone knows what it might be though, I'd be interested. Not enough to stop me, just curious. I think it might be on the downward left slope of that muscle that looks like an M that goes over the spine between the shoulder blades.

Regardless, WW seems to have:
1) Uncovered and loosened the area for me to identify it
2) Loosened it some more so I don't feel it now

Will monitor this throughout future sessions.

All my best,
John Simons

[Scott Sonnon]

John,

As long as the RPD remains 3 or below keep moving it, and allow the healing to resume as you wash away the stored toxins in the area. Make sure that you're upping your water hydration to 1 gallon a day. Other weirdness may occur like a headache, nausea, insomnia, etc if you don't.

Allow it to happen. For men, especially martial artists, we tend to 'pinch' the shoulder blades (as we men in America tend to be over inhalatory, chest inflated and too uplifted.) Over years this develops heavy leathery straps of connecting tissue. Breaking that area up with dynamic mobility can lead to the experiences you describe.

[lafnjack]

Thanks for the tip Coach! I'll increase my water intake. And you are 100% correct about the storage of tension. Most of my tension that I'm cognitively aware of has been between my shoulder blades and in my shoulders. I've had SOME body work done awhile back to break up those straps, but apparently there's still some. WW is doing a great job with it though.

Thanks much for the great system,
John Simons

[Scott Sonnon]

And thanks for making it useful, John. More healing, better joy. Better joy, better world.

[lafnjack]

Status: Pain in back (muscle from left scalpula to spine) that was uncovered in WW session on Thursday last week is 100% gone (after Sunday session, 3 days later).

Status: Pain in left shoulder (trapezius) that was noticed during Clubbell swinging on Sunday (2 days ago) is 100% gone.

Seems like it essentially just took an additional WW/Clubbell(!) session to get rid of those little quirks with adequate recovery time and (per advice) drinking alot more water.

Man, you gotta really appreciate results like that. Although the RPD was not very high, its nice to have it eliminated.

Just out of curiosity Coach Sonnon, where did the idea of creating a system for joint strength come from (ie: Russian arts that formed Zdorovye, yoga, etc?)? Intuitively, most people come up with stretching to eliminate pain/muscle issues, which doesn't seem quite as effective. When I hurt my lower back lifting something awkwardly, I put my back into a C-curve repeatedly and managed to (I believe) speed up my recovery such that the pain was gone in 1 week. I kinda wonder how fast I coulda eliminated it with WW's full range of joint manipulations (NOT that I want to test this out anytime soon). :D

Good stuff...
John Simons

[Scott Sonnon]

John,

That's wonderful news! Congratulations on your success!

The idea came from having a lifetime of physical abuse and adolescent fighting/survival. What I learned was that agility triumphed over power.

When my arm was smashed at World University Games, I continued in spite of the injury and managed to not lose by submission or total victory against my Russian opponent. I allowed him to snap my arm in order to not lose the additional team points for USA (you lose less for just being pointed out.) Both acts were youthful hubris which cost me dearly when the bone died (avascular necrosis). My grip was ruined on my predominantly power transfer arm. It led me down the road of recovery... and developing alternative means for strength production. I am grateful that I survived the ignorance and arrogance of my youth, but I am also grateful for the lessons learned in the process.

Kudos must be given to my coach Alexander Retuinskih for his work with the ROSS Training System! He introduced me to a more holistic perspective on martial movement than had been available anywhere else in the world.

("Joint strength" is actually a misnomer, since it's actually the myofascial matrix as a whole which is being trained ALL the time, despite that bodybuilding, powerlifting and almost all "functional" strength training focus upon the notion of "muscular" strength.)

[lafnjack]

Avascular necrosis! Geez!!!

I'm glad you recovered from such a serious injury. That must have been quite a journey. And thanks for sharing the results of your research...

All my best,
John Simons

[lafnjack]

My wife is recovering from foot surgery and currently has 2 pins sticking out of the bottom of her foot (from a calcaneal osteotomy and tightening of two tendons), and reading about YOUR injury made her cringe Coach Sonnon!
:shock:

Her recovery is going well, and she's practicing some WW (some upper body) and works on Performance Breathing while she's crutching around. Plus I got her a 5 pound clubbell (coming in the mail) so she can play a little when she's better. She's lost between 8-10 pounds (mostly lying in bed and recooperating) from the WW and PB alone, as well as having a healthier diet.

All my best,
John Simons