winging it

 The other day, I went to the physio.  I hadn’t been in ages, because generally I can’t afford these things so often these days, and I try and deal with my various aches and pains with yoga and exercise.  Most of my issues are concentrated round my neck and shoulders from all the computer work I do: I don’t have problems with my lower back or knees.  

 

As soon as I took off my top, the physio said: ‘Oh, your left first rib’s sticking up.  I’ll just pop it back in.’

I said: ‘Hold it right there.’

And I explained to her about the whole subclavian vein/thoracic outlet episode (the theory is that this shoulder vein gets compressed between the first rib and clavicle, leading to thromboses and other issues).

She looked nervous, but I told her to go ahead with the manipulation because there wasn’t any clot (as far as I knew).

 That done, she examined my back and said that my left scapula was ‘winging’: i.e. my shoulder blade isn’t sitting flat against my back. She suggested that it was the cause of my neck problems, and gave me exercises to strengthen the muscle.

 

 I was given exercises for scapula winging on both sides by a physio several years ago.  Evidently I need to keep them up.  It’s raised an interesting chicken-egg scenario for me: did the poor scapula strength contribute to problems in the thoracic outlet, or did the scapula problems result from the clot experience?  I hardly used my left arm for two years afterwards, which definitely led to another set of problems.

 Anyway, I suspect that both structural factors are interrelated.  Given that I spend more time at the computer than anything else (tho sleeping with cats might be a close second), it would make sense that poor posture was a major contributor and that what I had was possibly an e-thrombosis (getting more special all the time — Ed.)

 

I also habitually hold my head to the right: childhood photos show me doing this, so I may have shortened the neck muscles on the right side over time. If I turn my head totally to the right, I close the vein, which was the position in which I was sleeping when I got the clot and which I try to avoid.

A sports doctor once told me that I’m hypermobile (i.e. overly flexible), a common problem for tall women with long ligaments (TPS: take heed).  Apparently, it means that it’s difficult for you to maintain stability in different postures, unlike a short, compact, nuggety person, so you tend to overcompensate and your muscles become tense and rigid in response.  I do find it hard to remain comfortable, sitting for long periods of time, and my neck often tenses into positions that I can’t undo without professional help (however much stretching and exercising I try).

So...so...am now sitting with shoulders permanently pinned back in 'must-improve-my-bust' position evocative of characters in Mad Men, the second season of which I am now watching.

You can see that nothing too much is happening in my life at the moment, if I’m writing about exercise.  All I can say is: my neck and shoulder problems would probably be a whole lot worse if I didn’t.  There was a fabulous visitation by the travelling film festival, but there’s something about diligent blogging about festival experiences that makes for turgid reading, unless you were there.  As opposed to individual film reviews.  So, in short, I can’t be bothered to attempt this (tho I did enjoy the Japanese 6FU-style feature Departures and the Bollywood musical

The cats and I are suddenly living in a rain-filled world.  I feel like we’re living in the tropics, with the constant sound of water dripping.  Even so, I don’t think it merits another photo of the Todd in flood.