Muscle Mobility, EMG...What?!

Had you asked me 3 months ago what muscle mobility or EMG was, I would have given you a blank stare. I still don't much about these two but I have certainly experienced what EMG is and have better muscle mobility.

Way back June 2007 I had pain on my right shoulder while travelling overseas alone trying to help a fledgling pre school in Yangon stay afloat. The pain lasted for weeks and I tried to soothe it with hot packs. Eventually the severe pain vanished; what stayed was occasional discomfort on my right shoulder. Months passed...I no longer noticed the discomfort.

What alerted me to the alarming condition of my left shoulder was when I discovered that I could no longer put on a shirt without any opening in front or take it off without this pain on my shoulder.

I also had this recurring pain on my left leg since May 2005. It got to the pain when just going up and down the stairs caused pain from my foot stretching up to my hip.

I finally decided to go to the doctor. I ended up going to a physical rehabilitation doctor. Was I scared!!

Talk about procrastination taking its toll on my health.

Well, I ended up going through EMG -something I would not want to go through again - having acupuncture like needles going through my skin with a bit of electric current. Never again... Plus I had to go through an xray of my lower back - that I was easy. It was like posing for the camera.

And then I had to go through weeks of physical theraphy sessions for muscle mobility...and I still have 2 more sessions to go through for my left leg.

Muscle mobility exercises are easy on the tongue but can be excruciatingly painful and expensive.

Because I do not want to go through such pain again and the anxiety of wondering what could be wrong with me that needles had to be inserted into several parts of my body I am determined to learn my lessons and learn them very, very well.

And here they are (drum roll please)...

FIRST, pay attention to the pain in my body. It's telling me something.

SECOND, not to use work as an excuse for not caring for my body.

THIRD, exercise is good for me.

Early in the morning I do the exercises prescribed by my theraphist for my shoulder and leg. It does not matter if I have to start work at 9am.

Because my work entails working on the laptop for hours, I take breaks every 30 minutes to exercise my shoulder or just to dance around with my own moves stretching my arms and legs. Try it sometime!

Because I work at home I can easily do that while tuned into a live station 365 where I have a wide array of genres to choose from.

Being a workaholic, no that's exactly right, I mean being a recovering workaholic, I am slowly infusing changes into my lifestyle. And it's taking time, but it certainly is making life so much more fun.

I got to go now...and dance!!

Leaping into Newness

This is one of those rare times that I do something without giving it much , much thought. And I like it! To me it is the start of what seems to be a great adventure.

I would like to be an advocate for well being and for enhancing living in community in an urban jungle where life is increasingly turning dysfunctional and higly individualistic.

I would like to share my 2 cents worth of what little i have learned about living and facing up to the struggles of life, of falling and standing up again, and moving on.