So, yesterday I tried to be “proactive” by going to a sports medicine doctor for some perceived “might be could be injuries.” I had mentioned that I was planning on going and had made an appointment. I was going to go to the 3B’s (Booth Bartolozzi and Balderston) but was referred across the street to Dr. Maenpaa, who trained under “the 3 B’s).
This guy is AWESOME! The office that I went to is at 829 Spruce St Ste 308 Philadelphia, PA, but he also has offices in Devon and near Rittenhouse in Philly as well. Anyway, Dr. Maenpaa was awesome. He KNEW I was nervous by the fact that I could NOT shut my mouth (not really abnormal) and the look on my face…
It was SOOO cool. He had me walk up and down the hall several times and observed my gate, my posture, my feet, etc. Then he examined my shoulder. The dude had the NERVE to tell me I needed to work on my abs to help my posture, to which I scoffed and planked it up for him for a few minutes (he asked!)…
Anyway, he was simply saying that strengthening the abs is good for the lower back, where I have pain a lot (due to being TOP-heavy naturally, thank you, and my poor posture). OK, so here is the low-down on my two “pain places…”
1. Shoulder- turns out that I have a “larger wing on my left side” (where the pain is behind my shoulder blade). This means that if my right shoulder blade is, say, 3 inches to the right of my spine, my left is maybe 4 inches…does that make sense? So I am incredible imbalanced. This created much tension and resulting tendinopathy (can include both inflammation and microtears in the tendons, according to my favorite site webMD). I have to get it xrayed because he fears there might be calcium deposits in there that he might have to “needle out.” I did not even ASK what the heck that meant, because if it is what it sounds like it is, I don’t wanna know! For now, he is sending me to PT at a place around my house, where they will “work on it,” prescribed 800 mg. of ibuprofen, and after reviewing the x-rays he will tell me where to go from there.
2. My shin- left shin has been “bothering me” (aka feels like a shin splint that won’t go away and hurts when I walk run and rest…cute). He is concerned that it is a STRESS fracture! OY! Must get that x-rayed. BUT, I recently had a Dexa scan which would have picked something like that up and it was clear, so if anything is there it is miniscule!
Either way, when I got home, I jumped right on the treadmill (of course)…I will not “rest” until I am fully diagnosed..I know, stubborn. I told them though, ” I didn’t get here from resting and I am certainly not going to leave here resting.” I know, I must be a GREAT patient 
NOT!
So, after my run, I was sure to do some great stretching! I did some yoga moves as follows…
"Butterfly pose" or "Baddha Konasana" to stretch out the groin
Forward fold with treadmill aid… (for the hammies)
I also did standing forward folds like this:
The sanskrit word for forward fold is Uttanasana
Then, I did Janu Sirsasana on both sides…
(those pictures are from www.yogajournal.com love it!)
Finally, I banged out one of these babies
I had to ask Shiya what this pose was called- she is the best! By the way, it’s called Bharadvajasana and she kindly directed me to this
which is what it looks like when you bind in this posture Thanks, Shiya! Please check out Shanti Yoga Shala…offer is still standing to come practice with me there! Email me at jessdownes1@gmail.com anytime!
Anyway, definitely comment/drop me an email if you have had any experience with those injuries above…I need all the help I can get, and given the positive mental state running puts me in, I’m not resting
Toodles!
)…
