Twists and turns

2012-03-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a few years since I saw my chiropractor. Well, that's a lie, it's been more than 10 years. There are days when I could really use a good adjustment, and I've thought a lot about getting back in there, I just haven't pulled the trigger. The last time I went it was for a shoulder injury after a poor play in the outfield in softball. There's nothing like looking in the mirror and seeing one shoulder laying lower than the other, and realizing that the collision you had with the center fielder really knocked you out of whack.

So the chiropractor told me back then that my neck was curved like an "S" rather than a "C", and that my hips were turned wrong. I guess he noticed one side of my pelvis tilted back in the x-ray. He did some adjustments for both, and when my insurance stopped covering, I stopped going. Life happens, right?

So years have gone by, I've gotten married, had two kids, and, most recently, started running. A lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. One of those things that stayed the same is my pelvic tilt. Sounds like a pinball game, doesn't it? In all seriousness, though, I have a misaligned, tilted pelvis. What was previously diagnosed, vaguely, as adductor tendinitis, is not anywhere, anyhow, any way related to the adductor, it's all in the hip. I got a second opinion last night, and I couldn't be happier that I did.

This new PT asked a zillion questions, did a zillion manipulations and resistance tests of both my legs, and did a zillion things that the ortho and previous PT hadn't done. After comparing the locations of this thumbs as he held my ankles when I sat on the table, and seeing how uneven they were, he confirmed that this was no groin injury. We were looking a joint injury right in the....well, joint.

Apparently, this is how
twisted *I* am

When my parents got me my first pair of roller skates, my dad tried to teach me how to skate backward. I tried with all my might to do it, but I couldn't rotate my right leg the way I needed to. Same problem when my grandfather tried to teach me skating backward on my inline skates. I could never do the butterfly stroke, I couldn't kick my leg out to the side. Now that I have this diagnosis, it all makes sense.

Let me just say that when your right pelvis is tilted backward, it can lead to some serious pain if you do the wrong exercises. Last week in core class I had a horrible time doing this one exercise where we started laying down and used a weight to help propel our body to a standing position. I knew I shouldn't have done the exercise, but, kept on until I knew my hip could take no more. And there you have it. My twisted pelvis can't do that!

He told me last night that I should definitely stay away from that kind of work, and focus, instead, on the exercises he gives me to do at home, and the work I'll do in my twice weekly visits to PT I need to stretch my hamstrings and quads, because they have done more than their share of work to help me stay upright with the pelvic tilt (are you sure we're not talking pinball?). They have suffered long enough.

The mental lift I got from this was amazing. I was walking taller physically and mentally. I could seriously see myself running again, something I have been losing sight of gradually over the last couple of weeks. Lifting my spirits helped me walk taller and happier.

I am now officially on the road to recovery. I have an official diagnosis, a real one, one that has a solid treatment. I have a game plan. I have hope!

I believe this calls for a celebratory glass of wine. Won't you join me?

Mommy's Project 52:32 Tradition

2012-03-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

You don't have to look very far to find tradition in our family. Tradition, by definition, is 'something that is handed down', or 'a long-inherited way of thinking or acting', or even 'the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice'. We all have something that was handed down to us from past generations, regardless of its monetary value.

I've got my share of sets of china, silver, jewelry, and even clothes from my grandmothers and beyond. Traditionally, things of great monetary and sentimental value are given to younger generations to preserve the history of the family, and the memory of specific family members. Some people wear their parents' wedding bands, or a pair of earrings their grandmother wore all the time, while others like to share the story of how their ancestors immigrated to the US from their homeland.

There are some more subtle, intangible, things that have been passed down to me, though. Here are a few of the things that I inherited from my lineage.

Migraine headaches. Thanks, Nana, my maternal grandmother, for keeping this tradition alive.
To be blunt, painful periods. Thanks, again, Nana, for this lovely monthly reminder of where I came from. This is another reason I plan to save for therapy over college, as my daughter will certainly have daggers in her eyes for me when her time comes.
Repeating myself. I repeat myself. I tell stories to the same person several times. I often tell one person the same story multiple times. I repeat myself.
If you've ever talked to my mother, you've heard that I ate everything until I turned three, then I ate nothing. Well, next to nothing, but in stories, it sounds better when you say 'nothing'. And you've heard it over and over and over and over.....
There is a story that my grandmother told which changed with each telling. Either my mother or my uncle, depending on the telling, were conceived as a twin, but the other one died before they were born. Each year we looked forward to hearing this story, wondering which one of them had been the twin.
I feel most a peace when my fridge and freezer are stocked. Got that from Nana, the food hoarder, too. No, I'm not a food hoarder.
I am left handed. My mom is left handed. Her grandmother was left handed. I think Fred might be left handed. We are awesome.
I have a funky wave in my hair at the back of my head. Thanks, Dapa, my mother's father, for sending that one my way. OK, so that one's tangible.
Hot temper. Thanks to the Scots on my mom's side. It's dulled over time, but it's there. Trust me.
I have a pretty quick sense of humor. I get that from my dad's side, for the most part. That's not to say that the crazy Brits and Scots on my mom's side weren't funny, but the Germans on my dad's side seemed to have perfected the timing part.

Some of the more tangible traditions I have carried on in my family are things like using the fine china ~~when we feel like it~~ at the holidays, putting up the Christmas tree, the Easter Bunny hiding eggs, and....um....ya, let me get back to you on that one.

I've tried to establish routine traditions in my own small family, but, I'm hard pressed to name them because, I guess, they're such a part of who we are that they don't seem unique to me. They don't appear to be 'tradition', rather they are just what we do. When I figure them out, I'll let you know.

Hot Confidence

Twists and turns

Mommy's Project 52:32 Tradition