Physio 3

Getting a bit sian to go for my physio session. Yeah i know, its just the third session, i shouldn't be expecting a miracle. But just that I wonder how long am I suppose to keep up with this weekly routine of stretching & strengthening. Granted I'm not walking with a limp, but ... u know what i mean ...

Anyway, got there and the staff did not find my appointment in their system. Already not very happy about being there, IRRITATION sets in. Asked me whether it was a manual appointment, which i have absolutely no idea what that means. I told her all my appointments were made the week before, on the spot, after my physio. A few more questions later from her, she sensed my growing irritation and managed to get me a number. Went in to see the physio, who was saying she normally doesn't schedule patients at 3pm because that is normally a very busy time (anyway my session was at 4pm!) and that she was very busy now. So was telling me to do warm up, stretching etc. and sent me off.

Dutifully stepped onto the elliptical trainer and did my 15 mins warmup, during which i met a familiar face - Tekko! Wah! felt much better just seeing a familiar face in the gym (hoorah!), took a while before he finally saw me. We chatted for a good 5 mins I think before i finished up with my warm up and he continued with his stretching etc.

Went back to see my physio, my balancing is much better than last week (of course lah, I forced myself to practice one-leg stand on cushion at home several times the past week) but because of my only practicing on my left leg (she didn't say need to practice my right?), I could stand on my left longer than on my right -_-". But still, my one-leg stand is VEry wobbly. Still not a good sign. But seriously, can everyone stand on one leg (with eyes closed mind you) and not hobble around or shake ?? A little tidbit of information for you: Do you know it is more difficult to stand on one leg with your eyes closed than with them open ? Maybe I'm just so lacking in general knowledge (or common sense? :P) but I didn't know that until I was told to do it. Apparently eyesight contributes to your balancing. With your eyes open, it helps you to correct & balance and when you close them, you actually lose one of these senses to help u to balance and you are forced to rely on your body for the balancing. Interesting huh ?

Anyway, I told my physio about my pains due to my short run on Sunday, and also asked where are we heading in these sessions. Yes, according to her I'm better, but I'm STILL NOT ABLE TO RUN (of course I didn't shout at her lah, am just stating my point clearly here :P). She said I still need to work on my strengthening without which I will still have all these problems. Several things that she mentioned (which I'm using this opportunity to jot down more for my own sake before I forget about them :P):

• She checked my Kayanos and found the soles too stiff. That could be due to them being new and need to be broken into. So she said my running in my new shoes & with all the current problems that I'm having may have caused my pain on Sunday too.
• Once I'm able to balance (one-leg stand) for a good one minute for each leg, i can then progress to do agility work (lateral jumps, hops etc.). That will take another 2 sessions.
• She asked me to hop on one leg and my left shin hurts. So no go for the agility work for now :(
• I complained about my calf pain and she found many "knotty" (i suppose that's what she meant?) muscles when she massaged on both my legs. Really quite a number. Asked her why I got those and she said it is due to problems like my weak ankles. Thus although I can go for periodic deep tissue massage to release these "knotty" muscles, I wouldn't be solving the root cause.

So off she sent me for more stretching and balancing works and did these with increasing frustration:

• one-leg stand on BOSU ball (4 exercises : with eyes looking up, then down, then closed, then closed with swinging arms). Each exercise is to be done for 30 seconds (my one-leg stand on the ball could hardly last 3 secs!!! so you can imagine my frustration), 4 sets per exercise.
  
• one-leg stand on tampoline (2 exercies: with eyes closed, with eyes closed and swinging arms). Same thing, 30 seconds and 4 sets per exercise. This is slightly easier than the BOSU ball which is more wobbly.
• Lunges with a 9lb bodybar. 1 lap along the track outside the gym.
  
• P-squats with a 9lb bodybar. 1 lap along the track outside the gym.
  
• Hip Flex, Abductor, Adductor, Extension. 10lbs, 4 sets of 15 repetitions each. Very difficult and very boring. At this point I was getting VERy frustrated and closed to giving up! The trainer came by several times to ask how I was doing and I could only smile at him with this really pained face. Physio came over close to 6pm (think is to check how much longer I have) to ask how I am and I could only smiled & said "VERY Tired!!" Seriously, I'm really sian about doing all these exercises. I used to dread doing them when I go to the gym, and that's why I run ? And now I'm forced to do them coz of my run ? A little ironical isn't it ??? ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I was so frustrated I was so close to screaming
  

I was suppose to do some other stretching but I decided to just skip them as it was getting late, people were all packing up and I basically just didn't have the motivation to carry on. Of course, I dared to skip those because physio also told me that those exercises are not the "die-die-must-do" ones. Haha, so I ate snake, went back to her and asked whether I will still get my massage (she said she will prescribe!) and she said "oh yah!". And since it was after office hours, she had no choice but to do it on her own. Wah! The massage is PAINFUL but SHIOK! As she found those knotty muscles and massaged on them, sometimes pressing on them really hard (she is a very petite lady and I actually felt her whole body on the bed so as to transfer more energy into the massage *faint*). I was of course in lots of pain but she was very encouraging throughout. But with the massage, she said that it has once again been proven, that women has a higher threshold for pain. That if it were her other male patients, they would have been screaming in pain, but I wasn't even flinching. hahaa. ... I have heard about women having higher threshold for pain, but for men to scream ? Kinda difficult to imagine since that species typically has so much ego in them :P ooops, can almost hear protests from the men hahahhaha :P

Finally finished up my session, did a quick shower and left the gym at 6:30+pm. By then the trainers themselves have already changed and doing their own workout at the gym. Wah, so motivated bunch. Saw my trainer doing his workout and said a quick bye. Wah, no wonder he got such a good bod! (yup, did I mention he has a good physique? Too bad I'm not interested coz he likes bluetooth devices! hahahahahhahaha) :P