Tendonitis Trials

A few weeks ago I wrote about my golf-induced tendonitis in my right elbow. 

I talked about ordering something called a Flexbar and using it to help me stretch and strengthen my elbow so that I would be healed and golf-ready by golf season in Canada. 

Things were going well. They really were. My elbow was feeling better by the day and certainly by the week. 

Then I started swimming and that seemed to aggravate it. Not a ton but I could feel it. It would be tender or sore for a few days after a swim, it would recover and then I would swim again. 

Then I started using the erg machine at my new fitness centre which wasn't making my elbow any happier. Add some upper body weight training on top of that and things were no longer improving the way they had been back in early March. 

Did I mention that I have started colouring? Which, as it turns out, requires my right hand. It didn't hurt during the colouring sessions but  it would be tender for hours afterwards. 

So on Tuesday night, when I headed out for my first ladies' league 9-hole golf game, I was a little worried about my elbow. 

I gripped the club in my hand - no pain in my elbow. 

I lifted the club - pain in my elbow.

I swung the club - pain in my elbow. 

So much for my ambitious goal of being completely healed by golf season. 

I've added some strengthening exercises and some stretching exercises to my routine. I no longer lift anything heavier than a toothbrush with my right hand and I'm icing and resting as much as I can. No swimming this week and no fitness centre either. 

Hopefully I can get it to calm down enough to resume the healing process. 

Just Some Numbers

A few numbers, for the record.

• I've been using the FlexBar for 12 days. My elbow no longer hurts when I grasp things with my right hand and it no longer hurts when I lift things with my right arm. The only time it hurts now is right after I use the FlexBar. 

• I have been using My Fitness Pal for 80 days. I have not missed a day of logging my food intake or my activity, not even during our two week holiday. 

• I typically meet my daily fibre goal before lunch and I haven't come anywhere near my sodium limit in weeks yet I'm still struggling most days to get all of my calcium and all of my protein. Despite what feels to me like a lot of nuts and a lot of yogurt. Maybe if I top my yogurt with some grilled chicken? 

• I've dropped 4 pounds. Not a ton but I wasn't going for a ton. I just wanted to get back to the weight I was a few years ago and I'm almost there. 

• The weight loss is fine and all but the best part of it all are the other things I've changed. I hardly drink alcohol at all anymore and I hardly miss it. I still have my after curling glass of red wine but I have not opened a bottle of wine in my own home in six weeks. The 8 bottles sitting the cupboard aren't even calling my name. 

• I no longer buy chocolate bars to stash in the cupboard for after dinner treats. I find it easy now to turn down treats when they are brought into the office and my serving sizes have been cut in half. I rarely feel hungry but I also rarely feel full. I just feel good. 

• I use almost 20 fewer units of insulin per day than I did a year ago. I've gone from the high 40s and low 50s to the low 30s. 

• I chopped my hair a few months ago which resulted in some unexpected savings. I save several minutes in the shower every morning since I have much less hair to wash and rinse. On the other hand I spend much more time drying it now that I can't get away with letting it dry on its own. I am saving a lot of shampoo since I have much less hair to lather. On the other hand I am spending more on haircuts since I now go every 6 weeks rather than every 8-9. I'm guessing if I crunch the numbers it was cheaper and easier to have longer hair but I like it short so short it will stay. For now at least.

FlexBar Report

Last Friday I wrote about my golf-induced tennis elbow. Also known as tendonitis for those who prefer the more technical name for things.

I also wrote about ordering something called a FlexBar that is supposed to help strengthen the weak areas that lead to tendonitis.

I was pretty happy to have my FlexBars (I ordered a few different ones so that I can increase the resistance as I get stronger) arrive on Friday morning. I've now had three days to use them and can give a FlexBar report for anyone who is interested.

The first thing I learned is that using a FlexBar is all about subtlety. The movements you need to do to address different problem areas are not big broad movements (like the kind that usually cause the problem) but small and precise ones.

I read the instructions and (thought I had) figured it out. The movements seemed to stretch the area that they was supposed to.

Then I went online to read more details about how to do the exercise and I discovered that I was doing it all wrong. Not a little bit wrong but almost completely backwards from what I was supposed to be doing. Once I started to do it correctly, I really really felt the stretch in all the right places.

The instructions say to do the exercise 5 times in a row, three times a day. They say that it will probably hurt afterwards. They say that the discomfort should go away after a little while and, once I can do 5 in a row without pain, I should increase to 10. And then 15.

By Sunday I was doing 10 in a row with the second highest resistance. There is still pain afterwards but less of it. I can also grip my water bottle and lift it without pain which is something I could not do last week. So I'm willing to say that, while it's still early days, things seem to be moving in the right direction.