Another setback...

I've sustained more injuries in the 7 months that I've been out of work than in the past several years, it seems.  I'm doing a lot more physical activity--gardening, yoga, walking--things I've been doing, but now spending significantly more time at each.  But the latest injury--a strained quad muscle--is an indirect result of my increased focus on volunteer activities.  I played in a kickball fundraiser a few weeks ago, and ran a lot--mostly running after balls that had gone over my head and kept rolling...and rolling.  And occasionally running bases.  I hadn't sprinted like that in a long time ("probably 20 years," my husband said helpfully).  Unlike a couple of other players on my team, who pulled muscles and limped off the field the first time they ran a base, I didn't feel anything that day.  (Note to self:  what was I thinking, having most of the team be people over 50?  Another reminder that it's not as easy to get physical as it used to be; that we're getting old.  I knew I wouldn't be very good at kickball, not having played since grade school, but I thought I was in good enough physical shape to handle a couple of games.

The next day I noticed that my quad was sore when I made certain movements, or tried to run.  But I could walk without pain, so I figured it was minor.  Maybe it was, but I guess I didn't take care of it over the next couple of weeks.  At the beach last week, the undertow was pretty strong for the first few days, and when I tried to wade into the water the undertow would pull on my leg muscle and make it hard for me to walk.  So I couldn't go in very far, and had to get out when my muscle would start to ache.  Only the last day was I able to get out far enough to float and swim, because the undertow had finally died down.  If I had turned around and seen the robburglar stealing my beach bag, I would have pulled the muscle trying to run after them.  Probably would have been more frustrating than not having seen it.  But then I could have yelled "stop thief" and seen if anyone did anything.  Oh, well.

Then this past Sunday, a day after we returned from the beach, I went to kneel in church and felt the muscle pull and possibly tear.  I couldn't walk without pain, so I knew I needed to find out what to do.  I had a doctor's appointment scheduled the next day, for my trigger finger, so I figured I could use that appointment to have the orthopedist look at my leg.  But in the meantime, I googled on "treatment for sprained quad".  Or as google stated, "did you mean strained quad"?   Guess so.  Anyway, a sports medicine site (About.com:  Sports Medicine) cited the R.I.C.E. treatment--rest, ice, compression and elevation.  I spent the rest of the day using that approach (if you ice and elevate you have to rest, because you can't move--and I put an ace bandage around my leg for the compression).  Seems like it helped, because my leg wasn't as swollen the next day.

The doctor confirmed that I had a strained (and probably torn) quad, and said it would take 2 weeks to heal.  Probably would have healed the first time in 2 weeks if I'd taken better care of it.  He gave me several exercises to do--the sheet says it's range of motion and strengthening for gracilis syndrome.  I looked up gracilis syndrome and still don't know what it is--sounds like something more related to hip or groin.   And he said I should use a stationary bike 20-30 minutes at least every other day.  Basically, he said I should bike as much as I can tolerate.  So far I've done it twice and find that it's my butt that can't tolerate it very well--I need a day off in between to rest my sore butt.  I asked about yoga and walking--he said I shouldn't do yoga for a week, and be very careful after that.  And he said walking was OK, but that I shouldn't take long strides.  So walking the dog is out.  He said I didn't need to do ice/compression--I think those only work initially to keep swelling down.

The major pull occurred on Sunday, so this is day 3 of treatment.  I'm limiting what I do pretty severely, so this will hopefully fully heal.  My plan is to update my resume, add to my LinkedIn profile, sign up for a job search engine.  And then I still need to practice voiceover recording.  And I just signed up for yoga teacher training, which I'll do over the next year.  Started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I told you I was behind in my reading), but didn't get very far...