obax - can we fix it?

[obax]

 

 

If Bob says we can fix it, then it must be true!

 

Near the end of the last challenge, I had an apparently spectacular collision in hockey (I was in the air, so I couldn't really tell), and as a result I now have a separated shoulder (thankfully it wasn't my head or neck). The main focus of this challenge will be rehabbing that injury. My overall goal from the rehab is for it to be as if the injury never happened, or as close as is possible. My physio seems to think that's a real possibility, but that it'll take somewhere around 10 weeks to get to that point. Which means this challenge won't see me succeeding at that particular goal, but it'll get me a good way towards it.

 

Goal #1 - Do All the Physio!

 

For now I'm just doing passive range of motion exercises 3-4x/day, and I have so far succeeded with this. When I start on the strengthening exercises, this goal will be for me to do what I'm told, and to do it the number of times per day that I've been told to do it. That is all, but the exact nature of what I will be doing and how long it will take will change as my recovery progresses.

 

Grade A - do it all, as much as I'm supposed to

Grade B - miss one session on one day (in a given week)

Grade C - miss one session on two days (in a given week)

Grade F - miss more than one session on one day, or miss one session on more than two days (in a given week)

 

Goal #2 - Bedtime/Get Up Time

 

I'm not good at going to bed when I should, nor am I good at getting out of bed when my alarm goes off. So this goal is to do just that: in bed and electronics off by midnight on weekdays, and 1am on weekends (I'm allowed to read a magazine or a short story after this time, to help me drift off); and laze no more than 5 minutes after my alarm goes off (I'm allowing the 5 minutes until I'm able to sleep on my side. Sleeping on my back because of my shoulder has led to some back pain in the mornings, and lying on my side for a bit seems to relieve that. But once I'm able to sleep on my side again, no lazing!)

 

Grade A - miss no bedtimes and no get up times

Grade B - miss one bedtime and one get up time in a week

Grade C - miss two bedtimes and two get up times in a week

Grade F - miss more than two bedtimes and two get up times in a week

 

Goal #3 - Stretch All the Things!

 

This is only for stretching not included in the physio. I've got a lot of tightness in many places, and since my injury I've let that fall by the wayside (at first, I was legit in too much pain to do anything but lay on the couch, but it's not that bad any more, so now I'm just being lazy). I'm not a fan of stretching, but it really does make me feel better. There are a lot of upper body things that will be difficult with the shoulder, but I'll do what I can. There's no reason for me not to do all the usual lower body stuff.

Grade A - stretch every day of the week

Grade B - miss one day

Grade C - miss two days

Grade F - miss more than two days

 

Goal #4 - Eat Well + Track

 

This is especially important with me being less active than normal. It's also important considering that I've been going for easy food rather than healthy food ever since the injury (doing stuff in front of me, such as chopping things on a counter, is still fairly painful, especially if it takes some time). To help me keep honest, I'd like to get back to tracking what I eat using My Fitness Pal. I've had some success with that in the past, though it doesn't come naturally to me and I don't enjoy doing it. I'm shooting for around 1600kcal/day, though I think until I'm a bit more active, less would be better. I have my goals set in MFP to generally go along with the ideas behind IIFYM, and will do my best to stick to it.

 

Just in general, I also want to cut down on the amount of breakfast take out I eat. I don't eat too terribly when I do, but my bank account could use the break, and I'm certain I can eat better if I make my own. To this end, I'm going to try to do the overnight oats thing, which I've done before and it was ok. I also want to batch cook (especially in the crock pot) on Sundays for my lunches through the week. This might take some financial finagling, but I want at least give it a go on a regular basis.

 

Grade A - track all days of the week

Grade B - miss one day of tracking

Grade C - miss two days of tracking

Grade F - miss more than 2 days of tracking

 

Note: I'm ok with not tracking all my dinners. I often do not make my own dinners, I will try to track when I can, but my parents don't often follow a recipe, they just throw stuff in a pan and voila! dinner! So as long as I'm trying to track my dinner, I'm ok with it not being exact.

 

Goal #5 - Saving for Things 'n Stuff

 

I got away from putting money into my savings account and savings jar a while back, mainly because I was broke as all get out and had nothing left over for either. I seem to have gotten a handle on this whole 'money' thing a bit, and am feeling a bit more secure financially (for the record, I'm not always broke, but for some reason September, and to a lesser extent October, are always really tight in the finance department. I used to think it was because I was going back to school, so working less, buying books, etc., but even after I graduated, the pattern continued, so I dunno...)

 

I have a savings account, into which I would like to put $50/paycheque. The intention of this account is to have a sum of money available when I need a big purchase (like a car) at some point in the future. I also have a savings jar, into which I'd like to put $20/paycheque. The intention of this is for smaller items I wish for but can't otherwise afford. In this case, a fuzzy sweater hoddie thing which I don't really need but I want, and after that, a PS4. Of the two, the $20 one will be the one that gets skipped if things get a bit tight, but I will do my best to not let this slide.

 

Grade A - save both amounts 4 times in the challenge (the next paycheque occurs the Friday before the challenge starts, but I'm counting it anyway)

Grade B - miss one of the amounts one time

Grade C - miss one of the amounts two times, or both amounts one time

Grade F - miss one of the amounts more than two times, or both amounts more than one time

 

Note: this is a challenge-long goal, so I probably won't grade it as I go like with the others, but I will note when things have been saved, and give myself a grade at the end.

 

Non-Goal Goal

 

I haven't been running since I did my shoulder, because jostling+arm swinging=ouch. I need to get back to this as soon as is possible, but I also don't want to overdo it on the shoulder. I want to give it a try the weekend before the official challenge start (if everything is feeling ok) and see how it goes. If it seems ok, I'll put running 3x/week in there, with the priority being just under the physio (ie. if I'm forced to choose between physio and running, I will choose physio, but that's the only thing to trump the running). This isn't an official goal because I have no idea how the first run will go (part of me thinks I'm being a rather overambitious), and if it'll be something I'm able to keep up just yet.

 

Until I'm able to run regularly, I want to get out for a walk every day after work (and whenever on weekends). I'll take my dog with me, since I feel less weird walking around with a dog than I do walking around by myself (when I don't have a destination), and it'll probably be mostly at or after dusk, and having a dog in the dark is never a bad idea.

[Lilith]

Oooof I didn't know you hurt your shoulder! That's such a shame! Good for you for fixing it with Bob the Builder though!

 

I'll definitely be following you! And one of your goals at least shouldn't interfere with your shoulder at all: eating well!

 

I hope you will do great this time around! And next time you go flying you need to work on the landign too (just kidding )

[Nymeria]

I'm really sorry to hear about the shoulder.  I know what a complete pain it is to slog through endless physical therapy, so I'll be here to offer some support.  As much as it makes my soul twitch to say this, I found that making a physical therapy spreadsheet was essential to staying on track with all of the exercises.  It kind of turned each exercise from a "I should do this" or "I'd like to do this" into an "I HAVE to do this and check off my box".

 

If running bothers the shoulder, is there any way to instead do weighted walks or even just find a big hill and do a series of fast walking climbs?  Those might be ways to reduce shoulder jostling while still keeping your legs in good running shape.

 

Good luck with everything.  

[obax]

Oooof I didn't know you hurt your shoulder! That's such a shame! Good for you for fixing it with Bob the Builder though!

 

I'll definitely be following you! And one of your goals at least shouldn't interfere with your shoulder at all: eating well!

 

I hope you will do great this time around! And next time you go flying you need to work on the landign too (just kidding )

 

Welcome!!

 

Normally I'm really good at falling, even falling rather violently, and not getting badly hurt. But that requires me to see it coming and be able to prepare for it. This time I didn't see it coming, I was turning, and all I saw was a blur of yellow (the other team had yellow jerseys) and then I was airborne before I knew what was happening. From what I was told, the player that took me out fell legitimately by accident, but didn't do a heck of a lot to avoid the collision. Which is kind of how hockey goes, but I feel like at that speed, and at a recreational level, if the situation had been reversed I would have at least tried to avoid the worst of it. C'est la vie, I guess.

 

I'm really sorry to hear about the shoulder.  I know what a complete pain it is to slog through endless physical therapy, so I'll be here to offer some support.  As much as it makes my soul twitch to say this, I found that making a physical therapy spreadsheet was essential to staying on track with all of the exercises.  It kind of turned each exercise from a "I should do this" or "I'd like to do this" into an "I HAVE to do this and check off my box".

 

If running bothers the shoulder, is there any way to instead do weighted walks or even just find a big hill and do a series of fast walking climbs?  Those might be ways to reduce shoulder jostling while still keeping your legs in good running shape.

 

Good luck with everything.  

 

Thanks for the support! My sister's been a big support too, she did her ACL two summers ago, and finally had surgery at the beginning of this past summer, so she's been going through it all too. At least I'm mobile, even if it hurt to move at the start, I could get up and go somewhere if I needed to.

 

I'll probably end up with a spreadsheet or checklist or something if there are a lot of exercises. My physio at the moment only takes about 10 minutes and involves 3 exercises, so it's not hard to keep track of or get motivated to do. Once I get into the strengthening stuff (which should be soon, I hope, maybe today!) I'm sure it'll get more complicated and time consuming. I'm pretty motivated to stick with it, though. There's no way I can do my police tests if this isn't fixed, so if I want to become a cop I'm going to have to do what I'm told.

 

To be honest, I've kind of enjoyed being lazy and having an excuse not to run (pain notwithstanding...), but as it heals it's harder and harder to use it as an excuse. One part of that goal I forgot to mention was that I want to take the dog for a walk every evening until I can get back to running (adding it shortly!). Work really tightens it up and results in a lot of aching, so thus far I've been exhausted when I get home and had no desire to go out with the dog. But yesterday wasn't as bad, and it's feeling good so far this morning, so I'm hopeful this is a bit of a turning point and I'll have it in me to get out with him. Of course, right as I'm feeling better, we get a horrible rain and wind storm, so maybe not tonight if it hasn't died down, but at least I can start tomorrow.

[karinajean]

ai-yi-yi! that shoulder injury sounds like THE PITS. as a fellow former physical therapy rehabber, you got this! Bob is right, you CAN rebuild it. (cue little kids voices in my head saying "YES WE CAN!") an treating your PT as if it were a regular training program (which it is, really...) is so key to stick with it.

 

HIGH FIVES FOR FUTURE SUCCESS!

[raptron]

Booooo shoulder stuff but yes for your PT progress so far and the future progress you'll be making soon. Yay for overnight oats and batch cooking -- making cooking easier on yourself is always a good option.

[Lilith]

Oooof, well I always thought you were quite a tough cookie for doing hockey, but this just reinforces that thought. Maybe the player that fell also had everything happening too fast to really try and not hit you. I would like to believe that, because it makes it worse for me if someone wanted to hit you and then hurt you this badly. (although I don't think anyone in their right minds would want to hurt anyone like this) I'm glad you're keeping your spirits up though!

[starpuck]

What up my linemate?  Sheez.  I know the idea of having good chemistry with your partner is what we all go for (we're ignoring that we're both centers.  Wait, *I* am a center, you are a centre... so we've just added a new forward position, hehe) but I think we got out of hand with the shoulder foo.    You have it far worse than I do so I can't do much beyond offer heartfelt sympathy and a fist bump as we both leave our physio visits!    But I'm here to support ya!

 

 

Goals look good.   And I'm approaching my stuff in much the same way as you are. 

Do what I am told and count that as my activity until my perimeters expand.

[obax]

Oooof, well I always thought you were quite a tough cookie for doing hockey, but this just reinforces that thought. Maybe the player that fell also had everything happening too fast to really try and not hit you. I would like to believe that, because it makes it worse for me if someone wanted to hit you and then hurt you this badly. (although I don't think anyone in their right minds would want to hurt anyone like this) I'm glad you're keeping your spirits up though!

 

I've definitely done the 'oops, I fell, oops, I bumped into you and you fell too, sarry....' thing before, it's part of hockey. But there's a limit when I do that, I never do it when it's a weaker player or someone not steady on their feet, and I never do it at high speed, if I can avoid it. I might've caused a bruise or two, but never a serious injury...

 

ai-yi-yi! that shoulder injury sounds like THE PITS. as a fellow former physical therapy rehabber, you got this! Bob is right, you CAN rebuild it. (cue little kids voices in my head saying "YES WE CAN!") an treating your PT as if it were a regular training program (which it is, really...) is so key to stick with it.

 

HIGH FIVES FOR FUTURE SUCCESS!

 

Thanks! I definitely want to take it as seriously as I would anythings else. Or, more accurately, more seriously, since I've been a little ho-hum on my motivation lately...

 

Booooo shoulder stuff but yes for your PT progress so far and the future progress you'll be making soon. Yay for overnight oats and batch cooking -- making cooking easier on yourself is always a good option.

 

Thanks! I'm hoping having easy AND healthy food will make that goal easier. Preparing the healthy food might be hard, but it's a weekend. I can stop half way if I need to, and whine to my sister to help if I really need to.

 

What up my linemate?  Sheez.  I know the idea of having good chemistry with your partner is what we all go for (we're ignoring that we're both centers.  Wait, *I* am a center, you are a centre... so we've just added a new forward position, hehe) but I think we got out of hand with the shoulder foo.    You have it far worse than I do so I can't do much beyond offer heartfelt sympathy and a fist bump as we both leave our physio visits!    But I'm here to support ya!

 

 

Goals look good.   And I'm approaching my stuff in much the same way as you are. 

Do what I am told and count that as my activity until my perimeters expand.

 

I'll have to be the kid on the right, I definitley can't swing my arm quite as much as the other guy just yet... Believe me, I'd prefer to be different from you in the shoulder department, but it is what it is. From everything I've read and everything my physio has said so far, a full recovery is the norm for this injury, it just takes a while to get there...

[starpuck]

Our goalie finished the last 5 minutes of our play off championship game (we won) two years ago with a separated shoulder.    She doesn't even flinch at shoulder stuff now, but her knees are braced every game from previous ACL/MCL injuries hah.      Shoulders seem pretty keen on getting themselves back in good order!

[obax]

Our goalie finished the last 5 minutes of our play off championship game (we won) two years ago with a separated shoulder.    She doesn't even flinch at shoulder stuff now, but her knees are braced every game from previous ACL/MCL injuries hah.      Shoulders seem pretty keen on getting themselves back in good order!

 

Ya, it's already getting better on it's own, but I'd still rather follow the advice of a professional than to keep my fingers crossed hope for the best. But I'm optimistic that I'll be back at 100%, the real challenge will be to be patient with it...

 

Also, finishing a game with a separated should is hardcore. All I did was curse at the ref (who was genuinely concerned for my well being) and throw what equipment I could get off of me onto the ground (which a teammate was nice enough to gather up for me).

[Red1263]

Following and hoping for your speedy shoulder recovery!

[KB Girl]

Yes we can!

 

I'm also eating overnight oats, with raspberries to make it yummy. 

[raptron]

My favorite overnight oat additions:

• cocoa powder (or choc. protein powder) + pinch of shredded coconut, + toasted pecans = german chocolate cake oats
• shredded carrot, +cinnamon (or cinnabun protein powder) + nutmeg + walnuts = carrot cake oats
• pureed squash + pumpkin pie spices = white girl PSL oats
• applesauce or diced apple + cinnamon (or cinnabun protein powder) = apple cinnamon
• powdered peanut butter + cacao nibs = crunchy chocolate pb oats
• pb + jelly
• banana + pb
• banana + cocoa powder (or choc. protein powder)

 

...

...

...

I eat too many overnight oats. 

[Lilith]

I don't mind at all, those are excellent overnight oats suggestions! But a noobie question. Do you do it with milk or yoghurt or water or what? And just... Leave it? or stir occasionally? 

[raptron]

I usually do greek yogurt + water or milk + one teaspoon of chia seeds. Sometimes just water + applesauce or banana + chia seed. You can definitely make it without the chia, but I like the thickness/gel that the chia seeds provide. Honestly, you can really do whatever you want as long as the oats are wet. I stir it all together when I make and check in the morning to see if it needs more liquid. 

[KB Girl]

I recommend using "kwark" and I have no idea what the English word for that is.

[raptron]

Yeah, quark is not very easy to find in the US, but strained skim-milk yogurt (greek yogurt) is a good sub because you get all that protein + thickness. Skyr is getting more readily available and that's Icelandic yogurt, which comes a bit thicker.

[KB Girl]

Yea I've seen Skyr in our supermarket lately. It's comparable.

When I think Greek yoghurt I think full fat versions.. I pretty much grew up on full fat Turkish yoghurt with honey, walnuts and strawberries. Dangit now I'm drooling x)

[obax]

So many ideas!!! Thanks to all, espcially Raptron for that list, though I'll nix any involving walnuts (allergic) and bananas (food of the devil), though that one with the walnuts sounds otherwise interesting, I might just eat a few nuts separate from it (I don't especially like nuts in things anyway).

 

I have not been able to successfully find Quark (or kwark) in Canada, though I'd be super interested to try it if I ever come across it. The one time I wanted to use it was for a German cheesecake recipe, and it was suggested by the German who gave me the recipe to use ricotta instead. Wikipedia seems to think it's similar to queso fresco, so if I ever find some of that I might give it a go. I've been keeping an eye out for Skyr too, but no luck yet. So many interesting foods to try.........

[raptron]

Oh, it's really just a texture thing because mushy oats are kind of one-note after a while... fruit, cacao nibs, nuts, granola, cereal... ANYTHING to provide texture contrast is usually a win.

[obax]

Oh, it's really just a texture thing because mushy oats are kind of one-note after a while... fruit, cacao nibs, nuts, granola, cereal... ANYTHING to provide texture contrast is usually a win.

 

I actually like that mushy oat texture, but I definitely see what you mean. I'm not overly creative with that sort of thing, though, eg. that carrot cake one never would have occurred to me in a million years. So a list of combinations is just what I need to keep things interesting! I'm excited about cacao nibs, I've had them only a couple of times and enjoyed them, but never think to add them to things. This weekend will be a fun trip to the bulk food store, I think.

[obax]

The Between Week Update

 

Physio's been going pretty well. Yesterday I was give 3 new strengthening exercises, which I only have to do once per day so far. I only did my 'at home' physio twice yesterday (including the new stuff), but I also went to an actual physio appointment, so that counts? A bit of a cop out, but not illegitimate either... I've gotten at least 3x/day every other day though.

 

Bedtimes have not been happening, but I haven't really been trying either (plus my favourite NHL team is on a western swing, so it's late game all the way). Wake up times have been better-ish (one day was bad, but the others have been good). Food's been so-so, and I haven't even thought about tracking yet... This weekend I'm going on a bit of a shopping spree, by which I mean a trip to the bulk food store, and rummaging around in the freezer to see what I can find. I get paid Friday, so I'll have a bit of disposable cash to use on a crock pot recipe, but I'd really like to find the meat already paid for and frozen.

 

Also, I added a life goal in on my challenge. I want to get back to saving some money, now that I've got a bit of handle on my broke-ness. September is always really tight for me for some reason, and October also (but less so). I'm feeling like I've caught up a bit (though my car is making noises that I'm currently ignoring), so I'd like to get back to that.

[Lilith]

Thanks I'm definitely going to try overnight oats in Paris! Seems like a breakfast for champs and oats are not expensive! 

 

Glad physio's gone good! I'd say an appointment definitely counts, I mean they make you do exercises there too right? Good luck with saving money too <3 

[starpuck]

Sounds like you're warming up for the challenge which is great!   Hit the start running.       You also reminded me to work on the savings thing.   I've got Good Budget, which I have used before and it's pretty ok, but I often fall out of practice.   I think I might just pull out actual money for 'my allowance' and use color coded paperclips on it.  Whatever isn't spent in the allotted amounts, goes into a jar that I save up for potential 'big' items I get a fancy for.