Pages

Monday, May 9, 2011

Practicing with an Injury

Yesterday was my first day back on the mat since a mysterious pain in my right ribs sidelined me for 9 days. The official diagnosis was intercostal myalgia with a prognosis for healing in two weeks.

I couldn't stay away from practice for another week for fear of muscle atrophy and fear that I would happen again. Needless to say that Sunday's practice was a severely modified version of primary and of course and I got no adjustments except in assisted back bending. As a result I had a very unsatisfying practice on Sunday. Oddly enough my muscles started feeling sore later in the afternoon and I knew this wasn't a good sign. I took a salt bath in the evening and hoped for the best in the morning.

This morning I passed the sneeze test which means that I felt no pain when sneezing and I thought a more satisfying practice might be in the cards. Alas I still couldn't jump back or through and I had to be very careful in the marichyasanas even opting out of marichyasana d completely. A couple of times I just paused on my mat and said to myself "why am I even here". When it came time for back bending I practiced one hang back and before I knew it the assistant was standing in front of me. She asked how I was feeling and I responded honestly that I was feeling much better but still experiencing some pain. She then said that she wasn't going to do assisted drop backs. Of course I pouted and frowned and insisted that back bending wasn't painful at all, which was the truth. So she seemed convinced and we got on with the show.

I'm at a point in my practice where back bending is like my drug. If I can't do back bending then why even bother putting myself through the torturous forward bending in primary. It's like having dinner without dessert.

No comments:

Post a Comment