The great chronicle of pain

Just when I thought that things are finally on some sort of even keel, it's annual injury time. Annual injury? Uh, yea... ever since I managed to dislocate my hip sometime in 2009, I've had to take extra care of myself to prevent injury.

The hip injury was a bit strange. It happened after pilates class, all I did was sit on a rail at the bus stop and when I got off, I felt excruciating pain shoot up my hip. That was the start of it all:

2009 - Said hip dislocation. Took about 5 weeks of physio and reformers for a full recovery. I got started on pilates here.
2010 - Looking at this video, you cannot tell but my knee was the size of a melon just 4 weeks before this video. That was the result of a fall in ballet. Note: Don't get distracted by the cute guy while leaping like a goat it can lead to disaster. Healing took about 4 weeks with nightly icing down and stretching. If you are a dancer, you'd know the hell I was going through. Plus there's no way I'd sit out this performance! It's Dirty Dancing! Thankfully, the performance went without a hitch. Kudos again, to the groom, who before his wedding was always our official photographer and never a dancer. And he did the solo too... it was an amazing night :)

2011 - a fall (more like a slip and crumple to the floor) while practicing for a performance caused near panic when I couldn't get up from bed the next morning. Three weeks of physio and stretching to sort out my back.
2012 - rib cartiledge sprain sustained post performance, during the India Fiesta Latina. This was after 3 days of intense classes and about 4 nights of dancing till about 3am. How painful was it? Despite a really relaxing trip to Goa afterwards, I wasn't able to sleep or turn over and coughing or taking deep breaths felt like my rib was about to bust open. Fun times.

Which brings us up to this year. Post injury last year, I was in physio for another 4 weeks and then, I found Trigger Point classes. I finally got on track to strengthen my body and also work out all the kinks so that I will be less injury prone. I got stronger, which means I danced more and stayed mostly injury free :) Yay!

Fast forward to this year and a few weeks ago where Dubai felt two pretty big aftershocks. When the second one hit, my boss bolted down the stairs. Now, I know my body and just the effect of running down the stairs like that meant bad news. News that manifested in the form of a kneecap sprain that had me limping around in Jordan. I wrote to my physio back in SG and got a recommendation to see a local physio who worked at a clinic called Up and Running here.

Taped up and roller-ed

The physio, Jac was mildly horrified at my seemingly endless litany of injuries and she was almost beside herself (and so was my SG physio and V) when they learned that I did not bring my roller wtih me to Dubai. GAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Hence the pain and malfunctions! It's a wonder you could still dance and go for freaking Zumba! Ok, ok....

My new best friends

Well, it's been a painful road to recovery and I'm back to using the roller. If you've never tried the grid before, it's something new to explore. It works out the kinks, kind of like a massager. You use yoru body weight for pressure. For recoving people like me, it is also used to strength your body. That said, the roller will now be part of a new routine. My advice? If at any time you feel that some body part or other is not working, get it checked out. Because if you don't do it now, it may get worse down the road. Such is the life of the injury prone :p but then again, if I don't take care of me and mine, who will?

posted under dance, injury, life, pain management, physio, trigger point |

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