alexseanchai | (no subject)

(no subject)

Hekatombaion 1

Happy New Year!

Now what on earth did I do to my shoulders? :( I don't think actual injury is involved, just lots tension to past the point of pain, but my usual "I have tensed up my shoulders" tricks aren't working.

I really need to get in the habit of exercise. Including stretching as well as cardio. And if I could fit some strength training in there, that'd be marvelous. By which I mean it would be a thing at which to marvel...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know what your usual tricks are so I don't know if they're mostly the same, but if you'd like to hear my usual tricks then I am happy to share.

<3

Stretches. Not sure how to describe. I can take home my helpful visual and scan that in later tonight if you want to see.

Would love to hear any wisdom you can impart. :)

Stretches can be helpful! I might have a stretch or two to offer you that you're not already using, if you do feel like scanning that in. But that said, they're not my first go-to for tense muscles, actually. Heat is.

Microwavable heat packs are great. Heat packs are kind of awkward if you need to be able to get up and move a lot, though, and if you do then those once-off disposable adhesive heat pads they sell at the pharmacy are useful. Those can be sort of expensive if you need them a lot, though -- any heating balm will get a lot of the same effect. So anything like tiger balm or icy hot. Icy hot and its ilk will obviously go on initially cold, but that's good for pain as cold is analgesic and then when it warms up the heat will still help loosen the muscles up.

Something else that's great if you have the time and materials to hand, is to make up a sinkful of hot water with epsom salts, soak a handtowel in it and use that as a hot compress. Gets you a lot of the benefit of the epsom salts without needing a full bath and is especially great for the shoulders/neck since those are hard to get submerged even if you DO take a bath.

The other thing is, well... the only actual functional OTC-in-the-US muscle relaxant I know of is alcohol. (Everything else is NSAIDs packaged for muscle pain. It'll help a lot of people, but it's not an actual relaxant, and I know you're already taking NSAIDs for other stuff.) So this is totally not perfect since a lot of people don't drink alcohol, but if you do then a glass of wine or whatever it is you do drink is actually helpful. (Obviously not helpful when you're at work. But when you get home it is good to know.)

Things to recall for at home, then! Thanks.

Here, my cheat sheet. I haven't figured out how to make 4 or 12 work, and obviously some of those aren't actually shoulder stretches at all, but that is what lives on my cubicle wall at work to remind me not to spend the whole shift glaring at my monitor.

oh god this is so belated but i want to clear my inbox and this notif is glaring at me. >_>

first my preface, which is that when stretching you should make sure you can feel a stretch but it should NOT be painful, if it is painful then something is wrong and overstretching is painful and also damaging so yes. do what your body is willing to do, not what you can force it to do. <3

Okay, so. #5 is a great stretch but the important thing is to think about stretching the one side and make sure you are NOT lifting your other shoulder up to your ear. #6 is the first part of a stretch I recommend a lot: turn your head to one side, then drop your chin towards your chest as far as it will comfortably go. You should feel that from the base of your neck/skull down into the shoulderblade.

afaict #4 is a moderately terrible attempt at stretching the pecs by actively using the rhomboids. this is terrible because the rhomboids are MUCH smaller/weaker than the pecs and also if you're stretching both simultaneously you intrinsically limit how deep the stretch can be because anatomy. you're better off stretching the pecs using a wall, and also stretching the rhomboids, but those stretches are awkward to describe textually. i'll see if i can get some photos for you!

also i have no idea what #12 is doing, fwiw.

Bah. I begin to wonder if "feel the stretch" and "don't stretch so far it hurts" are inherently contradictory phrases. :(

(Also stretching is definitely a thing that sometimes sets off dizziness. Gray around the edges of my world is fun!)

Thank you!

I need to be better at stretching myself...

Luck!

--oh right I was gonna scan that thing for niqaeli thanks for the reminder :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only