Rehabilitation after a back and shoulder injury

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

This might be a long one.

I have a couple of massive problems with my back and shoulder relating

to snowboarding accidents a few months ago. I was previously until a

few months ago a daily practitioner of the first series and looking to

start adding postures from the second series. This was until the

accident where I broke my L3 vertebrae (compression fracture) and

damaged my shoulder (doctor says that there is something wrong with

the tendons).

 

Back

My broken back was in a cast (corset around my axial skeleton) for two

months until yesterday. I was very excited to have it off but I have

noticed some large changes to my body in that time. 1) I appear not

to have any core muscles, most noticable on my back. 2) It hurts when

i bend forward as this is compressing the fracture. 3) I have lost a

lot of flexibility.

 

I have broken several of bones before but never had any serious pain

after time in the cast. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Is it benefitial for me to do very minimal forward bending? Doctor

said i shouldn't pick up anything while bending forward with a

straight back, this i won't do, but should i bend forward at all.

Small backward bending and twists feel really good.

 

I did some light yin yoga yesterday and a very slow modified standing

series this morning. Back is feeling a bit more tender than it did

yesterday, Its hard for me to know if this is a good hurt or not, this

is new territory for me, i am usually good at listening to my body

because of knee problems before. I don't know if i should be doing

anything at all and just waiting. I am keen as you can see to get

moving again and start practicing, I am a very active person.

 

Shoulder

As far as my shoulder is concerned, while in the cast I had physio

which wasn't helping and then changed to accupuncture which is

helping. Has anyone else ever had trauma to their tendons in their

shoulder? Originally I wasn't able to move my arm in any direction

without serious discomfort. This problem has caused a lot of muscle

wastage to the shoulder. Similar problem really, the accupuncture got

rid of the pain and increased movement but after some Surya namaskars

this morning (chaturanga modified with knees on the ground) my

shoulder is feeling tired and movement is more difficult again.

Chaturanga was very difficult to do understandably. How long will this

take to heal and should I be doing anything with it? Accupunturist

said that yoga would be good. Doctor has mentioned a MIR scan if it

gets worse in the next month. Another doctor said that I should avoid

lifting my arm at all..........

 

I just don't know if the pain at the moment is because of fatigue due

to muscle wastage or because I am hurting myself. I am listening to

my body but its not giving me answers. Its going to be a long

rehabilitation but I don't want to ruin things for me if yoga is just

not benefitial at the moment. Anyone got some wise words on this? i

have initially avoided using physios because I want to use yoga to

rehabilitate myself. Is this a wise move?

 

Hope this all makes some sense. A lot of questions there.

Looking forward to some advice.

Thanks

Alex

[Guest guest]

Dear Alex,

 

Thank you for sharing with all of us.

 

First of all, thank you Universe that you are back, OK, and out of the cast,

that is tremendous progress already, you certainly are on the way to

healing, and there is a lot to be grateful for here, this is very good news.

 

As per your concerns on your practice, I believe you are already doing the

right thing, you are listening to your body, you say it does not seem to be

talking to you, but it is, you even told us his words 'small back bends feel

good, forward bend does not feel good', that is exactly how the body

speaks, and you are following it and respecting it, great news!

 

I am, mind you, in exactly the same place you are, practicing first, and

beginning with some poses of the intermediate series, and one of my

experiences is also similar to yours, a week or so ago, I was able to bend

forward completely, then all of a sudden a sharp pain in my right hip does

not allow me to bend at all, I can barely put the tips of my fingers on the

mat as I bend forward.

 

I decided to take it as an opportunity to work on humility, after all I

could not believe that all of a sudden I would go backwards in my practice

like that! I wanted to rush into pretzel poses, if you know what I mean!

 

So I guess perhaps this is the same for you, a huge lesson this one of

respecting and DARING to go only as far as the body will let you, I command

you for that, going only as far as you can, in this moment, in this

situation, stepping outside of time and rushes, just working with what is,

like a wizard.

 

Also, remember that in Ashtanga, asana practice is only one of the 8

limbs... maybe (I know you are very active) this is a time to put a bit of

focus on the other limbs, Richard Freeman has an excellent CD on pranayama.

I have tried it and cannot get past the first ten minutes without falling

asleep. Perhaps that shows how much of a beginner I am on this other limb

of yoga.

 

Have you tried it?

 

All in all, I think the prospect for you is wonderful if you just keep

respecting your body, listening, asking, and doing what you are doing. Keep

us posted!! :-))

 

Claudia

[Guest guest]

Hi Alex,

My sympathies .....I know how you must be feeling

,because I am a very active person myself and have

gone through some similar problems .

I had to undergo surgery on my shoulder and now have

two titanium hooks to fix the bicep to the shoulder .I

suffered a whole year before the surgery because of a

wrong diagnosis .I experienced doctors giving

conflicting advice .....immobilise the shoulder or

keep it moving or exercise blah blah blah.

It took 9 months post surgery for me to feel better

enough to embark on a serious yoga session.Because of

the cast/sling my arm was jammed, I could not even

write .

Physiotherapy helped initially so did swimming .I

could not do yoga for 6 months .

It is difficult figuring out right pain from wrong .

Mostly I have been scared about injuring myself

again and resumed yoga only with a

teacher......although I am a teacher myself !

I can only suggest you proceed very slowly and if you

experience sharp pains for 2 days in a row discontinue

the aggravating movement for some time .

I recall that the MRI done on my shoulder did not

indicate much although the muscle was torn off , the

doctors kept saying it was a bone spur and they could

not tell that the muscle was disengaged.Also working

out with light weights is helping me now to gain

strength and build muscle.....its been a year since

the surgery.

It takes longer than expected for muscles,tendons and

ligaments to heal . No movement causes wasteage and

weakness while movement causes inflammation/injury and

slows down healing !!That has been my experience .

 

Hope this has been of some help and not added to the

confusion .

 

Tanya

[Guest guest]

sounds like this could be a long slow process.

the first thing is to accept that.

ashtanga is a very powerull therapy and is so good to base your

rehabilitation on but forget about trying to follow the primary

series just yet.

try to modify suraya namaskara A so as you can do it without to much

pain.this will develope your foundation, do as many as you can every

day.

forward folds will help but remember it is a breathing practice so

do simple postures and hold them with ease and let your breath be

your guide.

modify navasana with bent knees to begin to build up core srength.

 

enjoy your recovery and be gratefull for the gift of yoga to enable

you to restore your health,

 

i think it may be time to reconsider your attitude towards your body

and the sporting activities you choose.

 

namaste

anthony