It got me thinking that it's funny how any kind of shoulder pain really worries us as swimmers. I get little nagging aches and pains all the time and don't get too concerned, but as soon as my shoulder hurts I worry. I'm sure breaststrokers feel the same way about any knee pain.
Excellent observation, Kirk. Stuff like lower back pain, the sensation of having a lost sewing needle driven into the bone of my heal, fleeting agonies in the mid brain that makes one wonder if a jagged wire has somehow wandered in there: I get MUCH worse pains quite frequently, as well, but usually manage to dismiss them.
But if my shoulder is experiencing even a little twinge, it's as if my entire consciousness gets sucked into monitoring the progress of whatever inflamed and malformed tissues I imagine lurk therein--hoping against hope that I will find my way back to health, which is in this case defined as "not noticing my 'sore' shoulder anymore"--an impossible hope, of course, when every iota of failing brain power is focused on monitoring precisely that body part!
I should really start drinking again. That may be the real secret to shoulder health: oblivion.
One bit of advice for my fellow shoulder worriers: resist at all cost searching the Internet for relief. You will absolutely not find it here--only more fodder for believing your only hope is a shoulder transplant, possibly from a cadaver.
It got me thinking that it's funny how any kind of shoulder pain really worries us as swimmers. I get little nagging aches and pains all the time and don't get too concerned, but as soon as my shoulder hurts I worry. I'm sure breaststrokers feel the same way about any knee pain.
Excellent observation, Kirk. Stuff like lower back pain, the sensation of having a lost sewing needle driven into the bone of my heal, fleeting agonies in the mid brain that makes one wonder if a jagged wire has somehow wandered in there: I get MUCH worse pains quite frequently, as well, but usually manage to dismiss them.
But if my shoulder is experiencing even a little twinge, it's as if my entire consciousness gets sucked into monitoring the progress of whatever inflamed and malformed tissues I imagine lurk therein--hoping against hope that I will find my way back to health, which is in this case defined as "not noticing my 'sore' shoulder anymore"--an impossible hope, of course, when every iota of failing brain power is focused on monitoring precisely that body part!
I should really start drinking again. That may be the real secret to shoulder health: oblivion.
One bit of advice for my fellow shoulder worriers: resist at all cost searching the Internet for relief. You will absolutely not find it here--only more fodder for believing your only hope is a shoulder transplant, possibly from a cadaver.
