Jedi Mind Tricks

Thanks to all of you that sent me well wishes on my fixing my Dural Torque problem. The MRI came back with good pictures to show that I did not have any bulging disks however, there were some areas in the lower cervical spine where there was some twisting and impingement. The MRI was taken as I was supine on a table and my chin served as a midpoint of the scan. The scan showed that the vertebrae were twisted to the left causing muscular imbalances in my neck and shoulders. This could also be causing nerve impingement as well since I have been experiencing numbness in my thumbs when I run.

Dr. H will be doing his Jedi Mind Tricks and Voo Doo Witch Doctor Magic on me for two sessions a week for the next few weeks. My first session was to start to unlock some of the tension in my cranium and to see how my muscles were reacting to being in the position of the bike crash. I fell on the bike to the left and I had turned my torso and got my arms out to break the fall. Not a bright idea when I had no gloves on. I had hit both palms to the pavement pretty evenly so they both got an equal amount of abrasion and blood loss.

Dr. H put me in the position that I ended up in once I kissed the pavement and he proceeded to do some muscle testing. My muscles were cranked up and going nuts. He prodded areas in my calf muscle and they burned with pain. He proceeded to yank on my legs a few times and then he tested the muscles again and the pain was gone. WEIRD!!! He then checked out my hamstring flexibility and we noticed that I had less range of motion in my right leg. I have flexible hamstrings and can take my leg past a 90 degree angle while keeping my knee straight with the foot flexed on both legs, but I have quite a bit more flexibility on my left side. Dr. H then started checking the mobility of my jaw bone and the mobility of the cranium. I seemed to be locked up with very limited mobility. I had a percussive therapy session where a nifty massage tool with a big soft pad on it was put on my head. The tool taps in the same fashion as a jackhammer would work, but of course not as hard. The soft pad keeps the treatment from being painful. However, when the percussive tool is put to the head, it feels funny. I sounded like I was talking into a fan when I said anything and I felt like my eyes were bouncing around in their sockets but strangely, it felt pretty good. After having the percussion on the top of my head, the sides, and on two areas on the back of my head Dr. H said we needed to check on the jaw muscles.

I heard the snap of a latex glove on a hand and Dr. H said he was not going to make me cough. Ha! I hope not!!! I did have to open my mouth and in went the fingers looking for and finding sore and tender muscles along side of my upper teeth. Dr. H then started to stretch open my jaw and followed it by having me bite down for a few seconds and then back to stretching open my jaw wide enough that it felt like I was going to split at the corners of my mouth. OUCH! I had that wonderful experience a few more times and then Dr. H started jabbing those muscles up around my teeth and the pain was gone. Double Weird. He then proceeded to apply pressure to some areas in the roof of my mouth until he was somewhat satisfied with what he was feeling and then checked out my hamstring flexibility again. This time both of my legs were about even in their flexibility, but the flexibility level was astonishing. I had each leg brought back just a few inches above the front of my shoulder when we tested each side. FREAKY!!! I felt like Gumby.

Dr. H told me not to be surprised if I was really tired since we had started to do a "Control Alt Delete" and "Reset" on my body. Sure enough, when I got home and sat down on the sofa, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I was in bed early that night and got a good 9 hours of sleep and I had to take a 90 minute nap after getting home from teaching my early morning cycling class before I could get started on my 2-hour run. The most painful part of the long run was that I did not get started until 10 a.m. and that there was 79% humidity at 79 degrees and the temperature only went up as the sun came out of the clouds on the second hour. I go back to see Dr. H tomorrow for another session.

I did notice that when I was on my bike this weekend that I had less pain than I had experienced in the past. There were still things that were hurting, but it was nothing like the last 72 mile bike ride. This time I had the power to kick it into overdrive when Greyhound told me we were on our last 10 mile loop of our 80 mile workout. Those last 10 miles I kept the speed up between 19.5 and 21 mph.

I will give more updates on my bizarre medical mystery and recovery as they come. For now, be rest assured that I am still training for IM Cozumel and getting ready for the big day.

Later Gators,

Liz