The neck and back of it all

Friday's physio appointment was pretty exciting - much like a scene from ER, well, maybe a tamer version of it. My physio was teaching me some new exercises to strengthen my neck, when he had an unexpected patient. This man, who looked like he was in his 50s, had asked a kind soul to wheel him up to the physio clinic on a roller chair, which I don't know where the kind soul got from! From the security guard downstairs, I suspect.

The man (who turned out to be my physio's golf kaki) had earlier on come for his scheduled appointment with my physio, then left, and was chasing for the bus downstairs when he suddenly twisted his kneecap! So he returned on the roller chair, and limped really badly with an umbrella as support into one of the rooms in the clinic.

Next door, I shuddered as I heard him groan in pain as my physio hooked him up to some device to treat the pain. As in, he really groaned loudly. Damn scary man! In that same time, I saw a really old man hobble into another room to be hooked up to the pain relief machine - a device with nodes that sends warm electric pulses to parts of your body to relieve pain. And I thought to myself, growing old really is scary. I must make my body strong!!!

So anyways, since my physio sessions started, I've kinda made some changes to my everyday lifestyle. Such as:

1. Dumping my old pillow for this new firm support pillow

It was a little difficult getting used to it in the first week (even now I sometimes feel it is hard), but it has cured me of the shoulder pains I used to suffer every morning when I woke up. My previous pillows, though they felt firm, just couldn't support the weight of my head properly.

2. Getting an inclined notebook stand for my macbook

One of the big reasons for neck and shoulder aches is having to bend our heads downwards to see the laptop/notebook screen. The screen should always be at eye level so that you don't have to strain your neck/shoulders unnecessarily. At work, I use a desktop, and I've put my PC screen on a pile of past annual reports belonging to my organisation. You must also always lean back against your chair as you view the screen. With these changes, plus some neck-extension exercises that I'm supposed to do every 30 min (well, I don't do them so religiously lah), my shoulder aches have disappeared! I now only experience tension in the left side of my neck. I used to have to ask for shoulder rubs ALL THE TIME. But now, I don't need them. Super happy man.

3. Doing my stretching and strengthening almost everyday

During Friday's visit, the physio was teaching me new exercises (above) with the tube, to strengthen my neck muscles. Hopefully, they will help me alleviate the tension in the left side of my neck. My neck muscles are really weak - carrying shoulder bags make my shoulders ache real fast. I'm supposed to carry a haversack to distribute the weight evenly, but I'm vain and need to find a beautiful haversack. Then again, how to carry haversack when you wear office clothes right?

Before learning the above exercise, I was doing stretching on the thigh muscles (including hamstring), as well as doing basic pilates to strengthen the back and abs. And you know what! I can now touch the toes of one foot when I sit on the bed to stretch. You imagine a sit-and-reach position and me stretching to touch the toes of one foot. This is amazing lor, for someone who could NEVER do sit-and-reach in sec sch, and always had to settle for a bronze for NAPFA despite aceing the rest of the exercise tests. Frankly, the stretching exercises that our PE teachers used to teach us are wrong lor. Doing the gradual stretching that my physio taught me has loosened up muscles other than the hamstring, making it much easier to stretch the hamstring. I'm really happy. Apparently, my tight hamstring and other muscles near there (whose names I can't pronounce) need to be loosened, so that my body doesn't put all the weight and stress on my lower back, and hurt it further. In other words, the weight needs to be distributed among the thighs and back.

After seeing the physio, I've begun to realise how many people around me have similar problems! It's crazy because it's mostly due to our lifestyle. Eg. sitting in front of the tv and pc most times, playing guitar, carrying bags etc... My ex-cell group leader, who also used to see a physio, decided to go a step further and solve his problems altogether with his own traction device. Every time he gets aches, he lies on this device for a few minutes, somewhat like Batman hanging upside down. I tried it (see below), but was too nervous to hang completely upside down!