Fightback

Had a fairly decent endurance session on Wed night getting through 4 sets of 3x3. Started feeling my shoulder a bit towards the end of the session so was a bit worried about that and it has felt a bit strange over the last few days. Kept doing the physio stretches which it seems to respond to.

Had a terrible, stinking cold Thurs + Fri but felt much better today so got out to Ratho to attempt some project routes again. Stretched the neck and shoulders well before starting as I was still feeling the shoulder a bit.

Onsighted the yellow 6A and felt not too bad.

Has a go at the white 6B+ on the right hand side of the tortoise shell. Came close to onsighting it.

New leading ladder green 6B+ which I dogged my way up eventually. Meandering with good variety. I can do better on this.

Purple 6C to the right of the tortoise shell - Felt not too bad on this although my crimp strength let me down.

Finished with a go at a tricky top rope problem for a bit of fun. Overall quite happy that although my crimp strength has suffered from the layoff my stamina seems not too bad and I think within a few weeks I can get it back. I'll start adding some fingerboard work into the routine again this week (gently). My shoulder still feels a bit weird although it coped with with everything today so I'm hoping that pushing it a wee bit harder today might stimulate some more recovery. I'm looking forward to being fit and healthy again. Also was very happy with my commitment today - took lots of falls and pushed as hard as I could on each route - probably quite psyched due to not climbing much lately!

Square 1

Missed Wednesday climbing due to wife getting home late from work. Most unfortunate but at least it forced me to rest having seem the physio at lunchtime.

So - got to the wall on Sat morning with Rosco and John. Good news in that I managed 4 sets of 3 by 3's and everything felt more or less ok. Still some twinges but I was careful not to try anything too overhanging and tried to be very controlled.

More endurance on Wed night and will get back to project routes on Sat which will be interesting. Lots of new routes to get into so at least that should offset the 4 week break in the training.

Getting better!

Finally after a lot of neck stretching things seem to be improving. Was out at Ratho for a climb today and although I could still feel twinges things felt much better. I was able to lock off and hang on my right arm and it was ok. So all these neck muscles being super tight seem to manifest as pain in my shoulder. They must be cranking hard on it. So relieved it's not my rotator cuff! Always good to get a professional opinion. £36 quid well spent! Going to start back on the endurance climbing on Wed night and get into my program again. Lots of new routes getting put up on the main wall which will help keep the motivation levels up.

Relief

Was at FASIC today to get properly diagnosed by the physios. The good news is that my shoulder and rotator cuff muscles are ok. The pain I'm experiencing is as a result of the very tight muscles in the right side of my neck. Even better news is that I should be able to overcome this quickly and that in the interim I don't need to stop climbing as long as I don't go crazy. So, lots of neck stretching twice daily from now on and will get out to Ratho on Sunday for some fun. I'll go for a run tomorrow at lunchtime to celebrate. Happy days!

Physio

Still not happy with the shoulder despite everything so I'm going to the FASIC clinic tomorrow to get another opinion. I've used them before and they are well worth the money. Better to be safe than sorry! Trying to remain positive. At least got a half hour run and some stretching in at the gym at lunchtime. Gym was very busy. Lots of new year resolutionists methinks.

Frustration

Got out to Ratho for a climb with John today. I got up and down a few easy grade routes but could still feel twinges when locking off and hanging on my right arm. Mixed it up with some easy top ropes and some slab routes. Will see how it all feels tomorrow morning. At least John was going well.

Monkey boy is also going good guns. Walked into my kitchen tonight to witness this scene (see pics below). An attempt at pizza/kettle/booze direct. He's very pleased with himself and has now repeated about 4 times! Going to have to move stuff again. Pretty good at 2 years and 2 months old. Soon I'll be able to boulder every night and his mother won't complain. It makes you proud. I'm not sure whether admiring your baby's onsight attempts without boulder mats is good parenting but be assured I was spotting him. (and offering encouragement)

I particularly like the way he steps up, put a wee twist in to get his weight over his left foot and get the knee mantle in. He's got the bug!

He nearly climbed out the bathroom window when he was about 1 and a half. Onto the toilet - to the cistern - mantle to the window ledge and step out. Luckily his mother walked in at that point and talked him back in!

Stretching

Yep - another day of stretching - worked shoulder and neck at lunchtime and then shoulder again this evening. At least no reaction to last nights tentative traversing which is encouraging. Will get out to Ratho on Sunday and hope to get some easy grade stamina routes in. Until then - more stretching and strengthening. Feeling more positive now.

Tentative climb

Got a good pilates session in at lunchtime. Avoided anything putting too much pressure on the shoulder. Felt pretty good.

Went out to Ratho tonight. Had a need to at least touch some holds. Stuck to some easy traverses in the boulder room and a few easy problems. Could still feel the shoulder a bit but not too bad. Very difficult watching the other guys cranking hard on cool looking problems and not being able to join in. Injuries suck!

My neck strengthening exercises
1. Stand against a wall, head and if possible shoulders against wall - engage the core muscles during exercise to protect lower back.

2. Pretend you have weights in your hands - the hands should be at your sides then "tongue to roof of mouth" - tilt head which should remain in contact with the wall at all times forward slowly - hold for 5 secs and then release coming back to eye level slowly - X5

3. Adopt same body position for 1. tilt head on wall "ear to shoulder" then back to centre and repeat on other side 3 sec X5 - arms should remain heavy as if holding weight to feel stretch.

4. Same body position - turn head to one side "ear to wall" at eye level making sure opposite shoulder is not pulling round with head - keep shoulder back on wall with arms heavy. Hold 3 secs X5

Neck Stretching exercises
1. Arms clasped behind head "breathing in" take chin to chest - hold 3-5 secs - slowly return to eye level - breathe out - repeat X3

2. Left hand on right side of head pull left ear to shoulder then tilt eyes to ground - left corner. Hold right arm down side as if weight in hand to get full stretch - hold 3-5 secs X3 - alternate with other side.

3. Finally excellent stretch for posture to stretch front of neck. Hold (pin) muscles under collar bone on the left side by placing one hand on the other - pull down diagonally towards left then take head directly back and then over to right side to feel stretch - feel more by opening and closing mouth to work facial muscles 3-5 secs hold repeat alternate sides.

Soon my life will consist of nothing but stretching - It pays off though. I know this!

Remedial Sports Massage

Had the best sports massage ever today. Turns out my shoulder is in pretty good condition which is encouraging. The exercises have been working their magic. However all the muscles in my neck running up the back of my skull were very tight. Some of them were very painful whilst being worked over but feel so much better now. I'm still tingling. I suspect this has not been helping the shoulder so I have some excellent new stretches to do to help my neck area as well.

I have a feeling that the cause of this may well be the gazing up whilst belaying. I might consider getting some of those glasses that work like a periscope and suffer looking like a twat. But a twat with no neck pain.

Going for a climb tomorrow night - Will be taking it easy though!

Back to the grind

Back at work and back to the normal routines. So much easier to stay motivated although the working part sucks. Had a good pilates session today. Went easy on the shoulder by dropping down to 2 kg weights and worked through some excellent strengthening exercises before moving on to concentrate on the core. Only had 2 weeks off but could really feel the muscles working hard. They will be hurting tomorrow. Continued using the Thera-band and worked through the shoulder strengthening exercises this evening. Shoulder is feeling better but still some tightness and clicking going on.

Got a session with the sports massage therapist at the work gym tomorrow lunchtime which I think I badly need. It's been a while. Hope she'll be able to loosen off a lot of the muscles in my back.

Recovery

More strengthening exercises for the shoulders today. Got the Thera-band out and worked through the exercises on this link that McGeek gave me. Definately going to do these on a daily basis from now on. They felt good so I'm encouraged.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=119

Also, seems like a good time to review things and I'm going to drop the accumulator class when I start back at work next week. Looks like I've still being overdoing it so will replace this class with a gentle recovery run or stretching depending on how I feel. Going to ease off on the pullups and fingerboard and concentrate on aerobic endurance for a month and re-assess then.

Rehabilitation

Wrist feeling better. Shoulder feeling not too bad so did some more strengthening exercises today. Still going to give climbing a miss tomorrow and maybe do some on Wednesday night.

http://www.bodyresults.com/e2rotatorcuff.asp

Some good exercises in the above link. I'll incorporate these into the weekly routine from now on. Some other good shoulder strengthening info can be found using the below link.

http://climbinginjuries.com/page/exercises

Trying to remain focused. At least it coincided with the Xmas period and as always I've picked up lots of new info and ideas which will be of benefit going forward. Itching to climb though.