Not having had an injury before, I expected a slow, drawn-out recovery. Instead it's moved forward REALLY quickly.
In the first few days I unconsciously divided normal activities into categories: Things I CAN'T Do and Things I CAN Do. When there are a lot of Things You CAN'T do, you learn to really appreciate the Things You CAN Do.
For instance, you CAN take a hot shower and start off your day clean. [Never underestimate the potential of showers for making you feel human again.]
You CAN use your right hand to scrub your left armpit-so you CAN keep it clean (forget about shaving it for a little while).
You CAN put a short-sleeved stretchy top or tank top but you CAN'T put on a sports bra.
You CAN take off the sling to slice up ingredients for dinner but forget about picking up watermelons.
You get the idea.
So that's how the first week went by. Do what you can, don't worry about what you can't. Bob helped me get dressed for a couple of days. The shoulder got painful here and there. Between that and difficulty sleeping in the sling, I didn't go to work for a week. Napping helped. NBC Sports' live streaming coverage of the Tour de France also helped. Phil and Paul would lull me into a snooze discussing local French history and architecture in their Brit accents, then start shouting when something happened, which woke me up handily so I didn't miss anything important.
The second week I tried harder to DO more with my left arm and found that all of a sudden, a whole lot of Things I CAN'T Do became Things I CAN Do. I had a few outbreaks of serious pain here and there but the range of motion really started coming back. The sling came off more and more. I put my road bike back on the trainer and started pedaling. I ordered a new brace to use for riding outside and began shopping for a new helmet. I stopped using the sling completely as soon I could stand to. Which forced improvement to come even faster. Obviously, using the arm as soon as possible, as much as possible does more to help the shoulder improve strength and range of motion, then keeping it immobilized.
Friday the 13th my new shoulder brace arrived. Saturday I borrowed Katie's 650B mountain bike (higher handlebars are easier to hold) and ventured outside with Bob. We rode on the dirt roads in the Connecticut Hill area, and even toodled around on some fairly soft trails for about 15 minutes. I could only manage an hour of riding total but felt pretty thrilled about that.
My shoulder does not tolerate rocks or tree roots well.
If I forget to ride with soft hands, relaxed wrists and bent elbows...it hurts.
If I ride too slowly some bumps feel bigger. That hurts.
If I go too fast I can't avoid as many bumps. Ow.
If I brake too hard or too suddenly and my body wants to go forward when the bike stops? It compresses my shoulder. That HURTS.
I think most most mountain bikers would agree that having soft hands, relaxed wrists and bent elbows, keeping continuous speed and momentum, staying off the brakes, standing whenever possible (more bumps when sitting) and being smooth as possible on the bike are all good things to practice. And receiving immediate feedback via pain is one way to learn. Although I don't plan on undertaking more prolonged "learning" until the shoulder in question gets a little stronger. At present the lessons hurt a bit too much.
For now I'm happy to ride the road bike on trainer indoors, and the mountain bike outdoors. Hopefully next weekend I may try to ride the road or cross bike outside, depending on how my ability to hold drop bars improves on the trainer.
Sunday I took out the 650B bike for an hour and 45 minutes. My legs started waking up and my shoulder felt initially stiff, sore and "rusty" but once I warmed up it felt better than the day before. I joined up temporarily with LiLynn and a group ride containing several of the usual suspects (Jack, Ernie, Sara, Bill, Bob!) who were engaged in an 80-mile dirt/road ride on cross bikes led by Andy Goodell and Matt DeLisa. I rode along with them for a half hour then turned for home once the shoulder started saying it'd had enough.
Ernie accused me of "bringing a bazooka to a gun fight" by showing up on a mountain bike. I also sported my new armored gladiator shoulder brace. Which must have really looked like overkill.
Wearing this thing, I feel prepared for just about anything.
Including another two to four weeks of working on my shoulder. My goal is to build up flexibility and strength back to normal levels. Or at least as close to normal as humanly possible.
And I really need to decide on which new helmet to buy. Today.
Thanks for reading.
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