Squats and airdyne - airdyne and squats

Here is what I did yesterday and today. 

Felt sore and some pain in my deltoid, infraspinatus and teres (minor

 and major). My biceps, wrist, elbow and forearm have not been bugging me lately. I do think my triceps (long and lateral) hurt though. Or the corabrachialis. Maybe they are just sore beause they try to compensate? 

Anyway, I did have some more headaches today while doing Ghd sit-ups... I will not do them for a while. And pistols didn't feel too good on the right calf...rest as well. 

Wednesday

Warm up

Roll

5-5-5-5 ring rows

25/25 Ghd 

1' plank hold 

Squat holds

Front squat 

3-3-2-2-2-1-1

Up to 170#

WOD 5rds

1m airdyne

20 toe to rig raises

20 alternating dumbbell curls 20# each

Airsquats

Mobi

Thursday

Roll

Iron scap

20 leg raises for quality

50/50 ghd

WOD 3rds

1m airdyne

5-10 sec / 3 rep L-sit

20 alternating DB curls

3 x15 calorie airdyne sprints 

Goblet 35#squats and Pistols and planks for fun in 10'.

Mobi

Pain, surgery, and athletics

For the last 5 months I have been living with pain and only for the last 3 months have I been stepping back at the gym- at least with overhead movements. Ironically, pain increased drastically with me doing this. Also, unfortunately those are the movements I need to work on most. I've been blessed with some strong legs and a decent booty, but my chest and arms are the weakest parts of my body. Consequently, I am strong at lifts that are are hip-explosive and utilize leg strength. Think cleans, deadlifts (I have a strong grip), thrusters, squats. 

While the pain in my shoulder and arm at first didn't quite stop me from hitting WODs, I soon started noticing loss of strength on my left side. At first, I explained it with being right-handed, and simply considered my left side less strong. Kind of BS, if I consider how I did extra heavy left-hand curls and focused on using my left more in training. It did not help.

Muscle weakness also caused me to not hit any more maxes and I began to stagnate and even regress. Then with my EMG and MRI results, and conversations with my doctors and PTs, I ended the cycle of denial and stopped through the pain.

Light-weight back squats, front squats, pistols, step ups, one armed curls, one armed pullups and push-ups, leg raises, one armed planks, lunges... Yep, basically lower body movements are ok, but nothing over head. Even TGUs on the left shall be avoided. The last PR in my records book was a 210# FS PR about a month ago. Since, I had to take more loads off the bar.

Focus on form. Focus on core. Focus on legs. But I it is very frustrating to feel like I am losing all my strength and fall bac behind everyone else at the gym.


So, I was seeking out data and stories about athletes returning to sports with and without back surgery.

Here are some if my finds


http://www.back-surgery.com/athletes-spine-surgery/

http://www.medicaldaily.com/pros-and-complications-microdiscectomy-and-why-tiger-woods-missing-masters-back-surgery-273900 (this one mentions Tiger Woods, who had back surgery)


http://www.michaelgleibermd.com/blog/74-professional-athletes-undergoing-cervical-spine-surgery.html (this one has short videos explaining different procedures and mentions Peyton Manning who had cervical spine procedures)


http://www.readingneckandspine.com/return-to-play-after-anterior-cervical-discectomy.html (nice read, written by a fellowship-trained orthopedic spinal surgeon named Setphen Banco (MD), citing studies and using Manning as an example as well)

http://www.orthogate.org/patient-education/cervical-spine/cervical-discectomy.html (summary)



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Today I did the following at the gym, just to keep working a bit - all very slow and controlled - watching my pain level.



1k light row set to resistance 3 for warm-up followed by some easy stretching

40/40 GHD

10rds 5-10sec Ring holds alternating high and low 

5-5-5-5 ring rows 

Working up to heavy FS

5-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-1-1-1

35-65-85-105-115-125-135-145-155-165-175 (which is 35# below my 1RM)

4 rounds Untimed

250m row

20 alternating pistols 

20 alternating curls with 25#right/15#left DB

20 alternating step ups with 10#DB on each shoulder 

Spinal Surgeon #2

I went to another surgeon in South Denver today to get a second opinion. I liked this doctor much more than the first. He was more personable and professional, took his time to explain everything to me and my husband and did not rule out non-surgical options right away.

I still have another appointment set up but kind of feel it's not necessary anymore (nor do I have time to wait any longer). As I just implied the first surgeon I saw didn't take much time to explain or discuss my case, and didn't even consider non-surgical options.

So, surgeon #2 laid out the pros and cons of possible four options that my case would allow for - in his opinion.

(1) Epidural steroid injections

(2) Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion

(3) Anterior disc replacement

(4) Posterior cervical discectomy



We logically ruled out epidural steroid injections because of (a) failure of other conservative treatment including rest, meds (anti-inflammatories, steroids, narcotics for pain), physical therapy, dry needling, chiropractic manipulation, and (b) the location and size of the herniation.



Left with the remaining hree surgical options. But which one should I do? he compared my case to Peyton Manning and his fusion and showed me X-rays of successful fusions he did on athletes. Manning had (4) done but it didn't work out so (2) was his next step. While I was set on disc replacement over fusion after having done my own research - relying more on European studies than US-based research, I began to doubt this was really the right idea. Yet, I kind of excluded option (4)posterior cervical discectomy.



Nonetheless, this procedure actually shows high success rates, yet, it still may lead to one of the other options down the road (think Peyton Manning).

So should I go ahead and do (2) anterior cervical discectomy & fusion (Manning did this after (4) failed) or (3) anterior cervical instrumentation (aka replacement).



This surgeon worked with athletes, and said (2) was the standard procedure for elite athletes in high contact/impact sports. (3) However, lacks US-based research although it appears to be the preferred procedure in Europe and South America. and research has been promising.



Thinking it over and taking to my PT, reading yet a few more scholarly articles on the topic and some rational thinking made me second-guess going for a big surgery right away.



So, option (4) is what I decided and now the insurance approval battle has begun again.

Here are the titles and authors of some of he articles I've read and found helpful

In making my decision for the less invasive surgery:





(1) Early outcome of posterior cervical endoscopic discectomy: an alternative treatment choice for physically/socially active patients

by Kim, Chi Heon / Chung, Chun Kee / Kim, Hyun Jib / Jahng, Tae Ahn / Kim, Dong Gyu; 

Journal of Korean Medical Science



(2) Full-endoscopic cervical posterior foraminotomy for the operation of lateral disc herniations using 5.9-mm endoscopes: a prospective, randomized, controlled study. by Ruetten S, et al.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2008 Apr 20;33(9):940-8. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e31816c8b67



(3) Minimally invasive cervical microendoscopic foraminotomy; Initial clinical experience. 

by Fessler RG, Khoo LT 

Neurosurgery 51(Suppl 5):S37-S54, 2002.



(4) Advances in Spinal Stabilization. 

by Haid RW Jr, Subach BR, Rodts GE Jr (eds):

Prog Neurol Surg. Basel, Karger, 2003, vol 16, pp 251-265




(5) This one is open access: http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/351887?hl=1&q=Cervical%20posterior

Long-Term Results of Anterior versus Posterior Operations for Herniated Cervical Discs: Analysis of 6,000 Patients by Dohrmann G.J. · Hsieh J.C.

Section of Neurosurgery, University of Chicago Medical Center



(6) Outcomes Following Nonoperative and Operative Treatment for Cervical Disc Herniations in National Football League Athletes

by Hsu, Wellington K. MD

Spine Issue: Volume 36(10), 01 May 2011, p 800–805

Back to Blogging about Crossfit

I am back. Over a year later, I decided to really do a blog :)

Long story short, CrossFit changed my life. For the better. I am likely to write more about how and why in other posts. So here are my reasons, why I decided to blog about my experience as a female crossfitter.

First of all, I am a writer. I just finished my dissertation and should be drafting proposals for conferences and publications, however, life got in the way and the only form of typing I can do currently is using my iPhone. I guess, I could try writing proposals with my iPhone, but honestly - and despite the fact that it's pretty much impossible - I don't even have the mental space for that right now.

Brings me to the second reason. I want to share my current journey of being an injured crossfitter who was just getting stronger than ever, dreaming and working towards making it to Regionals in 2015. I'm not saying this dream is crushed, because that's not how my competitive brain works, but I have encountered obstacles that need some more care and caution than just doing some extra credit work at the gym.

I have been diagnosed with a C5/C6 disk herniation, cervical radiculopathy, and foraminal cervical stenosis and as a consequence - my muscles trying to work around this - a kyphotic deformation of my neck vertebrae (loss of cervical lordosis). To sum up

My symptoms: numbness and tingling down my left arm into my thumb, pain in my wrist, elbow, shoulder, tri and biceps, loss of range god motion, grip strength, reflexes, and motor skills. And some neck and back pain. But that's nothing compared to the pain felt in my shoulder and arm. Luckily NO headaches!

While analyzing the causes of my neck problems, I can go far back into my childhood. I was dropped and injured my neck as a toddler, then injured my neck jumping rope (yes, jumping rope) in 4th grade, and passed out one time cleaning up my room ( trying to get my head under the bed) while in high school. I also suffered several whiplash accidents (two during horseback riding, two during snowboarding and two in car accidents). Rest was the prescribed treatment for all of these incidents. I don't think ever had they taken X-rays. All this occurred while still back in Germany.

At any rate, the first time it really became an issue - besides episodes of stiff neck every now and then - was when I became more and more active at CrossFit. Note, that sitting in front of the computer with suboptimal posture for the majority of hours per day added to my already harmed neck.

So, to keep it rather short today, I will follow up soon to let you all know how it all got worse, what I have been trying to "heal" it and what will be ahead on my road to recovery, and on my path to becoming a competitive CrossFitter.

In the meantime, let's cheer for Germany to win the World Cup today!

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"People will keep saying something is impossible until someone shows them that it is possible."