-=> Ardith Hinton wrote to James Bradley <=-

 AH>  I had been pushing my physical limits for some time...
 AH>  [...]  I'll know better in future (maybe).  :-)

 JB>  Good luck with that! 

 AH>           Thanks... I may need it!  Digging down to the next layer, as
 AH> NT's are wont to do, I recognize that I come from a long line of
 AH> people whose philosophy Elizabeth the Queen Mother
 AH> explained quite succinctly (IIRC) as "You just carry on."

Stalwart, stoic, good little soldiers are we to follow the Queen Mum! 
 Likely, the better lesson is how to tune into those warning signs 
to better be *able* to "carry on". If we set out on a hike (A "forced 
march" in my parlance. ;-) and develop a blister under our shoes, should we 
walk differently to develop more blisters, or stop to dress the wound and put 
on a pair of dry socks? (BTW, two pairs of dry, clean socks almost 
eliminates blisters on the feet for those reading.)

 AH> She carried on, in reasonably good health, for more than a
 AH> hundred years. My family didn't quite match her record, but
 AH> they defied the odds as well.  One of the ideas I've been
 AH> working on is figuring out what they did right.  Another is
 AH> learning to acknowledge what my body is trying to tell me.
 AH> If it hurts when I try to do such-and-such, maybe I need to
 AH> back off for the time being....  :-)

But, licking our wounds is seen as a negative trait. 

I used to be so encouraged that I inherited mom's low BP. Now, I learned 
about all the other things I am likely to have inherited from my parents. I 
suppose I *should* stop smoking, and cut down on the sulfides and other bad 
foods. <...>

...
 AH>           Yes, on both counts.  I did receive a few warning signals.  I
 AH> ignored them because they seemed to be temporary.  That's
 AH> what I'd been taught to do... but then, as I said, the pain
 AH> "settled in".  I woke up one morning when we were getting
 AH> ready for a camping trip & expressed some concern over the
 AH> packing etc. which had to be completed within forty-eight
 AH> hours.  Dallas understood what was involved & suggested we
 AH> postpone the trip.  In retrospect I'm quite glad we did
 AH> because otherwise we'd have been away when the pain hit its
 AH> peak... [wry grin].

You may have acknowledged late but that's better than not at all.  
Next time you *will* know better. I have confidence in you. (-;

For me, I woke up with pain in my shoulder. The simple fix was to stop 
falling asleep with my arm behind my head. Your modifications to behavior 
will not be so simple. 

...
 AH>           I don't completely understand your problem, but I understand
 AH> that you may be receiving confused signals from the nerves.

I don't usually notice the errant nerve, until it forces muscle contractions 
or joint pain. In retrospect, it's no wonder my old MD was suspicious. "How 
would I describe the pain? All the above!" 

 AH> FWIW I also understand that the "no pain -- no gain" theory
 AH> has beeen disputed in professional circles.  It seems to me
 AH> that if you have a problem which is rather unusual you must
 AH> rely on your own intuition.  So you're bucking the tide?
 AH> SURVIVORS often do that.  ;-)

I guess you "survive" it or you don't. 

 JB>  Seriously, this isn't the first time it has given you
 JB>  trouble, right?
 AH>  You're thinking of the other shoulder... [wry grin].
 JB>  I trust you'll forgive my ignorance? 

 AH>           Of course.  You tolerate mine in good spirit....  :-)

Oh... Is *that* what support groups are for? 

 JB>   Seriously, I suppose exercise is in order once you
 JB>  have the pain under control?


 AH>           Yes, I think that is often the case.  I once felt women got
 AH> plenty of exercise doing routine housework... until a chiropractor
 AH> pointed out to me that women often have weak muscles at the back of
 AH> their shoulders because they spend so much of their time changing
 AH> diapers, looking down at small children, washing various
 AH> items in sinks installed at the ideal height for a previous
 AH> generation, etc.  All these activities involve bending
 AH> forward... and I do more of the same when I'm crawling
 AH> around on the floor helping our daughter put on her splint
 AH> or retrieving something she's dropped under the bed!  My
 AH> usual exercises provide a balance which I don't get in the
 AH> course of my daily work.  You may find you are using
 AH> certain muscle groups unevenly as well.  People tend to do
 AH> that when some part of their body hurts.  The burden falls
 AH> on the parts which don't hurt.  ;-)

Those secondary "blisters" were still quite a surprise. I'm still astonished 
by how much my good side has to pick up where the bad one leaves its 
burden, or how affected the back is becoming but we do what we can with 
what we gots, I guess. 

I'll practice my "density", but if a person is bending lower to compensate 
for the last generations perfect work surface height, wouldn't that 
strengthen those back muscles?

 JB>  Coincidentally - *maybe* sympathetically |-) I woke
 JB>  in the middle of the night to what I imagine was rotator
 JB>  cuff "inflammation". I guess my gland drained itself,
 JB>  because it was mostly gone by morning. But, back to you....


 AH>           That was my reaction at first... the pain was
 AH> mostly gone by morning. Now's the time to ask yourself,
 AH> "What have I been doing (or overdoing) recently which
 AH> involves that particular shoulder?"  You may be surprised
 AH> when you add it all up.  But in my experience, the sooner
 AH> you add it all up the better....  :-)

THERE's something I could learn. 

True, I spent a bit of time behind a screw gun, and I *did* take a few 
breaks to address a sore shoulder, but I think (Ya, working without the 
right tools again. B-) most of that was "good" pain. Recovery from those 
episodes was complete, and the hurt took longer each time to reappear. If 
the pain occurs sooner each time after a recovery is the gauge I've always 
used to modify my behavior, all else being cooperative. I haven't a clue 
if that's what the medical profession recommends, but it (usually |-) works 
for me. 


... Old is when you are cautioned to slow down by the doctor, not the police.
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