Two weeks ago I realized I\u2019d hurt my neck and shoulders. It took me an absurdly long time to figure it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There wasn\u2019t a moment of OUCH. It was a whole lot of things that led me to realized that I\u2019d been injured for several weeks\u2014months?\u2014and I didn\u2019t realize it until it reached a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are sensitive nerves in the shoulders and neck. Nerve damage results in weakness. I thought I was tired when I felt like my head wanted to nod down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My physical therapist friend helped me figure it out. I wished I\u2019d seen him sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is it that I always find what I\u2019m looking for the last place I look?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once I find it I stop looking. See, I thougth I had found the answer. I thought I wasn\u2019t getting enough rest. I\u2019d been going to bed early ole time, based on that theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was totally wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For hundreds of years, the best medical treatment was based on the four humors, Doctors check their patients for how choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic they were. Leeches were part of the treatments then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a working theory. Everyone knew you had to watch the humors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until a better theory came along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s not giving the right picture. The first theory\u2014that one that everyone agrees on\u2014does not let go without a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s predictable. I\u2019ve talked about The Structure of Scientific Revolution before. Theories about how things work, and what is going on, they are very sticky. People keep to their first idea very persistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was really sure that I was not getting enough rest. I wondered if I needed to eat more vitamins or something. Why was I so TIRED all the time? I couldn\u2019t keep my head up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t a bad idea to get extra sleep, I\u2019m sure. But it wasn\u2019t the root cause of my problem.I didn\u2019t suspect that my neck muscles were weak, yet in hindsight I see I should have thought of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have more energy now that I\u2019m letting my shoulders heal. Since I clearly was hanging on to the wrong end of the stick on this, what else am I doing wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m pretty sure there are a lot of things I\u2019m wrong about. I just don\u2019t know what they are yet. I should not stop looking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two weeks ago I realized I\u2019d hurt my neck and shoulders. It took me an absurdly long time to figure it out. There wasn\u2019t a moment of OUCH. It was a whole lot of things that led me to realized … Continue reading