So, it’s going to happen. Coming Monday, January 30, I’ll be at the physiotherapist, having my shoulder checked. I hoped giving it a rest would fix the problem, but the last couple of days it got worse again. 

I know, I don’t use my shoulder to run, but it is running with me. See, every movement I make, my shoulder makes. And the harder the trail, the harder my shoulder has to work. Also, the longer the trail, the longer my shoulder has to work. 

Bouncing off trees

Take the Houffa Trail of last weekend. It was slippery and it was steep at times. I needed my hands to climb up some of the slopes and I needed my hands to bounce myself off trees running down. As my hands are attached to my arms, and my arms to my shoulders, running has an impact on my shoulders. 

In two weeks I’ll be running the Run Forest Run Ommerland Trail, a 43 kilometers trail run race. That means I’ll be wearing my trail run vest for around 5 hours. That’s 5 hours of weight on my shoulders. They have to be able to handle that. The Houffa Trail was only 3 hours and 15 minutes, but halfway I started to feel my shoulders. 

Limiting recovery

My shoulder is not only limiting me during my runs, but also when I rest. For example when I sleep. I can only sleep on my left side at this moment, but I toss and turn a lot at night. I have no flesh on my bones, so after laying on my left side for an hour, I feel my hip and I turn. However, rolling on my right I wake up, because my shoulder hurts. Around 5 in the morning, I’m awake anyway, because of the pain in my shoulder. 

As you know, I do yoga for recovery. Yin yoga is no problem, but I am very limited in doing Vinyasa Flow Yoga at this moment, because in a lot of poses my movement is restricted. Yin yoga is great for my tendons and ligaments, and it has a positive effect on my muscles, but Vinyasa Flow keeps my muscles more flexible, so I want to be able to do that again.

Physiotherapist

I know now that the tendons of my rotator cuff aren’t torn (anymore), I know rest is not fixing it, so it’s time for something else. Time to have my shoulder checked by the physiotherapist. Hopefully that will speed up recovery. Monday I’ll know more. 

Photo: Sportograf