January 18, 2011

Ergo

I've been dealing with a little pain in the neck lately.  It started off a much bigger pain in the neck, but mostly it is nothing more than background noise now.  Except when it's not. 

I've had plenty of neck pains, and usually they last no longer than a week.  You know the kind:  wake up in the morning and feel a sharp shooting pain when you look one direction.  The pain fades day after day until you forget you ever had it. 

This particular pain in the neck chose to go the opposite direction. It grew day after day for 2 weeks.  My method of ignorance was ineffective.  Then I played a friendly game of flag football and woke up the next day almost unable to lift my head out of bed.  The pain continued to grow that week too.  With some drugs and physical therapy, the sharpness of that pain disappeared, but the sharp-edged nerve-pinch feeling remains when I turn my head...or look up...or look down. 

I'm 5 months into this now, and I'm finally tired enough to take another crack at PT.  I cringed this morning when the therapist informed me that my riding position could be adding to my pain.  I secretly brushed off that suggestion because I have only ridden 1 week of the last 5 weeks.  Also on the chopping block is the ergonomics of my work desk. 

It's tough to accept direction to change things.  Ugh.

On the positive side, my PT appointment was timed such that riding to work was the best option today!