Proper Posture

Four months, 12 therapy sessions, a pregnancy and miscarriage, and new braces after the last blog, I will summarize my problems in two words:

Poor posture.

A straightened cervical lordosis is what seems to be commonly referred to as "head forward" posture, which is WRONG for so many reasons: the neck vertebrae loses its natural curve, causing tension in the neck muscles (which actually reach all the way to the side just before the shoulder joint, then tapers down the back to a point between the shoulder blades), which will cause tension in the entire back...you get the drift.

At my follow-up check up after the 6th therapy session, my doctor taught me how to hold my head: he told me to push my chin back. This stopped me from tilting my head up, and also encouraged my neck vertebrae to assume their natural curve. It was SO uncomfortable!! Not to mention almost ugly: my double chin came out!!

AAAARGH!!

But vanity is worthless if it causes self-injury. I finished 6 more sessions of therapy, and at the final check up was discharged. I then told the doctor that I would be going back to my dentist to get braces to fix my jaw alignment because it turns out that my jaw was too far back -- what they call a "deep bite" -- and was continually getting pushed back by a badly-designed bridge. He said that would really help, and that my deep bite was one of the things making me hold my head forward instead of back.

Now I've learned enough to be able to catch myself when I'm slipping back into old habits. It's hard to be accused of getting fat again -- my double chin! -- but I know that as the braces do their work in correcting my jaw structure and I continue working out, eventually even the double chin will disappear. I'll try not to be impatient.

So a summary of the solution -- which is a lot harder than it sounds:

Proper posture: stomach in, chest out, head back. Tip: think of drawing your head back like how a chicken does.

It was uncomfortable like (insert profanity here) when I started doing it myself, but eventually, I began to sense how it was actually relaxing my neck, shoulders and upper back. Now, when I accidentally hold my head forward or tilt my chin up, I'm able to catch and correct myself quickly.

I still have a long way to go. But there's no sense in rushing. I was 43 when the problem was finally diagnosed properly, and corrective therapy was initiated. I'll get there in time. : )

cervical lor---what?!

Okay, I'm actually getting ahead of my doctor here, because my follow-up check-up is going to be after I finish 6 sessions of therapy.

I went for x-ray and my first therapy session last Tuesday -- both covered by the HMO! woohooo! -- and got the x-ray results when I came for my second therapy session last Thursday.

I decided to read what the radiologist's finding were, knowing I can always ask Google to help me understand.

First paragraph said stuff like "no indication of" followed by words of more than four syllables, ending with -osis, but as there were "no indication" of them, I went ahead and read the second paragraph.

That's where I saw it: cervical lordosis.

So I decided to look it up, and found a very nice, non-technical explanation on wisegeek.com:

"Cervical lordosis is a curve in the cervical spine, the area of the spine which contains the neck vertebrae. This curve is entirely normal and in fact desirable because it helps to stabilize the head and spine, but when the curve straightens out, becomes too deep, or faces in the wrong direction, it can become a problem." (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cervical-lordosis.htm)

There's a very good image of the correct spine in spineuniverse.com, including an explanation of how the curves in our spines develop as we grow.

The paper with my x-ray says that my cervical lordosis was straight.

All those years of bad posture -- I remember even as a little girl walking with my head bowed down, counting my steps and leaping over the cracks in the sidewalks. In highschool, some of the other kids said I came across as aloof, ironically because I never looked at people while walking, always keeping my head slightly bent forward, looking at the ground 5-10 steps ahead.

I thought that meant "insecure" not "aloof"...go figure.

They kept telling me to straighten my back...when I guess what was more needed was for me to lift my head. Oh well.

Hmmm...I guess these bible verses address my condition and cure best:

Psalm 42:11 from the New King James Version of the bible:

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
         And why are you disquieted within me?
         Hope in God;
         For I shall yet praise Him,
         The help of my countenance and my God.

I like Young's Literal Translation:

What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!


And then there's Psalm 3:3, also from the NKJV

But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
         My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

not in that much pain

Okay, I've gone to the doctor. Sorry for the late update.

The physical rehab doc says it's NOT Fibromyalgia, but just Muscle Pain Syndrome. But he has ordered an x-ray, 6 sessions of therapy, and has given me a pain gel that doesn't burn -- except in the cash department (expensive...).

I'm glad he didn't just give me pills. What I forgot, tho, was to ask if he would allow me to try Bowen Therapy. But I think I'll go for the 6 sessions traditional therapy, and let him assess the progress, then ask about Bowen. I heard about it first from an Australian friend, and it got me curious. And curiosity has led me to discover that there are already some practitioners in the Philippines, one of them looks like she may also be a doctor

The therapy includes 30 minutes of treadmill work. I wonder if they're gonna make me run, or if brisk-walking will be enough. And I hope they let me wear my Skechers Shape-Ups. ^_^

As I told my friend Sheila, I've been thinking about taking up running, so I guess I might be getting some "free" introductory training for it via the therapy.

Now...my next step is finding out if my husband's HMO -- we're all dependents, as I'm not gainfully-employed anyway -- will cover the therapy and subsequent check-ups/consultations.

In the meantime, I am helping out friends from The Edge Media with their Christmas project. I'll be going out later to pick up the donations some friends are sending because they saw my Facebook post about it. Driving!! My own car too! I love it!

thanking out loud

It's American Thanksgiving Day today!

I'm not American, but I have friends who are, and for maybe 3 years now, we've been part of their Thanksgiving celebrations: turkey, beer-can chicken, mashed potatoes, salads, pumpkin pie (they taught me to pronounce it "punkin' pie"), cream, rootbeer...these were just what I tried. There were lot  other stuff I didn't have room for after my daughter passed on to me the ice cream cone she made with Cofhocolate Truffle ice cream...

Learning, again, of the history of Thanksgiving celebrations; sharing what we're grateful for; listening to others share about what they're grateful for; crazy games that make you lose your voice because you laughed so hard; picture-taking -- drowsy eyes! pout! open your mouth! -- that makes you laugh harder...

Seeing old friends, making new friends.

It was a big day. And it was definitely something to be thankful for!

By the way...I left the bag with the camera, so I don't have pics. Still, I'm not regretting that mistake. I was able to just sit down and enjoy the food. Otherwise, I'd be running around taking pictures of everyone and everything -- without a flash, too! -- the turkey might be gone before I sit down to dinner.

Thank You, Lord! ; )

thinking out loud

I've tried blogging before, but I eventually got caught in a trap of my own making. By choosing the titles I have had so far, I found it hard to break away from what I eventually established.

I just wanna be able to think out loud. Perhaps more to myself. If anyone else out there "discovers" this blog, I hope what you read here will at least make sense to you. But I must admit I just wanna think out loud.

So here I am, with yet another blog. But this coincides with a new chapter in my life, and I wanna be able to capture what I can with this new discovery.

It's called FIBROMYALGIA. You can read about it on wikipedia.

I'm still a bit dazed, specially since I haven't really been able to see the doctor yet for confirmation. But the dentist -- to whom I'd gone to for TMJ consultation -- seemed quite convinced that it's my real problem. I've only told my husband and one other friend -- and now you, whoever you are reading this --  about it.

I don't know what I feel about it. All I know is, at this time, it's gonna be a long week waiting for the doctor's appointment. But I don't intend to mope. Pro'ly why I'm starting a new blog.

I also recently got a DSLR, and I hope to share my photos here too. I know there's flickr and photobucket and picasa and I don't know what else, but I think I'd rather keep everything in one place.

2am now. Time to go to bed.

G'night.