Bodywork

Not pounding dents out of vehicle panels, by the by... but the deep-tissue kind.

Doing this is the longest career path of a few taken, just having overtaken powersports tech-ing (15+ yrs).

Working on and finding solutions for people who can't walk, can't wash their own hair, or reach for a can on an overhead shelf, is a pretty neat gig. Sure, being a mechanic that long helped w/ things like triage and scheduling and soft skills... but the diagnostics and approach to attack, only overlap so much... the human body and their souls housed in them, are amazing to work with daily -- esp when you find them relief from pain.

Been on a dozen forums making similar threads... and the stories about how people come to inflict, struggle / live with, and in some cases accept pain in their bodies (and find solutions w/o drugs or scalpels) never fails to interest / fascinate me. Fifteen yrs at this, gave perspective about a couple of things: 1) how hard one can work for something worthy to you (providing for and protecting family; serving the public for cause or charity)... and 2) how closely mind and body are linked... and comorbid more as rule vs. exception, in creating disease / pathology, as well as health / recovery.

To anyone here living with an old familiar trick knee from your football days (American or the rest of the world )... a slightly-frozen shoulder that's nonetheless been with you thru the hell of post-covid chaos at work... or maybe that neck crick you've given up trying to fix and instead use to sharpen your gratitude in middle age... sincerely hope you can find some relief that doesn't require such compensation, however healthy you've chosen to make its challenge.

Just like you don't wear a canoe on your head after crossing a river... if opportunity appears to get relief from pain or get back the ability of a younger You... take it. After all, the skill / attitude / strength it's taught you, has served its purpose; you'll still have it without the pain & debility. No need to carry it anymore

Any questions about such things, ask away

 

A mantra I preach at my table 'altar' daily

We evolved half a billion yrs in a quite cruel and indifferent but bountiful natural world, rewarding resilience and adaptability. So esp for lower body, our very genes encoded the need to stay ambulatory, since nature'd force us to move anyway. Withhold that, and the body malfs and rebels, expecting it. Add in-generation influences, like playing football (on the pitch) as a kid training the nervous & endocrine systems to 'know' this kind of movement / exertion, as familiar, home.

So by the time we're men >40 / women >50, not able to instantly grow new muscle tissue as in teens / 20s... staying active at ~60% level, continuing to burn the massive amts of calories we modern 1st-Worlders pack into meals... is crucial. HGH levels (human growth hormone, or somatotropin), fade past these ages... and that's vital for maintaining the young bodies we think we still have

Recently got a good lesson in this tough-love concept, nursing my stupid oversight 2 mos ago, of not remembering where my full car washbucket was and tripping over it, catching the rim right under the patella on the outside. Was able to align, reset the menisci, and release muscle splinting... but still felt weak and fragile, despite 2 mos constant challenge walking on it, until I couldn't (~30 mins max, which is easily a quarter what I did pre-injury, sans sweat).

Had to climb a flight of stairs in an office bldg day before yesterday, going to a doc appt and hating their mollasses-slow Otis elevator. One should use the stairs to add a bit of fitness routine in your office worker day; if lots of riders, faster than the elevator if <5 flrs anyway. So felt ~1K yrs old, creaking and grabbing the handrail, fogey-ing up to 4th floor. Leaving, also used the stairs.

Holy crap -- only rested 30 mins in the doc's office... but the knee felt a tonne better. Still not as effortless to load as L knee... but the improvement vs. 2 mos strengthening R knee thru walking, was astounding.

So this AM, found some stairwells close to my usual morning routine, and pushed the knee a little more, climbing and descending vs. level-ground walking. Yep, knee still felt blasted after 30 mins of that. But even several hours and a nap later (2 hrs working a muscular client; took a lot of me)... best it's ever felt. It must've wanted the greater use of the joint, that only climbing'd provide.

Tough love, applied with intelligence. My body wanted the challenge, against protocols. Another direct exp to refine them