Overcoming My Injuries

Injuries and pain have held me back, throughout my young adult life. Low back pain and shoulder pain, is something I thought I would never stop having. I thought, I would most likely die an elderly man with chronic pain. In 2012 I had a lifting injury doing deadlifts, with a weight that was 65% of my one rep max. I was diagnosed by a chiropractor, that I herniated two discs in my lower back and one in my thoracic spine. Less than two months later, I felt something snap in my right shoulder, as I was lifting a light dumbbell up off the floor. A physical therapist told me, I had a partial tear of my biceps tendon, as well as my pec major. At this point I felt so defeated. My whole body became stiff, and tightened up and basic tasks like picking a text book up off the floor, was almost impossible without severe pain. During this time I was working a warehouse job, in a dining center at Oregon State University. Everyday I would unload produce and products off of trucks. Every shift was like taking a dagger and stabbed it into my mid back, as well as shooting pains down into my legs, throughout the entire shift. This left me exhausted to the point, most days I would skip my noon classes. I would find myself at home in tears, because I was so frustrated. My work life, school life, and social life was so impacted. I would stay at home a lot of nights and not go out with friends because sitting for long periods of time, would leave me so stiff and painful, that it wasn't worth it. I had high hopes of training for triathlons at this time but this was virtually impossible due to the shooting pains in my legs. I went to a massage therapist and was told I had the stiffest body of anyone she had ever worked on, that was under 30 years old. She also stated that my right shoulder felt like I had frozen shoulder, which was very uncommon for my age, I was a mess.

I had no hopes of a pain free life, until I started working for a chiropractor in Tigard, Oregon as a chiropractic assistant. The doctors were chiropractors as well as functional medicine practitioners. We took x-rays of my standing posture and found I had 17 degrees of a scoliosis curve, at the thoracolumbar region. The scoliosis was due to muscle imbalances I had accumulated since my injuries in 2012. However, I also suspect I had muscular imbalances from before 2012, from working construction and playing sports because I have always had random hip and back pain. We also did blood samples and found that my gallbladder was on the fritz and was shutting down on me, like many people in my family. I started doing corrective exercises and taking supplements for my gallbladder, and finally I could see that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

I dealt with this pain in my legs and back from 2012 till 2017. During this time I educated myself by listening and observing, all of the chiropractors and physical therapists I have worked with throughout those years. Since 2017 I have competed in mountain bike races, cyclocross races, half marathons, as well as a marathon. As long as I stay on top of my corrective exercises and eat a clean diet, I can stay relatively pain free.

Throughout all of my struggles, I have learned a ton. How to deal with pain, what exercises help with specific muscle imbalances, nutritional strategies to decrease inflammation, how to stay active throughout injuries, and more importantly how to have a positive outlook on life, when it feels like the cards are stacked against you. I'm not saying I have had a hard life, I have a wonderful family, as well as others in my life that look out for me. What I am saying is, life is hard, especially when the things you enjoy the most are no longer enjoyable or even doable. I no longer take things for granted and enjoy every time I get to run up a mountain or bomb my bike down a steep rocky switchback. It feels rewarding to feel that “good” pain with exercise, when I was so limited with chronic pain.

I feel that my life experiences will help me greatly in my future career as a PTA, online trainer, as well as eventually a functional medicine specialist. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my struggles. If you have anything that you are struggling with, message me and we can talk about it. I cannot diagnose you in regards to any pain you are struggling with. However, we can look at your posture, find some exercises to improve your posture, as well as your function, and go from there!