Cultivating My Inner Tree

Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m getting daily traffic from Google searches on the subject of groin injuries relating to yoga and acupuncture. I thought I’d try to make it easy for the information seekers to find some answers, so here goes.

 If you read more of my blog, you’ll find out that earlier this summer I somehow sustained an injury to my groin and outer hip. I do yoga several times a week and had originally thought I could heal my injuries by stretching them out in my yoga classes & in my daily walks. Once my groin started seizing up on short walks, I realized I wasn’t taking the right approach. My main yoga instructor also threatened to ban me from the studio if I didn’t seek some medical advice to work on the problem. This threat and the constant pain were the final straws.

I called my acupuncturist and set up an appointment. She happens also to be one of my yoga instructors. She worked on my injuries through a combination of massage, cupping, acupuncture and acutonics. (I’ll let you google those terms or search my blog for prior postings detailing these items.). She did not use acupuncture needles in the groin area itself; its too close to arteries & can be approached from other directions. I saw her a total of 3x over the course of about 4 weeks. During this time, I also scaled back my yoga practice significantly.

I have fairly open hips, so its easy for me to over stretch them. So, I stopped doing a lot of deep lunges & hip openers. I started using a block under my knees in cobbler pose to make sure I didn’t let myself open “all the way”. I really tuned into my body and took my practice slow.

Now, about 4-5 weeks later, I’m feeling much better. I know my groin isn’t completely healed, but I’m on track & getting stronger every day. I’ve been able to ramp up my yoga, walk every day, and I don’t have any acupuncture scheduled on my calender.

Oh, one other note. I corrected my non-ergonomic desk situation. That wasn’t helping at all!

If you got to this post because you have a similar injury, please get in touch with questions. Pain is no fun at all, and I’m glad to help if I can. 

Yes, I had acupuncture. So far this week, I’d been pain free in my hip, groin & related areas. Then I woke up Thursday morning with the dull ache back in my right hip. Dang! Well, at least I didn’t have a heavy field work day scheduled & I had an acupuncture appointment already on the books! The appointment went well. Its so interesting what we learn. She had some concern that I might have a soaze injury tieing all of these little bits together, but after some uncomfortable digging to isolate that muscle, it didn’t seem like that was the case. Anyway, she did find several other points that were problematic. The needles felt “hot” and “tight” this time. Sometimes they feel “sharp”. Sometimes “dull”. Its interesting how it changes each time. Now, I have been tasked to get a tennisball & roll on it in the hip joint area where it is sore to keep trying to work it out, along with continuing to stretch my hamstrings & IT-band with a strap. The damage is pretty deep in the ball/socket area — Yuck! So, onward!

All of this meant, I skipped yoga on Thursday night. Acupuncture left me a bit out of it, so I hung out with Mom and did some light work in the garden instead & made dinner. Friday dropped by to visit with Shiloh for the first time in a long time; that little puppy is almost as tall as Shiloh now. And, they had loads of fun playing.

Mom and I took a short walk with Shiloh after dinner. We picked up a couple of rental movies, some ice cream and some cookies. It was PMS heaven around here last night…well, except for the movie Perfume, which was pretty morbid but a psycological thriller, so okay.

On the food front…obviously the ice cream & cookies weren’t on the 100 Mile Diet. Neither was the lunch mom treated me to at Swanson’s Nursery. Nor was the oatmeal for breakfast, tho the milk & honey in it were local. Dinner was from the diet — roast Skagit River Ranch Chicken stuffed with local garlic & herbs from my garden with local potatoes, onions & carrots plus a green salad (all local). So, we’re starting to balance out even more, sustaining what’s sustainable for us.

Friday Mom and I will hit the Phinney Ridge Farmer’s market to refresh our fruit & vegetable bin. This cool weather Seattle’s having is slowing down my vegetable garden & frustrating me. I’m about ready to put my plastic “greenhouse” back up to cook these plants!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Walk
• Date: 08/09/2007
• Time: 21:00:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Distance: 1 miles
• Average Pace: 20:00/mile

I’m logging some flexibility time to cover the stretching I did yesterday & today. I’m using a strap, laying on my back & straightening my leg to stretch my hamstrings. It seems to help a lot with my hip/groin stuff, so the hip bone’s connected to the leg bone, etc…Saw my acupuncturist last night & her work helped a lot. She also encouraged me to continue doing this strap stretch since it is also helping.

 As far as the diet’s going, I’m doing okay. Last night’s dinner was probably over 75% on the diet — had a vegie hash with bacon from Skagit River Ranch. The bacon, plus onions, herbs, garlic, lots of local vegies and some hot peppers from the garden meant I didn’t need to add salt, pepper or oil. We had an herb frittata, which was 99% on the diet (a little oil, salt & pepper added). And toast (local baked, not local ingredients) with local cheese spread & local jam. Okay, breakfast for dinner, but it was good. Had local blueberries for dessert!

Today’s another story. I’ve had coffee with some milk; sorry I’m not giving that up until I have to. Had local yogurt & blueberries. Had some local cheese & a carrot. Hmm…I haven’t eaten much today. I figured out a way to clear out things that aren’t on the diet. Have friends over for a bbq & make a bunch of stuff to feed them! That’s the plan tonight. My steak is local for tonight, but I may break with the plan and enjoy myself. I do plan to have some wine or beer; neither of which are local.

I visited the Phinney Ridge neighborhood farmer’s market & scored a lot for the 100MDiet household! Hazelnut oil I can use for cooking — that’s a score in our house!  Plus, squash, onions, broccoli, garlic, potatoes, beets with greens, several cheeses, green beans, a melon, and more honey as we’re almost out. I talked to all the bread vendors & nobody had local grains. Most use Montana wheat. I have a feeling the grains + coffee in my diet will make up my 25% not promised in the pledge.

 That’s all for now. Do plan to hit yoga tomorrow. Its been too long!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 08/03/2007
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00

I had a great session with my acupuncturist today. Heather incorporates many therapies together with great results. As well, she’s one of my yoga teachers, so we’re able to discuss stretches that are appropriate (and inappropriate).  So, here’s what happened in my session.

First she talked to me about what’s been going on & evaluated the sore points, finding the real “trigger” spots. And, yes, they were hip points that tie into the groin & down the IT band. She noted that I have strong IT band definition in my right calf — its taught & tired! One thing she pointed out was that my body tends to run on the anemic side. I’ve been upping my exercise & part of my issues may be that my ligaments aren’t getting the support they need nutritionally to support my increased work on them. So, I’m going to start taking my herbs again & continue to try to improve my anemic tendencies.

She then set me up face down on the massage table & began by running some electrical tests on my right ear. She uses a tool that tests the electrical signals going to the brain & indicate what nerve groups are firing hard. My hip was yelling. This helps tell her how to proceed with needles to help calm down the firing….then the ear needles went in. Then the hip. Some on my left arm to “ground” the right side work. And a few in my right foot. One in my right thigh about killed. Then she added an infrared lamp over the sore area & added an electrial pulser between a couple of the points to perform electroacupuncture. While all of this was “settling” she performed some tuning fork work. I find this really grounding & relaxing. (Acupuncture needles rarely bother me.)

{If you want to read more on acupuncture, this is a good quick read/reference: http://www.breathebalance.com/services/services.html }

She then took out the needles over my hip & did some hot stone massage over the area. Then she did some cupping, which I’ve been skeptical about in the past. However, I’ve had amazing recovery when its been done, so I’m pretty sold on it. (She uses the pump kind of cup rather than the flame kind!) She then removed the rest of the needles & had me flip facing up.

Because the groin injury is so close to the femoral artery, she didn’t put any needles in that area, but did apply some hot stones. She also inserted a couple of needles in “main points” along my right leg. One that she inserted immediately sent a “trigger” into my groin sore spot!

After this, I asked for some ear seeds. These are little metal balls “taped” over acupuncture points. By pressing them, you can work on your sore spots. She put two in that are just to release general stress & one for my hip. Its 4 hours later & the spot where the hip ear seed is is really sensitive, which ties into the hip being sensitive.

Likely I’ll need a couple of add’l sessions, but she suggested we see how it goes. She gave me a couple of safe IT band stretches & told me to take it easy for a couple of days. Honestly, after acupuncture, I tend to be a little charged up & then exhausted. (The exhaustion is coming on now.)

Good News! Diane encouraged me to come to yoga class tomorrow — even if I modify my practice from what she’s directing the class to do. I don’t like to ignore a teacher’s directives & always want permission. I find it rude when people come to a class & then “do their own thing.” Modifying is one thing; disrespecting a teach is another. Anyway,  I agree with Diane that I should go & do my best. Being in the studio space helps me a lot to relax & gain focus. I know I’ll be sad & frustrated not to kick it into high gear, but I’m focused on healing right now & will mediate on listening to my body & healing it!

This morning I woke up with a still-not-better hip. My groin feels a lot better, but the aches are still throbbing in my hip. I slathered on a few layers of tiger balm last night, which definitely felt good — even if the dog wouldn’t come near me — but that wasn’t enough. Diane & I had a work-motivation party (we single, small biz owners need to get together sometimes just to motivate each other to get the boring biz stuff done), and she pushed me to deal with my hip, reminding me that yoga can’t fix everything. Knowing that I’m on a tight budget right now, she even brought me a sliding scale acupuncture clinic flier. And, she told me she won’t let me back into the yoga studio ’til she knows I start working on this problem in other ways. Hey now what’s that — no yoga pour moi? The threat of denial got me to pick up the phone right away!

So, I have an appointment with my favorite acupuncturist/massage/acutonics/cupping therapist & sometimes yoga teacher, Heather. She got me in for tomorrow morning. She’s helped me with other nasty pain issues in the past, so I’m encouraged & positive this will help. I’m hoping to be in shape to go to class by Saturday morning, but will take it day-by-day. (I know Diane will have my back — or is that hip — should I try to sneak in on Saturday.)