What I did sucked... And it was pretty scary... And I'm really glad that this happened at home and not at Flex or I would have made people even more nervous and I'd probably never be allowed to work out again through the rest of this pregnancy. But I'm pretty certain this has nothing to do with being pregnant - except the fact that my ligaments are a bit looser than usual so that didn't help the situation (or maybe it did?). This could have happened to anyone.
I was in the middle of a WOD on my patio, using my 45lb barbell with my two new rubber plate weights (each 10lbs), and the routine was 5 rounds of 5 thrusters, 20 pushups, 10 hang cleans, and 5 back squats. From the last hang clean to the first back squat, I had the bar racked against my chest with my elbows forward, from where I pushed the bar up into the air over my head, and brought it slowly down to rest on the back of my neck and across my shoulders, where I would hold it in place as I went into a squat. Usually during my workouts I'm a little slow-going at first, then somewhere in the middle I get a boost of energy and I bust out the last half. So by the fourth round, I was moving a little faster than I probably should have been, feeling energized and strong and charged. I pushed the bar into the air off my chest, and brought it down a little to fast behind me - I didn't have enough stability to rest it on my shoulders and completely missed the mark, the bar falling on back and taking my arm with it... and completely out of its socket... Yeah, stupid, especially since I felt the bar miss and fall and should have just let go of it, since that's what those rubber weights are for in the first place - to soften the blow of the bar landing on the ground after dropping it. But I held onto it and dropped to the ground with it. And I sat there in some sort of unique pain that I still can't quite describe - it was painful in that I knew something was very wrong with my arm, more of an alarming pain, but not a normal kind of pain. Like I said, I can't quite describe it. I sat there trying to get my wits about me, realizing my arm was twisted behind me and I wasn't able to move it like I should, so something was very wrong with it, and my mind went in all kinds of directions. What if I broke something? What if I did irreparable damage? What if I've created a handicap for myself - what will happen to me with my job? What will people say? I have completely lost my credibility as a pregnant crossfitter, how embarrassing... Then finally I thought, I should probably try to get up and find Justin to get help. So I began trying to get up, and that's when I felt (and heard) my arm suck itself back into my shoulder socket. Yuck. It was super creepy. But that's when I realized what I actually did, and it was such a distinct feeling I could almost visualize it happening as it corrected itself. I stood up and just breathed for a minute, more thoughts running through my head - I've never really pulled a bone out of a socket before, what exactly is involved in recovery for this? What ligaments did I overstretch? I knew ligaments take longer to heal than muscles or tendons, but how long was it going to take? How long should I wait before picking up that bar again? I looked at the bar on the ground and knew I wasn't going to touch it - Justin would have to put it back on the rack for me. Ugh, Crossfit has been my sanity through this pregnancy, I can't give it up! It's kept me grounded, kept me present, kept me, well, happy. I feel good about myself when I workout and after, and it's helped prevent me from letting my mind wander to the future, the unknown of birth, how terrifying that is for me, especially since I'm a control freak and that's one thing in life I have zero control over. I have control over working out though, I have control over what I'm doing in the present, so that's one of the top reasons I've been doing it. That and to stay healthy and in shape, amongst many other reasons. Now I realized how easy it is to lose control in a workout too. Why so many people injure themselves during Crossfit and, therefore, why it's gotten a bad name.
Anyway. I found I was still able to move my arm in all directions, but it hurt to do it. Still, I was relieved to have full range of motion regardless of pain in certain areas. I lifted my arm to the side, to the front, circled it forward, circled it backward, both small and broad circles. I lifted it straight up, I brought it across my chest, I reached my hand up behind my back. I was able to do all those movements, but some of them hurt more than others. I think my rotator cuff was the most compromised, but I was having quite a bit of deltoid pain too (the main shoulder muscle). I went straight upstairs and got some ice and sat on the couch to figured out what to do next. Justin came in and of course immediately wondered what I did, so I told him the story, and he shook his head at me and said I need to be more careful, I am pregnant, ya know. And I wondered, did this have anything to do with pregnancy? This could have happened to anyone - it's a shoulder, we all have shoulders, whether we're pregnant or not.
But I do have increased relaxin. That makes my shoulder, and all my joints, different from anyone else's. Here's some good info about relaxin from breakingmuscle.com
During pregnancy, relaxin levels are highest in the first semester and right before pregnancy. In the first trimester, relaxin helps to relax the uterine wall and aid in the adaptation of the cardiovascular and renal systems to the increased demand for oxygen and nutrients. Towards the end of pregnancy relaxin helps to relax the ligaments in and around the pelvis so the mother’s body can better adapt to the growing fetus.The second-to-last bullet point caught my attention - that it has been found to promote wound healing. Maybe that's part of why I healed so quickly?
More and more research is being conducted in regards to the role that relaxin plays in the human body. Here’s some things we know:
- Relaxin is a known vasodilator in the same family as insulin.
- Little is known about relaxin in males except perhaps that it aids in sperm motility.
- Relaxin has been found to decrease scar tissue and fibrosis in heart, lung, and kidney tissue.
- Relaxin has been found to promote wound healing and is associated with collagen production.
- Since relaxin helps to relax the blood vessels, scientists are also interested in its effects on patients with heart failure.
Perhaps, but I also attribute it to homeopathy. As soon as my ice pack thawed I went straight to my medicine drawer (I have a whole drawer at the end of our line of cabinets in the kitchen dedicated to my natural remedies - and I'm running out of room... haha) and pulled out my arnica tablets - a homeopathic remedy for healing from injury. This is a good example of the curious philosophy of homeopathy - that "like cures like". The plant arnica, or Leopard's Bane, is a bright yellow flower that grows on hillsides. It's been used in folk medicine by mountain climbers who fall as a poultice to heal the injury, but it's very poisonous if taken internally - it can increase swelling, create bruising and make your body feel bruised - all the symptoms the homeopathic form of arnica is meant to treat. Read my post about homeopathy (linked above) to learn more and rest assured that you're not poisoning yourself by taking the homeopathic version of arnica.
This homeopathic remedy is known as the aspirin of homeopathy because it significantly reduces pain from injuries. It can regulate heart activity after injury and stop hemorrhage, and helps the body absorb blood clots lodged in tissues. It helps heal blood vessels that are causing bruising, and stimulates the body's overall healing process.
I keep this on hand as a staple for Harlee - as soon as he learned to walk, as is the case with all toddlers, he was falling and tripping and stumbling all the time and arnica was my go-to if he had any kind of significant injury. Back when he was first learning to walk he had an accident that hurt his leg (I may have mentioned this in a previous post), resulting in us taking him to the ER to make sure it wasn't broken because he screamed every time we touched or moved it and he was limping on it when he pulled himself up on anything and cruised around furniture. No breaks or fractures were found, and it was assumed it was just a sprain. As soon as arnica was administered, the crying and limping immediately stopped. By the end of the day you couldn't tell anything even happened! I also used it when he broke his arm, but that was severe enough to need surgery, but he made a very speedy recovery. I did notice, though, that as soon as he woke up from the anesthesia after getting his elbow pinned back together and the cast on, I gave him arnica and he instantly went from just barely being able to lift his arm or even wiggle his fingers to attempting to use the bad hand to lift his cup or hold a toy and was wiggling his fingers like nothing was wrong at all. This stuff is awesome!
So I immediately jumped into using my arnica. I had some left from Harlee's pediatrician that's 200C (a VERY high dose) and I took one every half hour for about four hours. The next day I used my store-bought arnica which is 30X and took it every 15 minutes for about 2 hours. I set a timer on my phone so I was diligent about it. With that I also administered a cream called Traumeel that a friend of mine had told me about after Harlee broke his arm. It's a homeopathic cream with arnica in it as well as several other healing elements. I rubbed it all over my shoulder blade, up into my neck and along my whole shoulder down the side of my arm. I really didn't have much pain all day, except for during certain motions like lifting my arm above my head or reaching across my chest or lifting my arm behind my back. It was more sore than anything. I continued to use the Traumeel all day, nearly every hour and again the next day.
So let me tell you about the next day after this happened (yesterday). I was afraid to wake up, honestly - after laying still all night I was afraid it would be stiff and even more sore than the day before, and usually the second day is the most painful anyway. But, to my pleasant surprise, it wasn't so bad! I gave my arm a full rotation, moved it in all directions, and it loosened up immediately from being still all night. I was amazed! I didn't even have any popping or strange noises from the ligaments or tendons like I expected. It felt like a normal shoulder, just with a few sore spots. Of course I was very careful with it all day, using it in ways that felt comfortable and being careful not to overdo it, but at least still using it to keep some strength in it.
In fact, I was able to drive the Ranger, making full turns with the steering wheel fairly comfortably, and I made quite a bit of progress in raking a large amount of pond scum along the edge of our pond.
That stuff gets heavy! I was really grateful I had been working out all throughout the pregnancy, or I would have pooped out shortly after starting. Most of all, though, I was grateful that my arm was healing up so quickly and it looked like soon enough I'd be able to get back into my workout routine.
It rained that afternoon, which felt wonderful after getting all sweaty from raking, so I stood on the patio and enjoyed the cool shower and tried a few strength exercises with an empty dumbell (which I think weighs 1.5lbs but I should figure that out to be sure). I did about 10 reps each of shoulder presses, shoulder flies, side raises, front raises, and tricep kickbacks, and I repeated that series another two or three times. I also held my arm out at a 90 degree angle and rotated my forearm down and up several times. Everything felt good! In the shower I let the hot water hit my shoulder to warm the tissue and loosen everything up and I did a few arm circles, reached my arm up, reached my arm across my chest, and reached it up behind my back. I had done this the day before, too, and all the motions felt pretty comfortable, and even more so that second day I did it. I listened and felt for any popping or cracking or strange movement in the muscles and ligaments, and got nothing. What a relief! I was definitely on the mend!
By night I hardly even noticed any soreness in my shoulder. I made dinner, ate it, and cleaned up the dishes afterwards, got dressed for bed and put my arm around Harlee to read books to him, and nothing bothered it.
Now it's the third day, as I'm writing this, and there's hardly any soreness left at all. There's a little down the lateral side of my arm, along the deltoid and just below it, but other than that I've got full range of motion and everything I do feels comfortable. I've got a full day of clients and I plan to go to yoga this evening, and I'm feeling confident that I won't have any issues! Of course I'll be careful with it, but I don't see myself being too restricted.
So that's my story, and those are my experiences with homeopathic arnica - I highly recommend you keep a bottle of 30X arnica on hand as well as Traumeel - accidents happen at any time and it sure is nice to be able to heal quickly and without drugs! Now, whether the pregnancy hormones were in my favor or not for this healing process, I'm not sure, but I do feel pretty certain that the arnica played a huge roll in the quickness of my turnaround, and I know the Traumeel made a huge impact on the relief of the soreness (I'd used it before for sore muscles and it works like magic). No harmful drugs or anything - that's my kind of healing! Now, I need to get ready for work!
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