Friendship versus Rehab

It will be better soon

For those of you that know me well you realize I cannot resist a good pun. While I hardly understand this diagram, there is nothing humerus about tennis elbow

For those of you who read my posts daily, you know that I am working through a case of tennis elbow aka epicondylitis. It is a pretty common injury and sounds like it often results from overuse and the goal is to deal with the inflammation. My brother M who has expertise in the field guided me through the course of treatment:

1. ice the elbow whenever there is some continuing pain

2. use ibuprofen as necessary to reduce the inflammation

3. rest the joint and give it adequate time before returning to action

4. once the pain has receded, he provided a series of strengthening exercises to prevent reoccurrence

5. he also advised that many proper get relief from the armbands commonly used

I have been a generally good patient and have done 1, 2, 4 & 5 consistently. Of course, you may notice I have not been so good at #3. The weather in Minnesota is fleeting by mid-October and the tennis season will very soon be in the rearview mirror. I have played occasionally since the pain started but have generally reduced the duration and frequency. On balance, I think I am doing okay in my rehabilitation. I think when people say “on balance”, they are probably rationalizing a bit. I would imagine that when doctors provide a diagnosis and a course of treatment, they must simply apply a rule of thumb to downgrade all answers to such questions as:

• So, how often do you floss?

• How many hours of good sleep do you get in the evening?

• It is important to get 60 minutes of movement. Do you walk every day?

• Remember that carbs are important to watch. When you have toast, you only have one slice?

• How often do you do some resistance exercises?

• Approximately how many times a week do you walk?

• How many alcoholic beverages do you drink in a given week?

• How many times per day are you icing your arm Mark?

I know what things I cannot do with the elbow at this point and have adjusted some of my shot choices when I do play. I think that pain is a good teacher. The joke I think of goes something like “hey doctor it only hurts when I hold it in this position”. The doctor always replies “well then stop doing that!”. I think the tradeoff and rationale for my actions are friendship and joy.

At my Scotch Club the other night, the host, J, and I had some time to chat. He has been the most wonderful friend for a very long time and I am so thankful that the world brought us together so many years ago. The last year and a half have been hard for lots of people due to the pandemic and the imposed adjustments. For me, I have had my share of setbacks in the period and it has not been the very best of times. I have let my down mood during some of the time get to me and I haven’t spent as much time on our friendship as I may have. The other day we decided that I needed to change that and Monday of this week was as good a time as any to recommit to our friendship.

We got together and played some disc golf on a crisp fall day. There were enough leaves on the ground in places that you had to keep a close eye on where the disc was going. Neither J and I are going to consider making a push for the pro tour of disc golf so we pay close attention to where our discs enter into the trees. A day with a friend is about so much more. Each time I snapped my wrist a bit and released the frisbee I could often feel a bit of a twinge in my elbow. We played two circuits of the course and it was simply a wonderful day. I would have gladly played a third circuit of the course. I would imagine if I mentioned that my elbow hurt afterward, my brother or any professional would of course observe “well if you have elbow pain, snapping your forearm in an unusual motion is probably not the way to relieve that pain. That evening when I got home I filled the icebag and opted for some pain relief. I have rarely been as happy to be icing my elbow as I was that evening. I wasn’t happy that my elbow hurt a bit. I was happy that I had been sensible enough to play disc golf with my good friend. After all, we live in wonderful times. My refrigerator has an icemaker, my dog always jumps up and snuggles when I am icing and I bought an entirely too large bottle of Naproxen & Ibuprofen the last time I reloaded. Life is good.

Minor ailments like tennis elbow can be dealt with and there will be ample time ahead as the weather cools and both disc golf and tennis cease to be an option till the spring. What there is never enough time for is a great friendship. I am glad for that and a little bit of ice and ibuprofen is really of no consequence.

The music tonight was easy. Hope to see you all again tomorrow.

16+

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