Teleidoscope

Thu, Sep 18, 2008

Scars

Posted at 12:04 am MDT to Exercise

The place where I ripped loose the radiation scars along my lower ribs is still occasionally a little tender, but, oddly, not when I'm doing yoga. The other patch of radiation scarring is still tight enough to be annoying, but after two full weeks of doing AM Yoga every wee day, I seem to have a most of the range of motion I ever had -- enough that I can sometimes feel the actual surgical scars pulling and stretching, too. Being able to stretch enough to involve the surgical scars is new this week.

Some of the difference in range of motion is because I weigh 35 more ppounds than I did in 2001, my fitness peak. I've been focussing on the yoga (I wanted to make sure the stuff that was pulled loose didn't tighten up again), but now I need to add the treadmill back into my routine, and possibly the free weights, to try to burn off some weight.

It isn't just the scar tissue that I've been working on stretching. My heels still aren't on the ground in downward dog, but they are getting closer, and this morning, in my shower, I was nearly able to touch my toes.

There have been very few times in my life when I could touch my toes, partly due to tight hamstrings, and partly because I have a petite body and tall arms and legs. If I had the extra two or three inches of torso length that I am missing between my hips and shoulders, touching my toes would be easy.

If I start treadmilling and weight-lifting, the muscles will tighten up, and touching my toes will get harder again

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