QuestionDr. Gold,
I fell down the stairs at my friends' house about 3 weeks ago and hit the middle portion of my back hard against one of the wooden steps. That caused a bruise right on my spine with visible scratches. Two days later I fell again, only this time I landed on my left buttock and sort of twisted my body in a quick effort to avoid landing on my spine again.
I had no pain the first few days, only a feeling that something was 'stuck' in the spot I hit the first time. I went jogging a few times after that in extremely cold weather, and I ended up with an upper respiratory tract infection and pain in my upper back between shoulder blades that comes and goes and gets worse when I twist, some thoracic pain (more like a discomfort) and stiffness in the neck area. Today I'm also experiencing some shortness of breath. I have not yet seen a doctor for this because I do not have medical insurance. Any thoughts about what happened? Can I exercise at all or is it better to take it easy for some time? I am taking anti-inflammatory enzymes for this, but nothing else.
Thank you,
Stella
AnswerHi, Stella,
Whatever inflammation you may may have, you also have muscular contractions. Both feel sore, and anti-inflammatories do nothing for muscular contractions.
The falls triggered a protective, reflexive muscular action at and around the sites of impact. That's what feels "stuck" and what is interfering with your breathing. Muscular contractions and stuckness sometimes worsen over the days immediately following injury, before they let go.
The answer is to quiet the protective muscular reflex and recover voluntary control of the affected muscles. Much of the pain will dissipate and your breathing will come free.
Please see my article, Completing Your Recovery from an Injury, at somatics.com/page4b.htm.
Somatic exercises are recommended to alleviate this kind of condition; the article says more. Better: sessions with a clinical somatic educator. List: hannasomatics.com/practitioners.
with regard,
Lawrence Gold
