RECOVERY FROM A BAD BACK CAN BE FUN

As most of you know I have an extruded disc on my L-4. This means I have a lot of pain and weakness in my right leg. Not good for a cross racer. The deal is I don't want to be an ex cross racer I want to race again. I have been going to Rebound Physical Therapy Westside. They have a lot going on there, all of it good as far as I can tell. I have been going there to lift weights etc for about 5 years. There are always friends there and it has always been fun to go there. One of the reasons it has been fun is I have not been injured.

Now that I am injured I thought it might be less fun, but it isn't. Now I am doing these seemingly easy exercises that turn out to be quite hard. Every time I show up Matt Lieto is also there, he doesn't have a traumatic injury like me, he has a nagging injury left over from a bad bike crash. What we both have found out is our injuries come from our bodies not using all of our muscles. It is kind of funny to see two accomplished athletes straining to get our hips to move. There is as much laughter as there is groaning. Tim Evens has been our PT. I first met Tim when he was just out of high school. This was in 1998 and he was a student at COCC. He, like a lot of us, was just getting into cyclo cross. I actually taught him how to mount and dismount. Now 11 years later he is helping me. I love stuff like that. He is really awesome at PT and I can really feel a difference after two weeks.

I have also been getting some acupuncture treatments at Rebound. Almine Barton is the Acupuncturist that works there. She used to work at the Nike Athlete in Portland. She used to work on Nike Sponsored Athletes now she is working on me. Matt is also one of her patients. I get about 30 needles in me each treatment. The needles do not hurt, though I have noticed it is better to lie still once they are placed. Each time I get treated I feel just that much better. I am hoping it will speed up my recovery.

On another note the race guide for Cyclo Cross Nationals is now online, there is a nice article about me in it. Check it out at Visit Bend . You have to scroll down a bit. I am hoping we will have snow like we did in the photo. Take care.

Don