Need your help, muscle injury, gaining weight, and feeling like *kitten*.

hydrostation

Hello everyone,

In the last 4-5 months, I had found my body's key. The unlock code if you will. I had made tremendous gains considering my body type seems to hate muscle.

Well I recently suffered a gym injury and tore my right rhomboid muscle in my back. It's kept me out of the gym for a month, and it looks like I'll be out for another 4 weeks or so, as this muscle is being very stubborn about healing quickly. Doctor told me I can't even run as all the motion will risk inflaming the muscle further and pinching the nerve even more. It keeps me awake in pain all night, and no amount of NSAID's or percoset seem to give it any relief.

I'm starting losing the bit of muscle mass I had worked so damn hard to gain, and putting on weight. My diet has gone to *kitten*, and I lost my 100+ day tracking streak on MFP.

Exercising every other day had become ritual for me, and it was my meditation. I keep telling myself this is temporary, and I have to let myself heal, but it drags me down so much. Don't mean to be negative nancy or a downer, this just sucks.

Anyways, just want to say thanks in advance for all your support, you guys rock.

TR0berts

Your doctor has advised you not to run. Did (s)he say anything about riding a stationary bike? If that's OK, it'd be better than nothing, I'd think.

tross0924

Hey man. Sorry you got injured. It's never fun to be forced to sit on the side lines and can be very discouraging.

One thing you need to realize though is you're not losing you progress. Yes, not using the muscle mass that you gained can cause it to lose the firmness that people associate with tone, but the fibers are still there, waiting to be put back into action. Once you can get back to it you'll see all that progress return quickly.

For now the best thing you can do is focus on your diet. This injury has killed your ability to exercise, but don't let it kill your ability to eat well. You can still do good things for yourself if you can get the eating under control. I know that's easier said then done, but I believe you can do it.

Also talk to your doctor about walking on an incline. That's actually a decent cardio work out and shouldn't put to much stress on the muscle since the motion in your back is much less than jogging.

Good luck with your recovery and I hope you get back into your groove as soon as you can.

Charis50

Sorry you've been sidelined--but the good news is that your injury is not permanent.

While you're waiting for your body to heal, you might also consider trying a little bit of *actual* meditation or mindfulness. It could help you to deal with some of the frustration you're feeling.

Just a thought that wasn't already offered....

Best wishes for a speedy & complete recovery!

canadianlbs

sucks. i have periodic times when it would be stupid to lift but it's so hard to not do it. if it's worth anything to you, 'lost' muscle comes back pretty fast ime. it's not the slow slow process that it is to flip that switch for the first time.

cooliegyal25

I hear ya. It sucks and its really discouraging after you've made so much progress. Listen to your body and doc and take it easy until you heal up. Do the best you can without further injury. I say that because I learned the hard way to let my body heal when I tore the tendons in my elbow. A problem that should have resolve within a few months ended up still being an issue for me over 2 years later. Talk about discouraging and depressing. All because I was stubborn and kept trying to do my normal training and daily activities. I finally listened and am slowly on the mend, but this may be a permanent issue for me now. It saddens me to think that you or any one else with an injury may end up suffering like I did.. I wish that upon no one.

One thing I will mention, would physical therapy and/or deep tissue massage help this problem? Deep tissue massage is a big help for me. If you try it just be sure the person knows how to work with your injury.

You're doing great! This is just another part of the journey.. Unpleasant but will make it so much more worth it as you achieve your goals.