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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   2708 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 29, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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My scumbag achilles...

Tendons are weird. Stupid and weird. And nobody knows shit about how to fix them.

Early in the summer, I strained my achilles playing soccer. I am old and this has happened before many times. This time I decided to GO HAM on my achilles. I adopted a strict stretching and eccentric exercise protocol. The sort that physical therapists have recommended in the past. I was 100% consistent and spent about 20 minutes each day. I did this for MONTHS. Did my achilles get better? Kinda, sorta, not really.

So I stopped doing the program. And I kept playing soccer. And the achilles pain sort of just... went away. It's completely gone now.

The only thing that changed was I switched to a low carb diet. GPT-4 tells me there is no evidence that this related.

One day, science will figure tendons out. We're a long way from that now. In the mean time, for those with nagging sports injuries, I advise not wasting your money on doctors and PT unless someone else is paying for it.

My shoulder/delt has been fucked for 6 months this year, and I’ve waited and waited, and done PT and more PT, and gone to the gym and worked out around it… and I’m slowly but anxiously moving towards the conclusion that no one seems to know what’s going on mechanically and I may as well just lift the weights and push through the pain. So it’s nice to read your experience with this

My shoulder/delt has been fucked for 6 months this year, and I’ve waited and waited, and done PT and more PT, and gone to the gym and worked out around it… and I’m slowly but anxiously moving towards the conclusion that no one seems to know what’s going on mechanically and I may as well just lift the weights and push through the pain.

Don't push through the pain. Drop reps, drop weights, drop ROM until your exercise stops hurting. My left shoulder hates specific movements and every time I try to push through the pain, it only gets worse.

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