it's like my body's just mocking me at this point

in class last wednesday, i pulled my right trapezius. it was surprisingly painful, considering i hadn't done anything specific that i knew of - like, i didn't catch myself from a fall and jerk the muscle that way, etc. but partway through class, my trap was really starting to hurt, and by the end of class it was majorly sore and knotted. ah well. these things happen.

by the weekend, the knot was starting to dissipate (thanks to some excellent massage work by chris!) but the shoulder area was not actually getting any better. by sunday, the knot was completely gone and the muscle had stopped spasming... and the pain had migrated to the front of my shoulder, basically right on my collarbone. except the pain was.. weird. not sharp, not really affected by rotating my shoulder; just sort of a weird pressure where it felt like something was not sitting right in there. i knew it wasn't a joint issue, given my ability to rotate my shoulder without pain, and i knew it wasn't a muscle issue, since my trap was fine now.

does this remind anyone else of that time i pulled a muscle in my torso, except it was actually a rib stuck out of alignment?

me too! i was HOPING that was the case, actually, since that turned out to be a pretty easy fix.

except... i happened to already be seeing a physical therapist back then, which i no longer am. i would need to go to my normal doctor, get a prescription for physical therapy, and then get an appointment with my therapist before i could see her. and that's assuming that my normal doc chose to believe i actually had a subluxated rib, when more likely i'd be sent in for x-rays to check on the clavicle, and then probably referred to an orthopedist, THEN finally given a script for physical therapy. and i hurt NOW, darn it.

know what you don't need a prescription for? an appointment with a chiropractor.

so i got a referral from a coworker, called up a guy close to work, and got an appointment for the same day. i figured that if it WASN'T a subluxated rib like i hoped, i'd still get an adjustment out of it, so.. no harm, right?

at the chiropractor, i explained the progression of my symptoms, the fact that i'd had a subluxated rib last summer, and now the pain under my clavicle.

"yup, that sounds like the first rib, all right!" said the chiro. "let me feel your spine and shoulders and ....oh. hmmmm."

doctors keep making that noise when i see them. it is never good.

turns out? the first ribs on BOTH SIDES OF MY RIBCAGE were subluxated. both! sides! both of them! so off we went for me to lie face down on a table for my very first chiropractic adjustment.

a little pressure on my back... turn my chin this way... and CRACK! except it was really more of a whole freaking EXPLOSION, so loud and violent that i actually YELPED OUT LOUD in surprise.

because it ALSO turns out that my ribs have been out of alignment for AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. apparently the more explosive the crack, the older the injury - i'm guessing because it's more settled in place? i don't know. but the chiropractor was all "oh yeah, you don't get a crunch that loud with a recent injury. those have been out of place for YEARS."

so to sum up, BOTH OF THE RIBS under my collarbone, on both sides, have been stuck out of alignment for between 5 to 10 years. and whatever i did in class on wednesday just aggravated the one side enough for it to finally cause me enough pain to seek treatment.

i am very, very poorly put together.

(my mom begs to differ on this front, by the way; she maintains that i was put together just *fine* and that my injuries are due to user error.)