My Bones

"Have I told you lately about my bones?"

My husband says this to me occasionally when he's feeling bone tired. I think he does it just to see me laugh. I am easily amused, especially by his self-deprecating humor.

Today, I'm the one complaining about my bones.

Actually, it's my tendons and muscles.

I did something to my right shoulder recently which makes it painful to get a full range of motion and any power into TKD moves. When I do the slow hammer fist of Hwa-Rang or double scissors blocks, I feel a twang of pain that goes right down my arm.

And my hip joint on the right side has also been a bit out of whack, making my front kicks inaccurate and painful.

And of course, there's the continuing problem with the tendon near the ankle on the outside of my right foot. It makes the horse stance almost impossible to do. Horse stance is a basic TKD stance.

It's been hard for me to get my feet pointed forward like this, and I need to for the first movement of my form, Hwa Rang. When I stand that way, feet pointed ahead, it just pulls on those tendons along the outside of my feet, especially the right one. Ow!

Ms. Pryor had some advice for my foot trouble tonight that sounded good. She suggested I ice the tendon after class and elevate it until the inflammation goes down. Then, at another time, I might try gently rolling my feel outward to stretch the tendons.

This seems sensible to me. I've been doing some other physical therapy for weeks and it hasn't worked. I'll add her suggestion.

As for my shoulder and hip . . . I've got a massage appointment tomorrow! Hope it works.