I've just started physio on the ankle I broke last year at the Brands Desmo Due round. Some of you will recall that in June 2004 I had an operation on my left shoulder to put 4 titanium screws in to pull the cartilage back on to the bone where it had torn completely off. This was as a result of a rugby tackle gone wrong where my collarbone and shoulder both dislocated and the shoulder tore the cartilage off as it exited the shoulder joint.
Anyway ... I got the physio to take a look at my shoulder last night because it's still giving me gip. I should point out that this is completely my fault for not doing the physio after the operation properly. So the physio spent an hour on it yesterday afternoon. It's actually much worse than I thought it was and the physio used the word chronic a few too many times for my liking. I was looking forward to getting a few games of rugby in before the end of the season and the main concern was the ankle but the physio reckons the ankle will be ready in 5 weeks but the shoulder could take much longer. The muscles in the shoulder are pulling my shoulder out of alignment towards the front of the shoulder and restricting a large percentage of my range of movement. Some of the muscles underneath my shoulder blade are in an almost constant state of spasm, all are under normal size. I had lost a lot of control of the two outside fingers in my left hand because a nerve had pinched and there was no strength in them.
So I'm bummed now, it looks like I won't get a game of rugby in this season. I guess the only positive is that it will be fixed before the first DD race this year and I raced like that all last year. It was definitely restricting my movement on the bike and making me do things to compensate which upset the bike. Hopefully I'll be a bit quicker this year then
I'm off to pour a large drink of something strong ...