Stealthy Overlaps That Can Work Against You

I'm happy to report that my shoulder is healing well. It's been a little more than a month since the surgery. I started PT and I'm super lucky to have a great physical therapist. I still have a couple of months to go before I return to my normal activities, so this first solid sign of progress is reassuring.

You might be wondering why I'm posting this, because it isn't cancer related. But in fact it is because it's an overlapping problem. In my previous post I wrote about the importance of staying physically active. If your physical abilities are reduced for any reason, it narrows your opportunities for movement. For example, if you break an ankle you won't be doing much for a few months. You can still exercise your upper body or swim, but you won't be doing squats or running or even walking. Now let's say you already have chronic bursitis or tendonitis in your elbow or shoulder. You just got boxed in. Maybe you'll find something to do, but during that time you'll de-condition and lose muscle mass. When your ankle heals you'll have dig yourself out of that hole. 

In the real world there is more complexity than my simple example. You can break it down a bit with a quick risk/benefit analysis. Should I jump out of an airplane and risk breaking a bone? Maybe, because I haven't it done it before and it sounds exciting. Should I ride my mountain bike over a skinny see-saw? Nah, I've done it a few times and crashed once.