Raw Eggs in Your Armpits? Okay Fine in Everyday Ramblings

About four years ago I saw that I was developing a bunion on my right foot. I didn’t really understand what they were at that point. I knew Kes was concerned that her feet didn’t seem to her to be attractive in sandals and she had some discomfort, if not out right pain on occasion.

So I began to investigate. I learned what they are and that they are often passed on by a genetic disposition and really other than orthotics and surgery there wasn’t too much you could do about them.

But I was determined. So I started wearing a gel spacer between my first and big toes and wrapping my feet with tape to try to realign the bone that was drifting out of alignment.

Apparently I was a little too aggressive with this treatment and I started having this weird pain and locking in my right hip crease when I stood up. Alarmed I went to the doctor. This was way more serious than a bunion. They didn’t know what it was but they did x-ray my hips and tell me I had arthritis in them, particularly in my SI joints.

Okay fine. The young doctor I saw said he could send me to a Physical Therapist but with my yoga training I could probably rehabilitate this myself.

So I did. It literally took two years for my right leg and hip to return to normal.

I still have the bunion but it is not getting worse. I roll my feet out on a dog ball, I massage my feet, I always include foot awareness and activation in my classes and I have The Melt Method balls that another teacher (a former dancer) recommended as she has some pretty intense bunions.

A few years ago I began to notice that when I walk for say 40 minutes or so and I am tired I get this aching and uncomfortable pain just on the right side of my mid spine about bra level. It doesn’t happen every time I walk just if I have stretched beforehand or as I said I am tired.

It seems to be happening more frequently. And I have been concerned since my younger friend and student experienced his dropped foot that maybe it is something I should get checked out.

Someone at some point suggested that it was probably referred pain from my hips. I do stretch them out pretty much every day. I have explored working with my trapezius muscles, my latissimus dorsi muscles, my quadratus lumborum muscles (the back of one’s abdominal wall) my psoas muscles…, developed practices for all of these areas trying to find some way to get relief.

The one thing that seems to help is twists. And twists work on the relationship between the pelvic girdle and the shoulder girdle.

Yesterday afternoon I ran off early and had a massage. (The yoga studio where I get my massages, on the rare occasion where I get them, has the same SimpleHuman trashcan I have in their very nice upscale locker room.)

And after talking to the massage therapist about my mystery discomfort she said after isolating the exact spot about 15 minutes in that she thinks I may have a rib in the back that is being pulled out of place because I have… super duper tight muscles in my upper chest.

Duh.

She worked on all the muscles in and around my armpits and then above my collarbones and I am very sore in those areas today.

She asked if I wanted a card for her chiropractor.

I’ve never been to a chiropractor and I would want a recommendation to one if I went that was into empowering the people they work on to take care of themselves on an ongoing basis.

Today I have been reading about what I can do in yoga to work on my alignment in that area. One of the cues is…”Maintain width in shoulder blades and armpits as though there were raw eggs being held there you don’t want to crack.”

That made me laugh out loud.

I will definitely bring this up with my doctor next time I see her.

Last updated October 04, 2016