OK, this is weird. Against my better judgment, I shuffled my pathetic ancient body downstairs to the gym after work last night and went through a slightly truncated version of my normal goal-averse routine (elliptical danger machine, lifting, etc.) expecting to pay the price this morning. But instead of feeling worse, I felt better!
There’s still this little painful kink just inland from my right shoulder blade that I can activate by cocking my head to the left, but it’s not as painful as it was yesterday. In fact, it feels like I’m stretching out a tight muscle when I move my head that way.
I didn’t do anything special (like stretch) last night, so I’m at a loss to explain what’s happened. I always figured that pushing your body past the point where it starts to hurt was a bad idea, but apparently I don’t know everything anymore. (Who knew?!?)
And, indeed, I see in this piece by Susan Gaines in a recent issue of EL that exercise actually plays a role in healing sore muscles. Moving your body apparently gets the circulation system pumping more blood to the injured area, where other biochemical influences I don’t pretend to understand do their healing magic. All I know is that I’m feeling moderately less stiff than a couple of days ago — not to mention relieved that I didn’t do more damage.
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