Injuries, Tennis Elbow, and Noting

My first introduction to meditation was through the Headspace app. I chose it because it was the only app I could find that allowed for a two minute duration of sitting.

That's about all I could handle at the time.

The first few lessons introduced me to the concept of Noting. Noting is becoming aware of a thought or emotion, and naming it as such. 

Noting is a fantastic and accessible way to start a meditation practice. It's highly effective. If you're interested in starting a meditation practice, or struggle with getting started, I highly recommend looking into it.

A few weeks ago, seemingly out of nowhere, I developed a quite severe pain in my left elbow. I'm not even sure how it came on. I had spent four months working on a decently strenuous home improvement project, but had completed it a few weeks earlier. This didn't seem like an injury. It was just a persistent and dull pain. I figured it would go away.

Two weeks later, it was as strong as ever. I let it go. I'm in my fifties now. I've realized for some time that my body just takes longer to heal at this point.

But in the third week, I became a bit concerned, and searched online for my symptoms.

Tennis elbow. Described to a tee. Primarily caused by a repetitive motion. I mean -- other than typing for the past 40+ years, there was no new repetitive motion I had undertaken, but the description was exact.

I have no idea how I developed it.

I had been working through the pain. Doing barbell curls almost daily. That had to stop. The prescription for healing was rest and ice packs a few times a day.

I found some relief. Right away. I had noted, or named, the injury. Just that simple practice helped. I gave some definition to my condition. It narrowed my scope.

But still, as much as the relief of the ice packs were nice, and despite my concern my muscles were atrophying, it didn't progress and get better. I'd get a respite for a half hour while the ice numbed my nerves and muscles, but the ache wasn't any less severe.

And then, by chance, my wife ran into a friend -- who also had tennis elbow. As of this writing, in my fifty plus years on this earth, I've known exactly two people with tennis elbow.  Me, and my wife's friend. 

Whether a sign from the divine universe, or a mild version of the frequency illusion, I got some critical information that I hadn't come across on my online searches. 

She mentioned a therapy tool -- a bar of some sort -- that her physical therapist swears by.  

So I looked it up. I searched some more.

And then I found what I needed. An online video that gave several simple exercises designed specifically to treat tennis elbow.

There's a lesson for me here. I know my body is a miracle. It heals itself all the time. And also, naming the injury put me on a path to a faster recovery. And then, finding there was a specific action I could take, well, that's made all the difference in the world.

Also, knowing what caused it is irrelevant. I still have absolutely no idea, and that made absolutely no difference in the treatment of my injury. It reminds me of the difference between therapy and coaching. In therapy you can spend a lot of time looking at the past, digging deep into trauma, or your childhood, or whatever. (Phil Stutz is a refreshing exception here.) With coaching, you're looking forward. What action can I take right now to improve my circumstances. I'm a huge fan of coaching, or rather, coaching done right. 

Literally after the first session of exercises, my arm felt better. Like, a lot better. 

Awareness. Naming. Action.

It's a simple recipe I'm going to apply to other areas of my life that could use some improvement, and see what happens.