Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Shoulders back!

I used to slouch as a kid and I seem to have taken this bad habit into adulthood with me. You see, I'm 5ft 9ins tall, which isn't a giant by any means, although I have pretty much been this height since I was 12. And I didn't want to stand out when I was 12, I wanted to blend in and not be head and shoulders above the rest. Literally. So I slouched.

The best thing about being tall at that age was that sport was a piece of piss. I was a bit of a netball star back in the day, but only because team mates had only to lob a high ball my way and any normal-sized opponent wouldn't stand a chance. Sadly, in adult netball terms, I'm just not that tall and I find it's me that's trying to leap around like a salmon to retrieve the ball, not the opposition.

Anyhoo, having my mum poke me between the shoulder blades and yell "shoulders back!" for most of my teenage years, it clearly hasn't worked. I slump at my desk, I slump in my car and only seem to hurl my shoulders back when casually strolling past some hot blokein an attempt to look taller and thinner. Not sure it even works.

However, I went to see Mr Physio last week and he said my rotator cuff impingement (dodgy, painful, weak shoulders basically) isn't helped by my bad posture and it's something I need to work on. Dodgy shoulders isn't uncommon in volleyballers, far from it, but it will only get worse if I don't push my shoulders back and do my theraband exercises twice a day.

But I've been rounding my shoulders for so long now that it actually feels uncomfortable to push them back, where they're supposed to be. And I feel like a bit of a plum. I keep remembering to do it and hurling them backwards, which seems to push my chest out and my chin up for some reason. I probably look like a military officer about to give my soldiers what for.

So, I'm trying to stand tall and be proud of my height. But as I write this blog I'm in pain. My shoulder blades kill and the tension seems to seep up into my neck. No pain no gain? I hope so.