Soft Shoulder

Today I woke up with an inexplicable desire to wear sweaty multicolored shoes that had already been worn by thousands of strangers, so Andy and I decided to take the girls bowling. (Pete was lucky enough to get invited to see "Spamalot" with a friend.)

Here in New England we have candlepin bowling, which uses small (cantaloupe-sized) balls. In fact, neither Andy nor I have ever gone ten-pin bowling or ever even held one of those big balls with the finger-holes. I can remember on rainy days at summer camp, they sometimes took us bowling, and all the kids from New York and New Jersey used to razz us New Englanders about the candlepins and small balls, but in truth it's a great sport for kids because they have a much better chance of succeeding. Nothing about the bowling alley has changed in the 40-odd years I've been going; it's kind of a pleasant time-warp.

I've neglected to mention that for the last 8 months or so, I've had a terrible pain in my right shoulder. If I pretend I'm doing the backstroke, the pain shoots through at the point when my right arm comes up and goes just beyond my right ear. I barely notice it during the day (since I go most days without miming or actually doing the backstroke), unless I do something like take off a T-shirt by crossing my hands at the waistline and pull up and over my head—right at about shoulder level, I get stuck. Or if I'm trying to scratch my left shoulder-blade with my right hand. Yowch! But every night at some point I roll onto my right side and then wake up with an agonizing pain. When Andy's sister was visiting last month, she said she had been diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis, known colloquially as "frozen shoulder," and in fact, she had arthroscopic surgery on it last week. She said it occurs most often in women in their 40s and 50s. Great.

So, back to bowling. My first toss of the day almost brought me to tears—the pain was that sharp. But, interestingly enough, I had no pain at all the rest of the time! I wonder if I knocked loose some of the "adhesions" with that sudden jerk of my arm.

Comments

[scott]

When I was doing more taekwondo I lived in constant fear of rotator cuff injuries. I had a history of punching too aggressively and losing range of motion for weeks on end (not to mention a pain very similar to what you're describing). I'm not sure, but I believed that the more strengthening I did for my upper body the less likely I was to injure it that way.

[Elena]

I think they call it "duckpin bowling" in Connecticut. Never heard of candlepins!

[Wendy]

My husband had adhesive capsulitis, and did a course of exercise to eventually break the adhesions. Very weird condition, I have to say, given its lack of any obvious origin.

[Karen]

Nope, duckpin is different from candlepin. Candlepins don't bowl out at the bottom.

[TwoBusy]

Candlepin bowling always made for a great birthday party when I was growing up. A coupla frames, then Hoodsies for everyone!

[Apply food stamp]

I wanted to research this subject and write a paper. Your post what a thousand words would not. Nice job.






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