Saturday, December 20, 2008

New symptoms

About ten days ago, I noticed I was slouching. When I sit, when I stand, my shoulders are rounded. I can consciously pull them back, but as soon as I stop paying attention, they roll forward again. After so many days of this, I often feel like I'm turning into a hunchback.

It took me a few days to understand this new habit: I figured out that stretching my chest by sitting up straight made me want to cough. Slouching was an anti-cough reflex. Fortunately, yoga is saving me from a hunched back growing on me permanently: it greatly increases the range of cough-free motion I have with my shoulders. Thanks to my talented yoga teacher, I have learned I can even do a modified savasana pose (sitting instead of laying down).

These past two months have been unusually medical for me: doctor's visits, an ultrasound of my heart, two chest X-rays, and this coming Monday a CAT scan. Medicine is moving slowly for me. I am so grateful I have something I can do any time - yoga - to help myself right now.

1 comment:

Jen said...

Glad you noticed the connection between coughing and hunching and are actively working against it. When we're sick or injured we can develop patterns to compensate that can be hard to shake later on.

Take care & be well.

Happy Hanukah!