Physio told me to rest over the weekend, well that's what I did. Yesterday I went to the local Aquatic Centre and made use of their spa and sauna for well over an hour. I must admit though, I felt guilty as I am not used to doing this sort of self indulgent stuff when the kids and my husband are home. But, I needed this and I felt better for it - if only for a short time.I started off in the spa for 15 minutes and felt so totally relaxed while all the jets belted my body around. It was such a nice change of pace to just sit and watch the world go by. I was making up little stories in my own mind about what each person was up to for the day. Some looked so stressed and in need of the therapy I was indulging in, while other's were revelling in the "just being", these were sitting beside me in the spa. I found myself just thinking about how we live our lives and how fast paced everything is. How little attention we actually pay to ourselves, not just physically but mentally as well. And how the only time we nurture ourselves is when things start to fall apart at the seams.
So with that in mind, I jumped out of the spa and straight into a cold shower for 1 minute of sheer bone chilling therapy. If there had of been not one person in the centre I think I may have screamed like an opera singer. Everything stood on end - holy cow it was cold. I stood there right till the last second of the minute being up, and then walked straight into the sauna for 15 mins of "oven baking".
Talk about taking your breath away. It was like opening up the oven door and then trying to take a big breath of air. My lungs shrivelled and it took a good minute before I felt comfortable in there. I made my way up to the back corner and tried to hide away from the fact that almost every seating position was taken up by men. Quite intimidating really - every eye made its way my way as I entered but I soon came to realise after some talk that they were all in here for pretty much the same reason as I was. Illness or injury - they each had their own story, journey and needed to gain solace in this inferno just as much as I did. They seemed quite surprised about how someone my age was dealing with issues that someone their age's were dealing with. It was nice to share war wounds.
15 mins up and back in the cold shower only to do it all again with the spa and sauna. And there I had just over and hour of hot/cold therapy. I walked out of the centre with not a single pain in my hip and felt quite flexible as I took advantage of the heat in the sauna for gentle stretching exercises. When I got home I took my 400mg Ibuprofen and felt relief right through the night.
This morning I woke up with only a slight twinge in my groin. It's like a little stitch every time I put my foot down and it grabs me right in my groin and slightly in my outer hip. So I took my Ibuprofen again and did all my stretches again which gave me relief right up till tonight. So I think I do feel somewhat better but not 100% even with all the rest I have had.
Tomorrow I look forward to some cycling but I wont be pushing it and trying to rock out some huge kilometres and I hope to follow it up with a back, shoulders and leg massage. Time to continue nurturing - I hope you all do the same and look after yourselves.
There is only one of you - TAKE CARE.
