Shred: Saturday, October 20th, 2007:
Some hacky went down today. Not for me, though
Andrew seemed to have quite an off day. I think it's because we played in a really hot hallway. We switched it up for my video. So hopefully something neat will come of it. I was inspired by some neat shots near the end of the session where I got Andrew hitting Blurry whirl > food processor [repeat], which I might use along with Your Mom as MOTW, this week. Andrew opened a run with Symp whirl > PS whirl [repeat]. I don't think it's too big for him, but I like that drill.
What else?
Manna is getting steadily better.
I did some zoomed-in follow-the-bag shots (it's a lot easier with his tiltless shred than Andrew's guiltless, though when he does his usual shuffle it's easier to predict the bag's course). Yeah, I dunno. He had some good runs. One was more than 20, we were sure. He throws down a lot of 4s, like stepping and pixie tricks, both sides. He's still only done the one 5, but flip phoenix is there (seems to be just as good as goodside, from my perspective). He's also footed ripped warrior both sides a bunch. From last session I have a clip of him footing it, but slipping on the floor. I call it "Slipped Warrior". I might make a clip of that... I dunno. It will be fun to make a Hackrifice Winter video. Too bad winter sucks [for hacky].
Oh yeah, I also fixed Manna's Eskimo Joe bag, which was interesting. At first I was just, like, "Sure, I can fix it, 'cause I make bags". But then I took out the one pent that popped a stitch, and emptied the bag (and got lead residue all over my hands, which kind of freaked me out) and looked at his stitching and was, like, "Whoa, this is way different than how I do it." So I was kind of disoriented and was worried the pent would look really ugly and I'd mess up Manna's bag, even if it became playable after it wasn't. But I restitched the pent, thought my gather might be off too, and it came out pretty good. Manna couldn't tell which was my pent Andrew could, but Andrew is like, a level 60 battle mage, and Manna is, like, a level 10 scout. So yeah, that was exciting. And I want to make more bags. I have a couple ideas.
I'm going to visit my girlfriend in Lethbridge, Alberta on Thursday, so I'll miss out on filming 2 sessions (gone for 2 weeks). I wonder how much better Manna will be the next time I see him. If I was able to play, I would totally have made plans to get together with either the ShrEdmonton guys (Kevin is going to be near me close to my return flight), and or Rob Fuller, since I have to transfer in Calgary.
Erik Chan wrote:Andrew opened a run with Symp whirl > PS whirl [repeat]. I don't think it's too big for him, but I like that drill.
acually it's quite hard for me, i've only done it a couple time and have never managed ps> symp> rpt.
Erik Chan wrote:I restitched the pent, thought my gather might be off too, and it came out pretty good. Manna couldn't tell which was my pent Andrew could, but Andrew is like, a level 60 battle mage, and Manna is, like, a level 10 scout.
this made me laugh out loud fo' real!
i think we need to push manna on the tiltless/ basic guiltless more. try to get him away from all the stepping, pixie stuff. He's just going to wind up like i did, with an unequal balance of tricks that he's gonna have trouble linking together. i think it would be more benificial to be working on illusions, datw's, drifters, whirls, dlo's and eggbeaters along with spins, ducks and dives. in the long run those are the building blocks to the bigger moves.
Dear Sir, I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to make a worlds 07 muffinman special. I will be too busy preparing to move and I have 3 more shifts than normal, + I do not have the source files anymore. I apologize. -Soup
-Yeah I'm sure I had some type of stress fracture with shins, and I took time off (around 3 weeks) and that helped a lot. Also again, the mats really help tremendously and I owe most of my shin health to that. But I agree with coral calcium supplements, and also glucosamine condroidant for joints. Though I was just having a conversation today where someone said glucosamine takes anywhere from 2 months to a year to feel the effects, so who knows on that one.
-Bags are looking really good!
C-Fan wrote:And yeah, the D and D stuff made me crack up too.
Thanks for the input, Chris.
I'm already taking glucosamine-whatever-whatever, at Peng's + Andrew's suggestion. Andrew told me that it might take up to a year to feel affects, so yeah. I dunno. It's worth it if it helps at all. Man, though, if I pick up that Silica and then the Calcium, that's gonna be pricey and add up real fast... I'm going to try to remember to ask my doctor about these supplements on Tuesday. Thanks again for the posts
Here's my latest bag.
I felt really Halloweeny, stitching it today!
I actually meant to make it for Byrin, to replace the one that died, but it turned out a bit smaller, because of some compensating I tried to make up for with mistakes I made on the last couple of bags. You can't tell too well in the photo, but it's a touch smaller. Andrew might like it.
#030
So, I'm hoping that after 10 more I will be stitching more consistently, and well, I hope. It's kind of sucky that I can't play, and so can't even test out my own bags. Manna has been an awesome tester, though. He's gone through, like, 2-4 of my bags already I also kind of think that it would be radical to be, like, Byrin's official sponsor, or something. He really liked the bag I gave him, so I want to make one just as good -- that won't pop -- and send him.
Beside a couple of bags that I like. The orange and blue one is soooo choice. Probably similar to the one I gave Byrin, except that at this point I stopped melting, so none of them have popped a stitch since. So yeah, this orange is sooo soft and thin, and I love it!!
Cool
Let's do it!
I will totally send you another when I have one that is worthy. They're still gonna be testers for a bit, but I hope they won't pop stitches.
I will also be Andrew Grant's official sponsor... if he wants My bags aren't Andrew's ideal bag, though, and I'm certainly not versatile enough right now to be able to accommodate that. Maybe once I'm stitching more consistently, I will make a "mini" template, and figure out a good fill ratio for a fuller Grant-esque bag.
Well I should at least make you one bag that is good.
I'll show you this orange and brown one when I get back. Maybe you will like it.
It turns out that I am going to send Ken a bag to test out too.
I'll try to send one out to Ken and one to Byrin within a week or so. Marita is going to have a ton of schoolwork to do while I am visiting, so I figure I will probably make a significant amount of bags. I plan to work on one on the plane there too.
Results from doctor's appointment
So I had my doctor's appointment today. I told my specialist that I thought I had stress fractures from hacky sack, based on some research that I did, and the symptoms that seemed to fit. He asked if I'd had x-rays, and I said no, but that that's what I was hoping for by going to him. He said that it's unlikely that I would get fractures from lateral impact, or whatever it is he said (I assume he thought this because he has no idea what footbag is, and what way is there to explain it without showing someone? "You jump around landing really hard..." -- I used this example on a friend a couple days ago and he was, like, "Riiiiight."
He also said that fractures are most likely to not turn up in x-rays, which I had read. So I went for the x-rays anyway, and wait around. And then the doctor comes and gets me and he's, like, "I'm sorry to say that you were right." (or something), and it turns out that I have a fracture, one in each leg. A kind of weird thing about it, is that it is in my fibula (the smaller of the two bones? I'm not sure if I got that right), and on the other side of my leg from where the pain is... He said that it's really rare, and that he can't remember the last time that he saw this. So he basically said to rest, and that he will call for an MRI within 3-4 weeks, to look into this further. I asked about Bamboo Sil and Carbon Calcium, and he said that neither were proved to work. He also said that the thing about anti-inflammitories being bad for fractures is speculation, and that he doesn't think proper test have been done to prove that theory. He did say that Ibuprofen is a low-strength anti-inflammitory, though, and shouldn't do any damage, but that if I am worried, to switch to a pain killer like tylenol. I also asked briefly about exercises that I looked up on the internet, and he said, "Sure", or something. So I will do toe taps and this one other impact-less exercise that is another variation on toe-raises.
A lot of the exercises I looked up involve jumping hard and landing hard on just your heels... and that just sounds ridiculous and really bad for you... so I'm not going to do that... I'll mostly do nothing, and rest like he said. He also said that Glucosamine whatever hasn't really been proved affective either, but I'm about to pop one right now.
Severe back pain
So yeah, that's the update.
I've started having severe back pain again, lately. Like I just huuuuuurt. My dad just thumped me for about 20-30 minutes, and that was okay. He's not great at it though. I may ask to borrow it to bring to Lethbridge, so Marita and I can thump away. And maybe used the machine too. Actually, that's gotta be one of the greatest things about being attached -- mutual back rubs!! Incredible. Plus, in Toronto she got this bar of, like... something that you rub in, and it's supposed to sooth your muscles. I'm thinking about the thumper, though, because the mutual part of back rubs is so harsh when my back is this bad... it just makes it worse, putting that much elbow grease into something (I'm kind of awesome at back rubs/massage). So I'm hoping that just holding a machine, using less arm muscles will be easier one me, plus it feels pretty good.
wow, erik, bilateral fibular fractures!!! That's crazy!!! you are right, the fibula is the little lower leg bone on the out side of the leg, and is not a weight bearing bone. it doesn't support weight and so isn't greatly affected by impact. interesting. [wild spectualtion] i wonder if it might have been caused by all the reverse whirls, and the sudden stop of impacting the ground? the force would still be carried laterally and inferiorly through the fibula.[/wild speculation] very interesting... i'm gonna ask one of my profs about it tomorrow.
where is the back pain located? lower, mid? i'm wondering because we were just learning about postural deviations a while ago and alot of it is caused by over developped and tight muscles in the chest, arms and legs.
Cool. Let me know about your findings!
The back pain is my lowerest back. I've had this for some years. Last year in Toronto it flared up REALLY badly, and I had to leave work and, like, take a couple days off, if I remember. It just hurt UNBEARABLY to stand, or even do anything. That's when I started taking robaxecet. I didn't take it for a while, but I've taken a couple the past couple days, because it is getting pretty bad again. Like... yeah, it hurts a lot. My back is EXTREMELY tight. Like Marita has always said it feels like bone, it's that tough. I also have REALLY tight, inflexible hamstrings, so based on what you're saying that could be a factor (although, it could totally be due to my massive, overly developed chest and arms. HRRRAAAAA!!!) Actually, my athletic therapist from a couple of years ago said that my back pain might be the cause of my tight hip flexor... Something about a misaligned pelvis, or some such chiropractic mumbo jumbo. He worked with a chiropractic firm, so I suppose he was certainly biased. He also didn't end up helping me at ALL... (hundreds of dollars later...)
I was sitting in the little patient room thinking about my bad back, and my bad hip, and my bad knees, and my bad shins, and could only logically think that something terrible is bound to happen to my ankles, or something... like... Things are just going downhill. Literally.
"Gee Erik, you don't have very good luck with footbag injuries" -- footbag friend.
Damn dude. My problem is all in my tibia..and I didn't even have a fracture let alone two. Just microfracture BS. You actually saw the black line? Are they going to put a rod in you?
I just discovered using shin strengthening rubber bands to tie ice against your leg works really well.
talked to my pathology prof (who is the head of the Manatoba Athletic Therapist's Association and works as a medical officer for all the pan-am/ olympic games canadian teams) and told him more or less what you told me, and he said pretty much this:
Obviously without him being able to see your x-rays, talk to you about your symptoms and to understand you activities, he can't identify the mechanisms that could have lead to your fractures, but it's uncommon to have fibular stress fractures, because it's non weight bearing. the fact that it's bilateral indicates that it's not some sort of one-off injury, like you got kicked in the leg, but that there are internal mechanisms at work and should be a red flag to your physician. that being said it would also depend on if the fractures are in the same general area bilaterally (like both in the middle as opposed to one high and one low, both fractures running in the same planes, both ih=n the front, back, sides, etc. the more similar they are the more it can be concluded that its the same mechanisms at play). he agrees with taking time off, as your physician suggested, and agrees with having an MRI done. he also would recomend getting blood work done to identify possible nutritional factors and to check other blood stuff. as we place greater stress on bone, it should be increasing in size, strength and density by taking up calcium from the blood assuming we allow adequate rest time between bouts of work. a lack of dietary calcium or and inability of the bone to adequately take up calcium could be factors. ofcourse it could be caused by a certain movement that you do that while playing.
regarding psilocybe's question: i doubt they will even put you in a cast, let alone put rods in you leg.
Erik Chan wrote:The back pain is my lowerest back... I also have REALLY tight, inflexible hamstrings, so based on what you're saying that could be a factor... Actually, my athletic therapist from a couple of years ago said that my back pain might be the cause of my tight hip flexor... Something about a misaligned pelvis, or some such chiropractic mumbo jumbo.
lower back pain is often associated with tight hipflexors. tight pecs, abs and arms are more common for upper back pain, so your ripplingness isn't the problem My back pain disappeared at the same time as my hip pain did, mostly through streching. one of your major hip flexors (psoas major) runs from your lower spine through your abdomin to attach to your upper leg bone (femur). imagine a piece of string attached to you leg and running through your stomach to your lower back. if it's long enough, it lets you stand up straight, no problem. now shorten that string. in order to stand up straight your have to do 1 of 2 things (and i'm over simplifying this alot): 1- bend at the knees and keep your back in a normal position, thus bringing your thigh closer to your lower back to allow for the short string. or 2- keep you knees straight, bend forward at the hip and arch your back, thus bringing your lower back closer to you thigh to allow for the short string. since walking around all the time with your knees slightly bent is fairly awkward, the lumbar vertebrae get pulled forward towards the thigh inorder to maintain an upright posture which causes pain.
tight hamstrings, through similar mechanisms can pull the hips out of alignment and force the back to twist and contort in a similar manner to maintain proper posture.
Also, spending alot of time in a chair (like sitting at a computer surfing modified, haha) with poor posture causes the lumbar vertebrae to curve backwards (and causes the hip flexors, and hamstrings to shorten). the disc between the lumbar vertebrae are made of cartilage rings and have a squishy gel in the center. this position pushes down on the front of the discs and streches them at the back. the pressure on the front can push the jelly center (nucleus pulposis) backwards, and in combination with the streching at the back can cause the cartilage rings (annulus fibrosis) to tear, causing alot of pain.
my fingers are getting sore...
so, what does this mean? strech your hammies, strech you hip flexors and mainain proper posture when sitting down.
Yeah. Both filbulae look the same. In the xrays, the bone shows up as white-ish, and the hollow shows up as negative space, or whatever. So, where there should be hollow near the bottom of my filbulae, the white seems to take up almost the entire width of that portion... I kind of forget what he said about it. Like I don't remember why it was white there.... but that's where the fractures were.
I asked about calcium, though, and mentioned my lactose intolerance, and he said not to worry about it, because my bones look really healthy otherwise.
Naw. I don't think it's reverse whirls. Certainly not regular reverse whirls. Maybe spinning ones I impact pretty hard, or, like, blurry ducking symposium... The way you do them, you don't smack your foot really hard at the last second like I do... it looks less detrimental. I'm just, like, made of glass or something.
So, no hacky = more stitching.
Montana?
I'm out of town right now and it's pretty fun. There are these huuuge hills everywhere, called "kulies", or something, and it's amazing. I still haven't had a chance to go walking in them yet. Apparently there are rattlesnakes everywhere, but there are some nice paths. I'm going to try to extend my trip (though I'm having trouble figuring out how on the Air Canada website), because we want to go on a trip to Montana and stay at this hot springs hotel, and then go to this other nice hotel a bit further South, and then check out the galcier park on the way back North. It seems silly that I might end up in Montana but not see Kevin Crowley.
Stitching
So anyway, I stitched a bag for Byrin. It's green and pink (#031). People always say the exact facile colours, but I have no idea how they remember them Like, I think Petite Pois is the green... and... I don't know the other. The only time I see the colour names are when I actually order the fabric... seriously... how do people know unless they study them or something? Anyway, yeah. I'm almost done a bag for another friend, it's very brightly coloured, as requested (#032). I might finish today.. I guess it depends what else we're doing. And I've cut an all yellow bag for Kevin as a thank you for that incredible video that he made for me (#033)! And after that I really want to make a yellow and red bag... though I might take a break from yellow first. Any suggestions for colour combos/patterns? I get so bored not being able to think up something interesting.
Oh yeah, my scale is messed up. I opened my suitcase after my flight, a week ago, and it only reads "out2". If anybody knows what that means, or how to fix it, pleeeease help! I may end up buying another... though I want it to be soon, because I want to fill these bags while I'm here! Maybe I can send them out before I get back to Winnipeg, if I can find a scale.
Nice PMs
I've received a lot of super nice PMs lately. I got, like, super mega compliments from Brian on my bags, even though the only one he saw was a really early one from Worlds. I talked to Dave about my style, and he said it is good, except for blurry clippers. I was never really sure about my style. Like, I think most people must not see their own style, you know? Like, kind of like how you can't really hear your own voice unless you hear it back on a tape recorder, and then you're all like, "Eew." So that was relieving, because I knew he would be blatantly honest. It's weird, though... lots of really good players do have really sloppy style, and it makes me wonder if they know... like, I wouldn't want to tell them... but I want them to know, so they can improve if they want. Just like my brother has really bad breath, but I don't want to hurt his feelings, but also want him to know so he's not embarassed... Anyway... What else. Well I saved a bunch of PMs recently, and they were all quite nice.
Hacky trades + lead use
Oh yeah, and trades too. Some people have asked to trade hacky sacks, but I keep saying no, because I'm not completely happy with them yet (do people usually trade before they are, like, "done training?"), but I've kind of forgotten a lot of those people... like who asked. I should make a list, or something. But I think when I'm ready, I'll make the title of my footblog something, like, "want to trade footbags?" or something. Some really good stitchers want to trade, and that's excited. Johnny, and I think Brian maybe... maybe Waylon? I forget. I think Dave might have kind of wanted to try one, but I know that he hates lead. I kind of want tungsten or bismuth, but at the same time, I, like, just read that Hania uses lead, I think... lots of stitchers do. I feel a little unsafe about, mostly after opening up and repairing that Eskimo Joe bag and getting the residue all over my fingers... but I don't know. I can definitely see Dave's concern... especially if the bag goes out to a household with either a large pet (cat or dog, etc), or, like... a baby!! So, yeah... not sure how I feel about that, but will continue to use lead because it's all I have right now and it's not like I'm selling or anything anyway. I will definitely send a note saying, "contains lead", because that is considerate.
I'm kind of so used to being injured that I'm just not even phased anymore. Like, "Oh, no footbag for a couple months? What's new?" It's kind of sad...
FLUFFY CREAM THICK TOAST!
Oh yeah! There's, like, a single bubble tea shop in this town, as far as I know, but just a couple of days ago I tried toast for the first time!! Like, bubble tea shops usually have toast, but I've never tried it before. I always wanted to, to know what it was about. So I got "Fluffy Cream Thick Toast", and it was incredible! I also had Lychee Calpico green tea bubble tea, which was incredible! I'm hoping Marita is bringing me home a strawberry calpico in 8 minutes!!!!!! But yeah, the Fluffy Cream?? Holy!!! It tasted like... pineapple bun!! One of my favourite foods! Except, like...maybe more creamy.. and a bit more crunchy. Holy is that stuff good!! When I get home and see how much money I have I am going to look into ordered toast supplies when I make my next bubble tea supplies order. YUMMY!!!!!
(They also had a Halloween special on shredded pork toast. To my FAT friends who have tried my "pork carpet", that should sound interesting...)
From what I know about fibular stress fractures, they are usually due to more twisting forces than impact forces. Are you an over-pronator? Are your lower-leg muscles especially tight also?
It's true, the glucosamine won't help much with your fracture, but should help joint wear-and-tear. I wonder if daily stretching now that you can't play footbag will help you reduce the tightness in your hip flexors and hamstrings. From my sports injury and training classes, this will be a good time to massage and stretch those lower-leg muscles. With the massages, start massaging when you're no longer swollen or in severe pain. www.sportsinjuryclinic.net is a fairly reliable source with good diagrams and step-by-step instructions.
Maybe even look into some Yin Yoga for that lower-back and hamstring tightness/pain. Increasing flexibility in a very important aspect of remaining injury-free.
I don't like lead either for that same reason. It freaks me out, and I don't like the idea of it washing down my drain and coating my clothes when I wash bags in my laundry. Steel bags rust, but not if you wring them out thoroughly or throw them in the dryer. So I'd rather a little more care when I clean bags than be freaked out.
Get well soon Erik. I hope you can play hacky again when you move back to Toronto.
Andrew could, but Andrew is like, a level 60 battle mage, and Manna is, like, a level 10 scout. So yeah, that was exciting. And I want to make more bags. I have a couple ideas.
I also kind of think that it would be radical to be, like, Byrin's official sponsor, or something. He really liked the bag I gave him, so I want to make one just as good -- that won't pop -- and send him.
