injured.

[johnny]

I love golf. I've dedicated my entire summer to seeing if i can regain any of my game of my youth. I've averaged 27 holes a day since may 4th and almost 200 rounds for the year. It never occurred to me that i wouldnt be able to play everyday at least thru october.
BUT! It looks like i'm out of commision for a few weeks and maybe the rest of the season. Heres what happened.
I was having a very good round last week. after 3 putting the first 2 holes, i birdied 7 and 8 to get back to even. No. 9 is a short par4 (344) with a pond in front of the green. My tee ball rolled into the edge of the pond, first time all year i had reached the pond with my drive. I had hit every green up to that point and there sat my ball amongst the reeds but dry sitting atop a bed of matted dead dried reeds. against the advice of my playing partner, i decided to go for it. I wanted to keep my greens hit streak going as well as shoot par for the nine.
So i waddled in there trying to take a fair but solid stance. A couple of test back swings showed i was going to have to whack my way thru a few reeds to get the club head to the ball. It seemed not that difficult using the slow motion of practice guide swing. And so a mighty swing took i took....about as hard as i could swing. Unfortunately, the reeds seemed to unite into a solid wall of resistance, each blade reaching out and wrapping itself around the golf shaft. The club head never even reached the ball. Steeeeeeerike one! My arms and hands had stopped cold but my body was still swinging thru the ball and following thru. ugh! I came to my senses, took a drop, made a lousy pitch but sank a 30 footer for bogey.
While putting on the 10th green, i began to feel a little stiffness setting in around my left side, so i took an "aleve" just like jim furyk says he does. At the 11th tee, i felt a definite pain as i swung. And each hole there after, the pain got worse with each swing. I ended up shooting 71 (one under) but not because i hit the ball particularly good, i just happened to putt lights-out that back nine.
The next day, i woke up and could barely move. Every little movement i made was met with great soreness from my left side. I called my ex-jock friend and he advised me to overdose and get kidney failure by taking 4 ipuprofens at a time.
Its been a week now, i'm feeling better altho still pretty sore around my upper ribs. I dont know what i did exactly...strained muscles, bruised rib, cracked rib. Whatever, i can tell its one of those it-takes-time injuries. (No, i'm not going to the doctor. I'm really pissed off at them for an incident from a recent visit. I ended up writing tham a rant letter and now i cant go back. Too embarrassed. Besides, theyre the ones with the sharp instruments).
I tried hitting a ball this morning but no good. The pain wasnt too bad but the fear of reinjuring myself was too strong. I swung like a little old man.. hey, wait a minute, i am a little old man.. oh no. Is this how it ends? Will i ever be able to get my game back IF i recover? Honestly, i dont know if i could play golf if i'm reduced to playing from the super-senior tees. I'm going to have to slowly throttle up to full power. Thats a relative term, of course.
Anyway, i was able to chip a bit around the yard today. And i can still go to the course and putt to keep my short game honed and stare longingly at the guys out there playing. And the lawn needs mowing. i guess i can do that, unfortunately.
Thats my story. No golf for a while, no tv (because the new hd signals dont reach my house), just this computer to surf the net and write posts to golf forums.

[mddubya]

Sorry to hear about your injury. Hopefully it isn't anything to bad.

If it makes you feel any better, I played way too much last summer and developed tendinitis in my left elbow. I had to take a little over a month off, and won't allow myself to play that much this year to avoid it returning. Now instead of playing 18 or 27 holes daily, I try to restrict myself to 9 holes a day, and occasionally 18 or 27.

And a doctor friend of mine told me you can take up to 1000mg of Ibuprofen at a time and not hurt yourself. Not every day, but for a while.

Oh yeah, and I'm shooting the lowest scores I've ever shot now, so you can come back after an injury. I'm 49, almost 50 btw.

[SilverUberXeno]

TAKE IT SLOW.

If you're feeling better already you probably just pulled/strained something. Just take it really, really easy. You will play a lot more golf this year, but NOT if you fail to let this heal properly. Putt and chip, but only short chips. Wait until it feels 100%, and then wait a few more days. And start back SLOW. Go to the range and start with half swings. The SECOND you feel a tinge of pain, stop.

[mddubya]

Originally Posted by SilverUberXeno

TAKE IT SLOW.

If you're feeling better already you probably just pulled/strained something. Just take it really, really easy. You will play a lot more golf this year, but NOT if you fail to let this heal properly. Putt and chip, but only short chips. Wait until it feels 100%, and then wait a few more days. And start back SLOW. Go to the range and start with half swings. The SECOND you feel a tinge of pain, stop.

Great advice here, and one other thing.

If you have grey hair, don't walk into the doctors office clutching your chest. I pulled a muscle in my rib cage last year doing basically the same thing you did. When I walked in the Doctors office holding my chest, they insisted I was having a heart attack. Even after I told them what had happened. I ended up spending 2 days in the hospital to find out, surprise, I'd pulled a muscle,

[Hoyster]

This sounds very similar to an injury I had in the spring, separated rib head. If thats the case theres no way around it you have to see a doctor to have it reset. Go to someone other than your regular doctor if you're having issues with them. I thought it was a pulled muscle in my chest or mid-back at first, but the next day I could barely breathe. I'm 26 and I had to take 3 weeks off to let it rest after having it reset, hopefully you just pulled something. Good luck with your recovery.

[MIKE1218]

Sorry to hear this John! I was hoping we could get a round in this year. Hurry up and heal before it snows. I'll be up on Friday, but my schedule will be very hectic for a while: new school, new job, etc. If you are well hopefully we can play in the fall?

edit to add: Sounds like you've got some GAME! You're gonna smoke me, I think.

[johnny]

thanks for the advice, guys. i'm going to wait it out til it feels 100% to minimize the risk of re-injuring myself. the first thing i thought of was i wouldnt be able to play in the senior club championship which is this weekend, but now i realize thats pretty unimportant.
mike, hopefully we'll get in a round later..sept/oct. i was playing over my head that day. it was some kind of perverse trick being played on me by the golf gods. "hey, lets mess with this guys mind. we'll injure his back, then let every putt go in the hole!"

[johnny]

Originally Posted by mddubya

Great advice here, and one other thing.

If you have grey hair, don't walk into the doctors office clutching your chest. I pulled a muscle in my rib cage last year doing basically the same thing you did. When I walked in the Doctors office holding my chest, they insisted I was having a heart attack. Even after I told them what had happened. I ended up spending 2 days in the hospital to find out, surprise, I'd pulled a muscle,

Thats sorta what my rant to the doctors was about. i went in there with a relatively minor problem and the next thing i know theyre pressuring me by sprinkling the conversation with "cancer" words and suggesting i sign up for a lot of expensive tests. "you're 60 yrs old, its time for cancer, can we interest you in a colonoscopy today?" "we're running a special on mri's if you act now. you might have cancer!" I walked out of there feeling like i'd been assaulted by a bunch of used car salesmen.
But, they did succeed in convincing me to have a recommended outpatient "procedure" done on my prostate. I asked "how much does it cost?". Nobody knows, but they would find out. A week later, they still dont know, but they'll find out. 2 weeks later, same thing. Now, i'm getting pissed off. They recommend i have this procedure done but they wont tell me how much it costs. I dont have insurance and i'm not just giving them a blank check. Its been seven weeks and they still havnt given me a price.
But they did manage to bill me $336 for the 15 minute consultation. So that set me off and i wrote them a letter screaming "highway robbery!" and called them a bunch of used car salesmen. lol. Now i'm too embarrrassed to go back there.
(Yes, i'm investigating insurance, but jimminy cricket, its complicated as hell. Its mindboggling)