About ten years ago I was hanging out on the back deck of the family home in Winnipeg. We had a slingshot and were taking shots at a hanging wicker bell of my mother’s. It was a target, and we were completely surprised if we ever hit it.
The problem was that I was posing while pulling back the slingshot. With my left hand holding back the acorn, I held the slingshot in my right hand and rotated my right arm from above my head towards the target. It seemed harmless at the time.
The next day my right shoulder was in major pain. The shoulder joints and muscles are a complicated part of the body. (Think about it. It’s the only body part that can rotate 360 degrees.) The slingshot was putting a stress on them and something must have snapped. I was prescribed Ibuprofin. Eventually the pain stopped. I forget how long it took, but the camping trip we took on the Mantario trail was not pleasant for me.
I think my shoulder got permanently weakened. Five years later I went on the West Coast Trail. After that event my shoulder hurt again for awhile after. I probably stressed it again and the old injury acted up. That pain went away too.
A week ago, last Friday, my shoulder hurt. Anti-inflammatory made the pain go away, so I stopped worrying about it. Yesterday though I went grocery shopping and was carrying a heavy basket around. I woke up in the middle of the night with real pain. I couldn’t get back to sleep. I tried some aspirin, but it didn’t help that much. My shoulder has been in pain all day. I still went on the evening run, but afterwards I stopped off and picked up some Ibuprofin.
Hope I get to sleep tonight.