Hey I’m writing about pain again, yay!

Story Time

Back in 2017 or 2018 I started having pain in my right arm. I and one of the multiple doctors I saw at the time thought it may have been triggered by me adding in pull-ups to my workout regime. That was really the only new thing I added in and perhaps it caused my bicep to “freak out” and cause a cascade of pain that was misdiagnosed for 8 months…

I had to learn to do everything with my left hand. I was working 3 jobs and knew I had to keep working because well… medical bills. Plus I noticed that after working a little bit my muscles would warm up and make the pain a tad better. My right arm got skinnier because I was hardly using it. To this day it is a little thinner than my left arm even though I am right-handed.

X-Ray

Fast forward to physical therapy. I don’t remember if I had an X-ray of my neck just for this purpose or if it was for something else but one physical therapist looked at it and noticed a section of my cervical spine was unnaturally straight. Where the spine should have a slight curve, mine was straight.

Traction

Then we did traction on my neck. I laid down on my back, he attached a machine to my head and it pulled my head away from my body. If you’re not familiar with traction, it sounds a bit crazy but…it worked! I left that appointment feeling 80% better. The PT was surprised because he had never seen such improvement from just 1 session of traction. I don’t remember if they said it was a slipped disc or a bulged disc, but traction was an absolute lifesaver.

Therapy: What Did I Learn?

I was in regular therapy at that time and she helped me figure out what I learned from the whole experience. I learned that if I am not productive damn near constantly, nothing bad happens. The world keeps turning and I still manage to stay on top of things even though I was laid out for many hours every day.

Yoga

Back then, I remember thinking that if I had gone to my favorite yoga classes consistently that I might not have had this pain. Because yoga sort of resets the body and keeps the alignment where it should be. Even just stretching evenly from the right side to the left helps make sure one side isn’t getting overused or misused…if that makes sense!

Fast Forward to 2026

My right arm has been fine ever since it got better around 2018. Over a month ago I started having weird pain in my right arm. I assumed I slept funny and made sure to stretch it a lot. It didn’t help, then I remembered the disc issue from back in the day!

I regularly go to a pain clinic that specializes in migraines and they do some manual work sort of like massage but not really. It’s their own spin on Muscle Energy Technique, basically. I asked the PT to do traction, they don’t have the neck traction machine but he can do traction with his hands.

But mostly I have asked myself, ‘okay LeAnn… what did we learn from the pain the first time this happened?’ The answer is: to slow down, be gentle on myself, and do yoga regularly!

As of 2 or 3 weeks ago I decided to do yoga 3 times per week. I do sort of easy youtube videos so, it’s a very attainable goal, nothing too intense. I believe doing this has helped my arm pain as well as my back and hip.

Yoga and The Nervous System

Yoga also gives the nervous system a moment to just “be”. This tells your system that you are safe and it’s okay to tune into yourself and land in the present moment. This is a huge reason I fell in love with yoga a long time ago. Yes the physical benefits are huge but the meditation aspect of it does wonders.

Now for the fun part, if you’re interested in a fluffy, delectable, crazy low calorie dessert then you are in luck 😄