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General Update - Bear
Bear went to his first PT session yesterday. Most of the time was spent with diagnosis movements, which led the therapist to warn Bear that he may have lesions in his shoulder and if he doesn't he certainly close to getting one. This is a huge concern. If he has a lesion, he will require shoulder surgery and he'll basically be finished with swimming for the year, meaning he would miss his entire senior year. The therapist said the treatment will let her know for sure if lesions are present.
Following the diagnostic period, she massaged his trap and lats, and he was in a significant amount of pain during the procedure. They will be doing some dry needling and may do some cupping as well as the massage. He's been told he can continue to swim while he's in therapy, but the problem we are having is convincing him to take it easy. His mindset right now is to swim as much as he can but still fall under the doctor's orders. For instance, the doctor said to back off his yardage 25% to 50%, so he immediately started calculating 25%. The therapist said she felt 40% off at a minimum, so he calculated 40%, with thoughts of increasing each subsequent week. The boy has always been a grinder, which is exactly what made him so successful in the difficult events, and I admire him for his dedication, but this mindset is also what led to his current situation as he attempted to swim through discomfort. Now we have got to get him to understand his best option is to back off long enough to allow the PT to work, then slowly ramp back up. Trying to keep the yardage up will only prolong the amount of time the PT will require to provide a benefit (or it could completely negate the PT altogether).
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