Working Those Shoulder Muscles

For six weeks now, I have been in physical therapy—two sessions per week—to work on the muscles sidelined by my broken collarbone in June. I have clearly made strides. Only two problems remain:

• I have difficulties reaching across my body with my right arm to my left armpit.
• My shirt is never tucked into my pants, as my right arm can’t do the tucking in on the right side.

One negative aftereffect is that the many exercises I perform have resulted in a low level of pain as my muscles attempt to adjust.

I can see myself doing some exercises even when Medicare stops paying for my therapy. I might even buy a pulley like the one above, although I will by no means look so cute as the young woman in the above photo.

Will I ever be 100% back to normal? Perhaps, but I rather think that some problems will remain. In the past, I broke my right and left shoulders. To this day, these two fractures affect my ability to raise my arms high, should I ever want to do so. Perhaps I will always wear my shirts on the outside of my pants. Perhaps my left armpit will always be slightly stinkier than my right armpit.

Life goes on.