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So I’m not sure when the original tear for this actually happened – definitely several months, and maybe it just kept not quite healing all the way before re-tearing. I don’t remember feeling any kind of pop or snap, just an extreme tightness that I fought through and forced that side into the split I wanted. Note to self: DON’T DO THAT!!!

Just got off the phone with my inlaw (she spoke with coworkers who are RNs, PTs, OTs, and maybe a couple others). They think it sounds like something very deep like a tendon or ligament, not a muscle or that would have been better by now. From what she was saying, my options are limited, but to definitely start with rest and avoiding doing anything that hurts. And it might take as long as six months for this ligament to heal. If it’s not starting to improve in a few weeks, she agrees with my plan to find an orthopedic doctor (not a surgeon) and look for nonsurgical ways to deal with this, though she doesn’t expect physical therapy to help much.

If I’m lucky, I won’t need surgery and I haven’t done permanent damage, but I’ll have to be careful of my mechanics and techniques I use for the rest of my life.

Phoenix – I might try some epsom salt soaks! This aches while I work my desk job, so now that I’m home all I want to do is stand or lie down. 🙁

Thanks for the love y’all!

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Thanks for all the conversation here! I promise I didn’t ask about this to get people into a debate about how to treat a not-exactly-diagnosed injury. What almost everyone has in common here is avoiding using the injured area for a period of time. I’m starting with two weeks of trying not to stretch that spot at all (it’s only stretching and sometimes sitting that hurts, not walking, squats, etc.). Crossfit coach friend said I can/should work above and below the tear, so using foam roller and lacrosse ball on my lower back and lower hamstrings probably won’t make it worse.

My inlaw who works with physical therapists talked to her coworkers today, and she/they think what I’ve got sounds like a torn ligament. GeidreB is right and I do plan on seeing my doctor and probably going to a physical therapist if he tells me to, but I’ll take my time over these next two weeks and see if that helps anything.

I am happy to see other people had similar injuries and came back from it! I’m the kind of person who tends to jump to worst case scenario, which here would be something that forces me to take a long/indefinite break from pole. But, I can totally still be working shoulders, back, core, etc. so that’s something I won’t really have to worry about.

I think more than anything I wanted to hear this injury won’t kill pole for me. For that, thank you all!

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Thanks, Phoenix. I’ll lay off stretching/rolling that side. I honestly thought I was helping it by rolling out any scar tissue that might have accumulated, but we’ll see when I end up at the doctor.

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Chiming in here – I love Veena’s Method too! I’ve read it once, but am not quite done with my thorough study. When I am, I’ll probably start dragging in victims-AHEM-willing guinea pigs-COUGH- s~t~u~d~e~n~t~s! So that I can practice teaching lol.

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I’ve kinda been wondering about shoes too. More specifically, getting something like foot undies because I practice on EVA foam mats in my garage (concrete floor sucks for doing rolls), but the grip of the mat makes it hard to pivot. I’m glad to hear people say the foot undies and similar stuff are effective!

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Fun!!!

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Thanks, Veena! I struggle from not coming from a dance background (we’re not counting musical theatre chorus), but if I stare at the moves long enough and sometimes even diagram them in sequence, I’m starting to put something together that looks like a routine lol.

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OMFF THIS LADY! This is amazing!

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Most of the times that I’ve had this happen, it was because I was too hungry or too tired and didn’t have enough energy (note: I like to train while I’m *a little* hungry, but when I’m ravenous, the good strength moves just don’t happen. Still working on refining my optimum window between last meal and working out.). Sometimes it’ll be because it’s a weird day for my allergies/asthma so my lungs start saying NOPE before the rest of me does.

Glad you got your invert back!

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Thanks for the responses here! I’m definitely studying the Veena Method, and Discoveries Dance is on my list of courses to keep researching. If this is helpful to anyone else, the head honcho of Spin City has been very helpful and informative in email correspondence, and also linked me to the facebook group for people who have taken Spin City. To sum up in one line what I’ve been reading about Spin City’s courses, they look like a good group to go with. Research continues!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/146831478795278/search/?query=online

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Man, there are some awesome ideas here! I don’t have much new to add and I don’t do a ton of freestyling myself, but! Because I look at moves on my computer in the house and then go practice pole in the garage, being in a different physical space makes my brain forget all the cool stuff I wanted to do – so I write it down. If I think the name of a move or combo isn’t that descriptive and I’m afraid I’ll forget what I meant, I even do a little sketch of the move/combo. Not sure if that is applicable to anyone else, but I think visually enough that sketching and diagramming moves often help me execute them better.

I love the literal Bag of Tricks idea! That’s funny, because I’m a D&D nerd and was thinking about making a list of moves that I would roll dice to put together a mini routine to see how that goes.

Some of the best visual artists say someone’s own style develops from a starting point where you’re ripping off your favorite artists. For example, people inspired by Disney princesses might start by studying and ripping off Glenn Keane’s style before developing and maturing into their own style of drawing. So – if you have some favorite pole performers, study their style and rip it off until enough inspirations mix together and blossom into your own style.**

**I hope that paragraph makes sense. I know it’s not exactly in line with “How do I remember moves??!” but it’s part of a thought process that’s helping me go from pole-as-a-workout to “Ok, I’m, like, actually ~dancing~ now.”

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Oooh – glad this looks like it’s been resolved! My pole shifts on static too. It shifts enough that I just haven’t been using static mode. I’ll try to get a hold of X-Pole too, see if they can help a pole that’s apparently from circa 2008.

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I love the term Veener, and I’m totally one, for several reasons. First, there’s no longer a pole studio in my town (second, the instructor of the studio that used to be here – she…um…had professionality issues). Third, Veena is everything I need in an instructor and I’ve made more progress in the last month than I had in the last SIX months before subscribing.

If you’re waiting for a sale on the year-long subscriptions, I backtracked through all of her Instagram posts for the last year and counted the weeks between posts that advertised a sale. The longest she went during late 2014-2015 was about seven weeks, most sales were about every 4-5 weeks. There was a back to school sale recently, so it shouldn’t be too long before the next one!

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Happy birthday, Veena, you glorious queen!

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This is such a great read and I’m so glad you shared it! I’m starting a folder in my future-studio binder labeled “Social Responsibility,” and this is totally going in it! No one should be kept away from pole because of their size!!! Just as the general community, never mind instructors/business owners, we all have a responsibility to help make every student feel welcome.