A few weeks ago I got Covid, unfortunately it wasn’t the mild strain, I got All The Symptoms on the list and it lasted a good 10 days. Apart from the illness being pretty awful, my recovery to full health is taking far longer than I expected, I’m definitely better but I still have periods of exhaustion, muscular pain and other Covid related symptoms seem to return every now and again.
One of the things I noticed and it’s why I’m writing today, is my body not only ached but there was noticeable pain in what I’d describe as my weak areas, my lower back, neck, ribs but also interestingly my right forearm and right leg. The pain in my limbs is a weird sensation, slightly nerve like but weak, restricted and causing the odd spasm in certain muscles. As a movement teacher I often observe sensations in my body and try and understand them, this felt muscular, maybe from underuse - I haven’t been this sedentary in a long time.
One of the first things I started doing during my recovery was Pilates, breath work and corrective exercise - this definitely helped and my back, rib and neck pain went away as I knew they would. I started walking, which at first made my exhaustion worse but slowly I’ve got used to it and it now feels good to walk. The arm and leg pain was still there and it was getting frustrating as I was doing everything I could think of to help it. Finally yesterday I felt strong enough to do some weights, just a few sets of squats, lunges, shoulder press and rows, today my arm and leg pain is noticeably better, I generally feel more balanced and connected in my body and my strength is definitely returning. I instinctively knew a combination of everything I usually do would help my body recover, just at a less intense level.
I wanted to share this as recovery from anything takes time - whether it’s an illness, an injury or a muscular skeletal condition, there’s not a time limit on your recovery and everyone is different. I know I still need to be very mindful of how much movement I do and what kind of effort I put in. I think it’s so important to listen to your body, get quality sleep, adequate rest during the day and try not to push beyond your limits. Your progress, however slow, will happen and I think the most important thing is to trust that you will get better.
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