I finally retired from active service on the 31st of March 2022. Suddenly I found myself with a lot of free time, and in order to use fully utilise it I joined a yoga class. The teacher was nice she had a group of housewives or homemakers with her doing online yoga class. She asked me to do a few exercises offline in her house for a week and then made me join the online class. She said I was quite flexible in spite of my age and encouraged me.
In fact I was flexible and was happy to note that and refrained from doing a few difficult exercises which didn’t seem like yoga to me. It appeared more like stretching exercises which was not very appropriate for a woman of my age. However, this wise thinking did not last very long. I reached a stage where I thought I could take some risks. And when she got the group to do the plank I joined them. I did it once twice but the 3rd time something snapped on my right hand. I was in acute pain. I informed the instructor and logged out.
The instructor told me that such things happen with old age and I should use an ice pack and do some exercises. I applied the ice pack but refrained from doing exercises. I consulted a general practitioner who advised me not to strain the hand and rest it in the best possible manner. I followed this for a couple of weeks.
The pain didn’t go away in fact it only got worse. Pain killers give me some respite but I didn’t want to take them for long because I believed they could be Addictive. So I consulted an orthopedic. I was on a conservative treatment for almost 2 months. There were no tests done it was only a clinical diagnosis. I went on a trip to Nagaland and Manipur under advice from the doctor! I took the help of hello passengers in moving the luggage on and off the conveyor belt.
On my return to Mumbai, I decided to switch doctors. a battery of tests followed. It was seen that I had a muscle tear. A massive one at that! The Consequence was surgery of the right shoulder through Arthroscopy. I am recouping now. Rehab would take 3 to 6 months.
The orthopaedic joked about the 2 streams of people who provide business to him -they are the gym instructors and yoga teachers. So my advice to all enthusiastic yoga students – avoid online yoga if you are a beginner and senior citizen. Don’t get carried away when told that age is just a number. Take small steps and avoid complicated exercises.