Returned to the gym yesterday. First time since I went sailing over the handlebars and landed on my head. It's been 10 weeks.
Felt good to throw around some iron. Everybody came up, asking, "Dude, where you been?"
Felt stronger than I expected. No major problems. Neck is still stiff, but no longer painful. My left hip however, felt a little weird on some exercises. Same with my right shoulder.
Fortunately I was in decent shape before wiping out, having mountain-biked regularly prior. But after a month or so of inactivity, the body begins to lose tone. Endurance wanes. You start to feel yucky.
A trainer there, who used to be a physical therapist, said I "need to get increased blood flow" to my neck .. to promote healing. "You can do that," she added, "by applying heat or massage. Both techniques dilate."
So afterwards, I hit the sauna—first the steam, then the dry (dry is hotter). The neck definitely feels better today. I also been getting regular massages, twice weekly.
Ran into my physical therapist at the coffee shop last weekend. "Call me this week," she said, "and we'll schedule an appointment. It's fine if you need to bring the bug."
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I've been reluctant to do that cuz therapy is painful (& exhausting), but maybe now I will, since my massage therapist left for vacation.
On a geekier note, here's a neat, little tool you might enjoy » Launchy. Read the short PDF that comes with the installer. The program is accessed by pressing ALT+Spacebar. Pretty cool (and free).