I went back to physio this week. I saw K about my shoulder and W about my back. I wasn't feeling too good before either but the best physios are good at making you feel better in mind and body.

It turns out that my left shoulder blade is not rotating properly which leads to stiffness in my upper back. It should be coming down another inch when I lift my arms above my head. K showed me this with video. She taped it for 24 hours which felt surprisingly good, then massaged it and gave me some exercises to do at home. The first exercise is a "push-up plus", done leaning against the wall, with elbows up and hands at 12 o'clock. As I push away from the wall ("push-up"), I have to stretch the back of my shoulders too ("plus") without sticking out my chest or curving my spine. It requires some concentration, but physically is OK.

The second exercise is standing facing a corner with both forearms against the walls. My upper arms are out at 90 degrees and form a single plane with my shoulders and back. My feet are together. I concentrate on pulling my shoulder blades back and down, then try to lift my hands off the walls so that only my elbows are still resting on the walls. This is to strengthen the muscle which pulls the shoulder blades down. I have only done it twice and - like core work - is hard to feel anything until you actually do it for a few days. It was good to have my wife there to film the exercises so that I do them correctly when I get home.

I should mention that while the taping felt great, I woke up with nasty blisters under the tape in my armpit area. K says it's the zinc in the tape which unfortunately can't be manufactured any differently otherwise the tapes end up not sticking properly.

As for my back, it turns out that my gym / floor exercises have helped but I am doing some of them incorrectly and some can be changed. I only need to go once a month now, which is encouraging. It's still going to take me around 60 minutes to do all the stretching and floor exercises required, but with the new modifications I no longer have exercises which hurt my right SIJ.

I still don't sleep uninterrupted because of left shoulder, right hip or knee pain, but it's better than before and I am starting to dream again. I get the sense that I am making progress, but very slowly.

I am still taking cod liver oil, glucosamine and multi-vitamin every day.

Having seen myself on video and in quite a few mirrors, I realize I'd like to lose some weight, so will stop wine and chocolate for a week and start doing cardio again in the gym as my knees permit. I just need to find some scales to satisfy my need for data.