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Hi

It is good to be back again.

On June 26th I was hit on the side of my truck . The rear axle was pushed over about three inches. The rear frame was moved about 1/4″. The truck was declared a write off by ICBC and I received a large sum of money to replace my Suburban.

I have been off tennis for a few weeks. Almost two weeks ago my Dr said I was allowed to practise against the wall as along as I did not use full strokes and I was allowed do some light spin/kick serves. I have not felt well until this morning. I awoke at 5:15 and opened the windows to air out the summer heat then proceeded to wash the kitchen floor.

I quit the muscle relaxants five days ago. This is the beginning of the sixth day. On the forth day I went through a type of withdrawal having to sleep all day and could not see straight. I was irritable. BUT… I feel good today and will not go back on those brutal pills.

In the accident the vehicle was hit on the side and the incurring physical result to my body was whiplash. I could not rotate my neck fully right or left and I could not tilt my head towards my shoulders either. Lately the rotation has returned but at full rotation there is pain. My neck still cannot tilt fully and is feeling pain when trying to do so.

I have put in six hours (30 min sessions) on the wall standing twelve to fifteen feet from it tapping the ball against it doing every kind of spin I could but did not use full strokes.

I have played twice taking it very easy. The first time out was a week ago and I met a bunch of my regular tennis freinds and they hit for about an hour and a half. I took it easy and put in an hour with them. At the end I was disappointed in my performance and my neck was tired. My second time out was four days ago and I put a little more effort into it. My serve was good my shots were good. All in all a good come back performance. However the neck rotation proved to be painful during play. I would let my self go allowing the hunter to come out. But found the quick turns and neck spins cause great pain. It only took two or three of these before I told my self no more quick turns. At the end of this session I felt healthy and strong.

I have been getting treatment to my neck about 5 times a week. I have been applying heat and doing slow dynamic stretches with muscle resistance at certain intervals. The results of the treatments and my efforts have been good. I hope to have full movement and less pain in a few weeks. The advice from my physiotherapist is to get back on court ASAP to speed up my recovery.

During the time off I lost my ranking points so that means that the next time I play at the open level I will be drawn the hardest person in the tournament. It means I will be harder for me to make points. I am heading off to a tournament soon and will play in A division and I consider this to be a rehabilitation event.

ICBC has been treating me well and I thank them for the help they have provided.

I love tennis.

8.5 3095