Marie-Berthe Paquette, 102 years old, Montreal, 2016. (Arianne Clément/GroundTruth)
Growing Old – Matthew Arnold
What is it to grow old?
Is it to lose the glory of the form,
The lustre of the eye?
Is it for beauty to forgo her wreath?
—Yes, but not this alone.
Is it to feel our strength—
Not our bloom only, but our strength—decay?
Is it to feel each limb
Grow stiffer, every function less exact,
Each nerve more loosely strung?
Yes, this, and more; but not
Ah, ’tis not what in youth we dreamed ’twould be!
’Tis not to have our life
Mellowed and softened as with sunset glow,
A golden day’s decline.
’Tis not to see the world
As from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,
And heart profoundly stirred;
And weep, and feel the fullness of the past,
The years that are no more.
It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young;
It is to add, immured
In the hot prison of the present, month
To month with weary pain.
It is to suffer this,
And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel.
Deep in our hidden heart
Festers the dull remembrance of a change,
But no emotion—none.
It is—last stage of all—
When we are frozen up within, and quite
The phantom of ourselves,
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost
Which blamed the living man.
Unlike the poem states – dievca still feels flashes of being young. she has hints and memories of free movement, but she wonders if this poem applies to her Mother’s age when memories dim and movement is slim. Note: that dievca is saying this as she is elevating and heating a knee which was painful upon awaking -trying to remember her name.
dievca is a degenerate…in the Physical sense.
she knows that she has damage in her body from being a former elite athlete,
but it is her everyday actions that trigger episodes of pain.
Taking care of her Mom/Dad at Thanksgiving blew her over the edge this time.
(Turns out her Dad had a UTI and needed a hospital stay with antibiotics to heal)
Anyways…
Her work with a Physical Trainer has been cumulative and she can now apply her own fixes.
The Foam Roller is an important tool in her recovery.
There are a number of foam rollers available at the gyms or available to buy – its confusing. Here’s a guide to help with what type of foam roller does what.
Foam Roller Guide
Foam rollers come in various densities and shapes. Below is a list of the different kinds of rollers you might come across and how each one helps take your physical health/recovery to the next level.
A soft foam roller is perfect for beginners and can be used by almost anyone since it’s the most gentle of them all. This option is great for those who are just getting used to foam rolling or those who are looking for a more rejuvenating (and less excruciating) recovery session. If you’re a total first-timer, this one from Spri is a solid option. It’s soft and has the most give. ($22; amazon.com)
This one’s for the athlete who has super-tight muscles that need a little extra love or for anyone who’s experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (what happens when it’s been two or three days since your last workout and you’re still sore.) It’s denser than a soft roller, which is more effective at relieving tight muscles and trigger points. A firm roller aligns muscle tissue and breaks up the beginnings of adhesions or muscle strains. It can also help with lymphatic drainage—which carries waste away from the tissues—and decreases inflammation.”($38; amazon.com)
Only use this style if you’re experienced with foam rolling and are ready for plenty of hurt-so-good pain. It provides little-to-no give, and the textured surface targets knots and kinks. Look for a roller like this one from TriggerPoint with a literal grid pattern design. ($35; tptherapy.com)
An even more advanced level than a grid roller. This roller should only be used on a healthy athlete, as it is extra firm, and the bumps built into the roller provide more focused trigger point relief and reportedly stimulate deeper layers of muscle. The roller works to increase the flexibility in your soft tissue and provide long-lasting pain relief. In other words, the temporary pain is worth it. Try the RumbleRoller.($45; amazon.com)
The ultimate player in the foam-rolling game. A vibrating foam roller takes the effectiveness of a deep-tissue foam roller and ups the ante with vibration technology. The goal is to minimize how much pain you actually feel (kind of like how those vibrating massage chairs feel good, not painful) while relaxing tight muscles, so you can spend less time and effort on those tender-to-the-touch areas and net better results. This version is much pricier than your standard roller, but worth it if you’re serious about relief.($200; amazon.com)
dievca is a degenerate…in the Physical sense.
