Rolf Devinci

With May coming to an end and summer around the corner the 2023/2024 ball hockey season has finished. It was a shortened transient season of play due to continued renovations of our venue. Fortunately we were able to source a replacement recreation centre to salvage a few months of play. Between my continued recovery from my 2021 accident and an extended layoff due to venue renovations I really struggled physically during and after our games. That led to self doubt about my ability to effectively play goal at a level I expected of myself. I was ready to retire. I possess a love for the game and having ceased cycling upon advice of my neurosurgeon I decided to explore options that might mitigate the physical demands of goaltending and extend my involvement in my remaining sporting passion. Compression socks definitely helped my sixty one year old calves and Achilles tendons. A refocus of my strength training regimen to include frequent "leg days" strengthening my lower body; c...

 Today wrapped up the first half of my ball hockey season as I will miss the final Sunday because I am working a rum tasting on December18th. I am quite happy how the first half of the season played out considering I was away from the game for almost a year recovering from my accident and surgery. I will admit I feared my participation may cease due to my injuries and age but my paramedical providers got me back close to my pre accident condition. There were some dark days early in my recovery but my physiotherapist, chiropractor and masseuse told me to be patient and that soft tissue damage sometimes took time to improve. I had fears that my right ankle/calf and knees would be problematic when dealing with the up and downs and side to sides of playing goal. I was concerned my damaged glutes would hamper my endurance and conditioning to play for an extended period of time. I was worried my right wrist and shoulder would become cranky as that is my blocker/stick hand. To address tho...

 To (mis) quote Mark Twain the rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated. I am indeed still among the living but have not visited, nor posted to this blog in quite some time. It has been a chaotic couple years with the whole covid pandemic, the unexpected death of my mother in 2021 and my subsequent accident of last year. The world tried to end me twice but I managed to survive both the auto/bike collision in October and neurosurgery in December.  No need to dwell upon covid as everyone is familiar with the uncertainty, anxiety and frustrations of the pandemic. Despite the signs of aging the death of my mother in August 2021 was a shock. I had spent my birthday (July 31) with her doing my usual Saturday yard work on the farm and she seemed so good that day. Needless to say the call the following morning that she suffered a massive stroke was surreal. As the executor dealing with her estate during covid was frustrating at best. The process took far too long to be resolved, es...

My right elbow has been acting up of late with a classic case of Lateral Epicondylitis, commonly know as tennis elbow. I refer to it as hockey elbow since playing ball hockey usually causes flare ups over the course of a nine month schedule. As a goalie my right arm is my stick/ blocker side and the repetitive strain inherent in holding and manipulating the stick takes it toll. I had originally strained my arm at the gym doing clean and jerk movements with a barbell about a month ago.  I backed off the upper body strength training but noticed it getting more tender with each passing game of hockey. It came to a disabling status two Sundays past when I made a save on a rising shot to my blocker. I felt it "go" and knew I was in for a full measure of misery. Its just miserable with intense pain and stiffness that radiates down to my fingers. Simple tasks like manipulating the computer mouse at work or lifting a coffee mug is a laborious and painful task. Night tim...

Having determined that I suffered shortened hip flexors and weak glutes I began a new regimen at the gym to address the issue. Not only was it focused upon lengthening/stretching the hip flexors but also included exercises to activate the glutes, restore lower body balance and improve my overall leg and core strength. http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.ca/2017/08/tight-hip-flexors-weak-glutes-who-knew.html To recap the issue is this..... "Prolonged sitting and activities like jogging and cycling can lead to tight hip flexors and muscle imbalances (weak glutes?) which contribute to low back pain. Tight hip flexors create an anterior pull on the pelvis known as an anterior pelvic tilt. This alters posture and also inhibits, or turns off, the opposing muscle group, the gluteus maximus, leading to muscle imbalances...." Cooper Institute    Two months into my new approach I have realized excellent results. Not o...