One year anniversary to back surgery!

I know that I have other things to celebrate this year, like our 2 weddings and our pregnancy, but since you read my post-surgery notes a year ago, I thought it would be a good idea to summarize my year as far as my rehab and integration back into the show.

Reaching the point where I had no choice but to go into surgery, was not an easy thing for me. Quite frankly, I was facing a career ending situation, as I was simply not able to do anything remotely close to the intensity of the Le Reve show, not to mention the terrible back pain I was experiencing...

However, once I took the decision to go for surgery, I made a mental switch, and from having doubts about my career, I went into rehab and goal oriented mode, which for many years was part of how I dealt with various physical challenges, whether highly stressful competitions, or long and frustrating periods of rehab and returning back into shape following an injury. As far as I can remember myself (as a gymnast) I always made a point in taking these situations, where I was limited, into opportunities to improve in other areas that needed to worked on, or skills I wanted to master and simply didn't have enough time in the day to focus on in normal and healthy (relatively speaking) times.

The first month after surgery I didn't do any active rehab at work and simply focused on doing my daily walks at the "fireman's park" in our neighborhood, and doing very slow stretching and spine articulation and range of motion exercises at home, with the goal of maintaining mobility and flexibility of my lower back. Off the record, I think it was one week after surgery when I started doing handstands again... Since I wasn't able or allowed to bend, lift or twist, I found interesting and creative ways to get into the handstand position, (through half a cartwheel), and once I was there (upside down and happy), I felt no pain as my body was completely straight and in an effortless position which I have been exploring throughout my career as a gymnast, and more so in the past 4 years, were I shifted my focus into equilibre (hand balancing) and performance. (If I can stand on my feet, why not stand on my hands...)

After a month of daily walks in the park, and clandestine alternative rehab (my style) I started a more structured rehab at work with our great Health Services team at Le Reve, which includes 3 Athletic trainers (Steve, Mary, and Nick) and Mat, our strength coach (who is also an athletic trainer).

There were two main stages to my rehab at work. For a period of two months, I worked with Steve, Nick and Mary, on general range of motion exercises, some low impact cardio sessions, soft tissue work (massage), and what they call "level one" core training, which is essential in order to progress into the more challenging physical work later on. Like everything that happens at the health services department, every day was logged and recorded. Looking back into my file notes a few days ago, I was impressed by the details which were added on a daily basis, reporting my progress, status, set backs and breakthroughs... The improvement in my range of motion (of my lower back), and my general feeling, was consistently improving almost on a daily basis, and after two months of physical therapy and healing, I progressed into the next stage of my rehab which was work with our strength coach mat (August 1st).

I started my daily trainings with 40 minutes of cardio, followed by closely monitored workouts. I found that by working with Mat on a daily basis (5 days a week for 40 minute long sessions), we were both able to monitor my rehabilitation, my strengthening, and slowly advancing to more complicated and challenging movements. During this time, I slowly started experimenting with more movement and acrobatics (easy stuff at first). As my confidence level increased, I started challenging myself with movements from the show, essentially taking those little calculated risks, which are simply part of rehab when the goal is to return to a highly physically aggressive work environment such as Le Reve.

At this point my hand balancing training at home reached higher level of intensity and variety and included also one arm handstand training and stretching, which not only kept me flexible, but also kept my "sanity", as this weird hobby of mine has already passed the level of just a past time activity; it is now how I identify myself as an artist. If 11 years ago my identity was Yuval - a gymnast and athlete, I am now Yuval the hand balancer and circus performer.

The integration into the show went quite smoothly. I did have a few flare ups of my back, but more from simply pushing myself physically towards our demanding acrobatic acts after not doing them for nearly 7 months, and not because of my back surgery itself. Every stage of the rehab and training was monitored closely with health services, and we were able control the pain level, and bring me towards my first performance on August 28th according to plan. I started with the easier numbers and slowly progressed into the more aggressive and physically challenging numbers in the show.

The Video bellow was taken about a week ago at the "Contortion" class I have been attending once a week for the past 4 months. No, I'm not planning a career as a FAKIR... I joined this class in order to improve my flexibility and technique in handstand. Angelique (the Mongolian teacher) is the head coach of the contortion and hand balancing act at the "O" show (by Cirque du Soleil) and also has a studio in which she teaches this art form. So once a week, on Saturday, I join a group of 7-10 year old girls and do the stretching and hand balancing under her instruction. I was thinking the other day...When these girls reach my age I'll be almost 70 years old...Yikes!

So ya, I'm BACK! Back to 10 shows a week (470 performances per year), back to daily sessions of handstand, and back to my normal/abnormal life as an Las Vegas performer/ acrobat/ and soon father to be.

Cheers,

Yuval



Contortion Class - May 15 2009