Gratitude on the pickleball court

By Angela Davis, Marquette, Michigan

Do what you can, while you can. I always have had that mantra for my life. After being diagnosed with FSHD when I was 38 years old, I made sure to do the most that I could while I still had some muscle mass.

When I turned 19 years old I knew something wasn’t quite right. My shoulder blade area had always ached along with my neck. I had tried physical therapy, chiropractic care, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), acupuncture, medicine, hot and cold therapy and good ol’ ibuprofen.

It wasn’t until my dad got his official diagnosis that I decided to get my own genetic test to see if that was what I had. Sure enough the testing came back positive. It was good to have answers but I was also devastated. I had seen my father in so much pain, his health deteriorating before my eyes.

I keep up with physical therapy once a year, and on rare occasions have massage therapy to help with the pain. But I have discovered that a new hobby called pickleball has been the most helpful therapy I’ve found.

How did this come about? A couple of years ago, I joined my mom on the courts and just started hitting balls back and forth. I decided I wanted to actually learn the game and hone my skills. Fast forward three years and it is now my healthy addiction.

Pickleball is a lot like tennis and other racquet sports. There is a lot of shifting from left to right and front to back and it’s a great cardiac workout. But the game doesn’t require as much moving around as tennis. Pickleball is for all levels of play from beginner to intermediate to advanced and even professional. The game can be adapted to physical limitations for all people, with or without FSHD.

You can start out playing a “dinking” game where you play one on one with a partner, requiring less movement on the court. You can play partners against partners if you are feeling up to it. You can also slow the game down in what pickleball folks call “bangers.”

I live in a cold rural part of Michigan. During the cold season, we have only one opportunity a week to play the game indoors. That weekly game is my escape from the pain in my shoulder and neck areas. I have gained friendships and a sense of purpose from the sport. I even participated in a local outdoor tournament in my hometown. My partner and I took home third place out of ten teams. It was a huge challenge and we had so much fun.

I know my future health will likely change as I get older, so I am trying to use my body in movement through pickleball while I can. When my muscles get sore from the sport, I attend physical therapy. My therapist is familiar with my muscle weakness and pain in my scapular area and she is of great help when the pain is severe.

Sometimes we have to train our brain to feel gratitude. It’s easy to find and concentrate on pain when it happens but sometimes we have to stop and look at what we can do instead of what we can’t do. I know that as I get older I will most likely become immobile like my father. Seeing what FSHD has taken from him is why I am determined to enjoy pickleball while I can.

Don’t let FSHD define you. Let it make you realize how short life is and how we should concentrate on what we can do instead of what we can’t.

As long as we have something to look forward to, even something small like physical therapy or pickleball, we can have a better outlook on life.