Strive physical therapy and sports rehabilitation

Article: VisionQuest Faces Numerous Lawsuits Over Claims of Physical and Sexual Abuse of Minors
May 23, 2023
From the article:
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VisionQuest (“VQ”) is yet again in the headlines over allegations of turning a blind eye to the physical and sexual abuse of children committed by staff members. VisionQuest runs multiple facilities to care for children who were adjudicated delinquent or found to be dependent, under the theory that VQ would help them successfully reintegrate into society. However, recently, former residents of the company’s facilities have started to bring VisionQuest child abuse lawsuits after disclosing the horrific abuses they experienced while in the care of VisionQuest.
If you or your child was placed in a VisionQuest facility and suffered physical or sexual abuse at the hands of staff members, you may have a legal claim against VisionQuest. VisionQuest was trusted by parents, children and state governments, and based on many corroborated accounts, appears to have violated that trust by allegedly ignoring claims of rampant child abuse. Those interested in learning more about bringing a VisionQuest lawsuit should reach out to a child abuse injury lawyer for assistance.

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What Is VisionQuest?
VisionQuest is a company that provides live-in care and guidance to juveniles involved in delinquency and dependency proceedings. Delinquency is the term used to describe a minor who engages in conduct that, if committed by an adult, would be considered a crime. Dependency proceedings are used to provide care to juveniles who do not have legal guardians or whose guardians were deemed unfit to care for them.
VisionQuest operates several different programs, including functional family therapy, community-based services, services for unaccompanied children, and foster care. However, the majority of complaints against the company stem from abuse committed against children who were adjudicated delinquent and placed in the custody of VisionQuest.
What Are the Allegations Against VisionQuest About?
Thousands of former VQ residents have recently started to openly discuss a range of abuses that they endured while living in VisionQuest facilities. These allegations include
Using excessive force;
Physically restraining child residents; and
Engaging in sexual abuse of minor residents.
As a company that is supposed to be caring for children and teaching them to live successful, independent lives, VisionQuest has a duty to ensure the safety of residents. Clearly, any substantiated claim of physical or sexual abuse is a violation of this duty, which may mean that VisionQuest is financially liable to victims for the harm they experienced.

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Please, if you attended VisionQuest, have a loved one who attended VisionQuest, please discuss your situation with an attorney who is involved in holding VisionQuest accountable. Abuse victims deserve compensation.

Hi, I'm a first year college (18) and I recently had a traumatic experience with my current partner. please please try to understand first I really appreciate it if I'm the one in the wrong.
TW: Physical Abuse
so technically my partner abused me, literally like physical abuse. Sinabunutan niya ko, sinakal, sinampal, sinapak that I ended up having swollen and bruised face, my blood din sa eyes ko. so ofc sasabihin ko what was the reason why it happened, he saw through my phone na may kachat ako sa ig, I told him everything na we talked for two days (AND I KNOW THAT ITS STILL CONSIDERED CHEATING) but please I wont deny it naman kahit hindi kami literal na nagladian or what, the guy I talked to just asked kung san ako nagaaral. pero its still cheating. ++Actually pwede ko naman idelete yon kasi I saw it na before handing my partner my phone but then I remembered na some of my cousins will tell me na whenever I asked for something, sasabihin lang nila is "dun ka magtanong sa jowa mong binubugbog ka" so being a tanga tanga person, hindi ko dinelete and hinayaan ko siyang makita yung messages, kasi im thinking na kung kaya ba niya talaga kong saktan ulit physically but diko expect yung outcome sobrang worst. I scream for help kasi sa bahay nila yon naganap pero di man lang napigilan ng parents niya. Di man lang din ako kinausap kinabukasan after mangyari yon. +++Our relationship has been toxic na talaga ever since and please wag niyong sabihin na "why dont you just leave?" trust me its not that easy. Last year pa nagsimula yung abuse, una verbal lang, ipapahiya niya ko sa family niya, sa public places hanggang sa naging physical and take note minor pako nung first niya magawang saktan ako physically, and hindi siya about sa cheating. Lasing lang siya non and nagalit siya kasi may graduation pictures kami ng mga kaklase ko since gr.7. That was the first, sinakal niya ko and wala siyang emotion while doing it. I know na sana dun palang nakipag break nako pero again, hindi madali I loved that person too much. Actually, the sole purpose for this is if pwede pa ba akong mag file ng complain sa mga autorities? Grabe yung trauma sakin, I even need to go to therapy for this, 18 palang ako, yet I experienced this kind of thing na. I have evidence, but only pictures, is it enough? I have been told nadin sa guidance namin sa school na they will help me daw, but hindi ako sure sa outcome kasi my partner has a reputation, his family has money, and tumatakbo siyang sk chairman sa baranggay nila, if ever ba na matuloy yung complaint ko, will it affect his candidacy? please an honest answer will be appreciated. If deserve kong saktan physically beacuse I cheated pleade tell din, but again it was not the first time it happened, ngayon lang talaga ako nag ka courage to speak up. Thank you!

Hi, I'm a first year college (18) and I recently had a traumatic experience with my current partner (19).
please please try to understand first I really appreciate it if I'm the one in the wrong.
TW: Physical Abuse
so technically my partner abused me, literally like physical abuse. Sinabunutan niya ko, sinakal, sinampal, sinapak that I ended up having swollen and bruised face, my blood din sa eyes ko.
so ofc sasabihin ko what was the reason why it happened, he saw through my phone na may kachat ako sa ig, I told him everything na we talked for two days (AND I KNOW THAT ITS STILL CONSIDERED CHEATING) but please I wont deny it naman kahit hindi kami literal na nagladian or what, the guy I talked to just asked kung san ako nagaaral. pero its still cheating.
++Actually pwede ko naman idelete yon kasi I saw it na before handing my partner my phone but then I remembered na some of my cousins will tell me na whenever I asked for something, sasabihin lang nila is "dun ka magtanong sa jowa mong binubugbog ka" so being a tanga tanga person, hindi ko dinelete and hinayaan ko siyang makita yung messages, kasi im thinking na kung kaya ba niya talaga kong saktan ulit physically but diko expect yung outcome sobrang worst. I scream for help kasi sa bahay nila yon naganap pero di man lang napigilan ng parents niya. Di man lang din ako kinausap kinabukasan after mangyari yon.
+++Our relationship has been toxic na talaga ever since and please wag niyong sabihin na "why dont you just leave?" trust me its not that easy. Last year pa nagsimula yung abuse, una verbal lang, ipapahiya niya ko sa family niya, sa public places hanggang sa naging physical and take note minor pako nung first niya magawang saktan ako physically, and hindi siya about sa cheating. Lasing lang siya non and nagalit siya kasi may graduation pictures kami ng mga kaklase ko since gr.7. That was the first, sinakal niya ko and wala siyang emotion while doing it. I know na sana dun palang nakipag break nako pero again, hindi madali I loved that person too much.
Actually, the sole purpose for this is if pwede pa ba akong mag file ng complain sa mga autorities? Grabe yung trauma sakin, I even need to go to therapy for this, 18 palang ako, yet I experienced this kind of thing na. I have evidence, but only pictures, is it enough? I have been told nadin sa guidance namin sa school na they will help me daw, but hindi ako sure sa outcome kasi my partner has a reputation, his family has money, and tumatakbo siyang sk chairman sa baranggay nila, if ever ba na matuloy yung complaint ko, will it affect his candidacy? please an honest answer will be appreciated. If deserve kong saktan physically beacuse I cheated pleade tell din, but again it was not the first time it happened, ngayon lang talaga ako nag ka courage to speak up. Thank you!

Rant & long post ahead Trigger warning - Elder Abuse
A bit background - I 32F have been taking care of my mother (55F) who has kidney & heart failure & on Hemodialysis thrice a week & also a mentally ill person. No siblings or any relatives who are even bothered to even listen to our problems leave alone helping us! I lost my father in 2018 to an illness. My mother is frail , weights only 39kgs & was hospitalized atleast 18 times in last 3-4 years for both her physical & mental illness.
I have reached a simmering point when dealing with her behavioral issues. I am very patient & I love my mom dearly & I can manage her physical health conditions. But I have reached a point where I can no longer deal with her behavioral issues. My mother is docile person but I have to shout a bunch of times to get her to wake up , then make her brush teeth, then go to toilet. Each of these steps requires me to shout & drag her....she is very messy & lacks hygiene & we only manage to make her take bath on alternate days. Throughout the day....I just have to do things for her...then shout at her to do things that I cannot do for her...like putting food in mouth etc . My mother constantly repeats the same words again & again....eg. I won't take bath today or I don't want to eat etc like a 50-100 times continuously & if I don't listen she would repeat my name untill I get irritated & threaten to punch her. Everyday I have to shout a few hundred times for basic things.
Things have escalated to such an extent that I burned her skin with a spoon I heated on stove top , hit her on the face , almost poked her eye & stomped on her feet which caused purple discoloration. I have been dealing very heavy handed with her a lot & also blacking out throughout the day due to stress. I am constantly losing things & not able to recall recent events. I have been seeing a psychiatrist since last year & have been put on three different anti-depressants/SSRI and sleep medications.
I am a calm & very Introverted person by nature , always avoided confrontations & rarely ever raised my voice but I am noticing my behavior changing a lot in last 3 years after dealing with my mother. Everytime I hurt her...I regret immediately & try to be overly affectionate to make up for my guilt.
I recently attended a relatives wedding & my aunts were literally irritated dealing with my mother for 1 day! Meanwhile my career has gone downhill & I have been barely holding on to my job.
I cannot detail the amount of PTSD I had trying to manage job , visiting mom at the hospital where she used to be hospitalized for weeks , talk to the doctors for updates & then going to office by afternoon for 10 hrs & barely surviving on biscuits for meals. All my life I have saved every penny I could, took trains/buses to travel all the time , never bought any expensive phone or a vacation since I started working. We live in a rundown house without ac or even geyser. I don't remember the last time i went to a restaurant!
Coming back...my mother just takes the abuse. She just behaves like a helpless little child. Also If I were to fall down & hurt myself in front of her....she doesn't react or show any concern.
I go through moments where I am extremely concerned about her well being & bending over backwards to make her safe & comfortable & also those moments where I am raging at her. My grandma also gets fed up & tries to occasionally slap my mother. This same grandma wouldn't even hurt tip of my mother's nail a few years back!
I am literally in tears typing this but I just wanted to rant. I have no one to share my burdens & I just wanted to confess this. I am also afraid I might do something that would injure her seriously or even kill her. I would never do such thing but there are moments where I actually imagine doing such thing & get horrified about it a moment later.
Note - I hire a stay at home maid for 3-4 months in a year but can't have them all the time does to financial reasons. Even when we had a maid...I had to step in all the time in helping them handle my mother as she is stubborn. Rest of the year it's just me with a little help from my 75yr old grandma who stays with us. I have already started therapy...I just wanted to rant here.

Hi, I'm a first year college (18) and I recently had a traumatic experience with my current partner. please please try to understand first I really appreciate it if I'm the one in the wrong.
TW: Physical Abuse
so technically my partner abused me, literally like physical abuse. Sinabunutan niya ko, sinakal, sinampal, sinapak that I ended up having swollen and bruised face, my blood din sa eyes ko. so ofc sasabihin ko what was the reason why it happened, he saw through my phone na may kachat ako sa ig, I told him everything na we talked for two days (AND I KNOW THAT ITS STILL CONSIDERED CHEATING) but please I wont deny it naman kahit hindi kami literal na nagladian or what, the guy I talked to just asked kung san ako nagaaral. pero its still cheating. ++Actually pwede ko naman idelete yon kasi I saw it na before handing my partner my phone but then I remembered na some of my cousins will tell me na whenever I asked for something, sasabihin lang nila is "dun ka magtanong sa jowa mong binubugbog ka" so being a tanga tanga person, hindi ko dinelete and hinayaan ko siyang makita yung messages, kasi im thinking na kung kaya ba niya talaga kong saktan ulit physically but diko expect yung outcome sobrang worst. I scream for help kasi sa bahay nila yon naganap pero di man lang napigilan ng parents niya. Di man lang din ako kinausap kinabukasan after mangyari yon. +++Our relationship has been toxic na talaga ever since and please wag niyong sabihin na "why dont you just leave?" trust me its not that easy. Last year pa nagsimula yung abuse, una verbal lang, ipapahiya niya ko sa family niya, sa public places hanggang sa naging physical and take note minor pako nung first niya magawang saktan ako physically, and hindi siya about sa cheating. Lasing lang siya non and nagalit siya kasi may graduation pictures kami ng mga kaklase ko since gr.7. That was the first, sinakal niya ko and wala siyang emotion while doing it. I know na sana dun palang nakipag break nako pero again, hindi madali I loved that person too much. Actually, the sole purpose for this is if pwede pa ba akong mag file ng complain sa mga autorities? Grabe yung trauma sakin, I even need to go to therapy for this, 18 palang ako, yet I experienced this kind of thing na. I have evidence, but only pictures, is it enough? I have been told nadin sa guidance namin sa school na they will help me daw, but hindi ako sure sa outcome kasi my partner has a reputation, his family has money, and tumatakbo siyang sk chairman sa baranggay nila, if ever ba na matuloy yung complaint ko, will it affect his candidacy? please an honest answer will be appreciated. If deserve kong saktan physically beacuse I cheated pleade tell din, but again it was not the first time it happened, ngayon lang talaga ako nag ka courage to speak up. Thank you!

Hey there, lovely people of Reddit! I'm a sporty and adventurous guy from Scotland looking to make new connections and engage in exciting conversations on Kik. If you're into sports, fitness, and the great outdoors, we're off to a great start! Here are a few things about me that might pique your interest:

1. Passion for Sports and Fitness: As a PE teacher and personal trainer, my life revolves around all things physical. I love discussing different sports, sharing workout tips, and motivating each other to stay active.
   
2. Casual Chats and Genuine Connections: I'm not here for small talk; I'm here to have meaningful conversations whenever we have some free time. Let's delve into topics that matter to us and create a genuine bond.
   
3. Chatty and Interesting: If you're looking for someone who can hold a conversation and has lived a life full of experiences, you've come to the right place. I love sharing stories, listening to yours, and learning from one another.
   
4. Friendship or More: Whether you're seeking a new friend to chat with or open to exploring a potential romantic connection, I'm open to both. Let's see where our conversations lead us!
   
5. A World of Cultures: While I'm based in Scotland, I'm open to connecting with people from anywhere in the world. I believe there's so much we can learn from different cultures, and I'm excited to explore diverse perspectives.
   
6. Rugby Enthusiast: As a fan of rugby union, I'm always up for discussing the latest games, sharing my favorite moments, and analyzing tactics. If you share this passion or are curious to learn more about the sport, let's chat!
   
7. No Judgement Zone: Sometimes, we all have things we want to talk about but don't feel comfortable sharing with friends or family. Consider me your non-judgmental confidant, ready to lend an ear and provide support whenever you need it.
   
8. Joining Communities: I'm also open to joining specific groups or communities on Kik that align with our interests or values. Let's explore new communities together and expand our horizons.
   
9. Outrageously Funny: Laughter is a key ingredient in life, and I love injecting humor into our conversations. Prepare yourself for some funny stories, outrageous jokes, and guaranteed smiles!
   

So, if you're looking for an active, funny, and engaging Scotsman to add to your Kik, don't hesitate to reach out! Let's start chatting, discovering new perspectives, and creating lasting connections. I can't wait to meet you all!

So y'all already know how your emotional state and anxiety and POTS all kick to take turns kicking off and interacting with one another.
This is just a PSA/shout-out to all you people who have a hard time driving.
I used to get really bad POTS flares/presyncope-/anxiety?attacks while driving. Like, cold sweat, can't breathe, shaking, disassociating and 'coming to' further down the road than I remembered. I never lost consciousness but it was so uncomfortable and I felt so unsafe I stopped driving and became a home body. But no more.
I've been in therapy for my OCD and dealing with this stuff. I've been working on going for walks/runs and dealing with heart rate fluctuations fall away from my house. I've gotten a lot better at it.
My therapist believes my POTS symptoms are real- however, a lot of my OCD is somatic- I obsess over body sensations. I often obsess over breathing, swallowing, and bodily sensations, worrying about vomiting, dying, passing out, seizures, ect. She believes obsession over POTS symptoms leads to a panic attacks.
Today I'm going to try to drive my car 10min by myself. I am perfectly fine whenever I drive with a loved one- furthering the belief that my anxiety and potentially physical symptoms kicks everything off.
So today I'm doing it. I'll talk to my dad on bluetooth while I drive, and if I start to feel badly I'll pull voer and have him come meet me, but I am a slave to this no longer!
Today's the day.

TW: talks of unaliving.
I am trying to not make this TOO long, and it is going to be kind of long, but here’s some background: my kid’s dad ghosted us when she was about 2yrs old. I spent the next 3 years struggling to raise her on my own. I had little to no support from my family unless I was paying them for babysitting, and BD’s mom wasn’t (mentally/physically) capable of helping me. I didn’t have any friends to lean on, probably mostly because I was afraid to ask. I struggled to afford childcare, groceries, rent, etc.
Well her 5th birthday came around at the end of 2020, and it was the first time I was able to throw her a proper birthday party myself. At the time we were living with my (terrible) parents and my younger brother because we had nowhere else to go. My dad was the only one who helped me decorate, and he barely hung up two streamers before he gave up and left the room.
I never felt as alone as I did that day, and I started panicking and thinking about how the rest of my daughter’s life was going to be. I felt like a failure and I absolutely PLUMMETED into suicidal ideations. I was scared of what I was thinking about and I was terrified that I would snap and end up on the news. IYKWIM.
After the party was over, my sister wanted me to bring my kid over for a sleepover at her house with my niece (she was no contact with our parents so they didn’t come to the party), so I dropped her off and was planning to pick her up after the weekend. But after 2 days, the panicking got worse and the thoughts started to feel like I was ready to act on them. I was communicating my feelings to my sister the whole time because she had already been in therapy for a long time so I felt like I could trust her with it. She begged me to check myself in to a psychiatric hospital, and she said she wasn’t going to let me take my kid home unless I agreed to go because she said she was worried about what would happen. And I could have her back after I got help. But in the moment, I choked. I was so afraid that if I did check in, I would lose my daughter forever. I know I wasn’t in my right mind, and I wasn’t thinking through any of my decisions. If I could go back in time, I would do it. But instead of going to the hospital, I went home and packed up all my things, got on the freeway and just kept driving.
So after a couple of weeks of me leaving, me and my sister were still talking and I obviously wasn’t getting any better because all I did was run away which made things worse. Sister brought up wanting to enroll Audrey in school for next year, and taking her to doctors and things, and she said she wouldn’t be able to do any of that unless she fully adopted my kid. …. The worst part of all of this is that I didn’t do any of my own research. I let her talk me into terminating my rights and signing the adoption agreement. She told me that as long as I was making an effort to “get help” then I could talk to my kid on the phone.
I started therapy. A month goes by, I’m feeling better, but she only let me talk to my kid one time. The adoption took another couple of months after this to finalize. And once it did, sister made another rule that I couldn’t face time/call my kid unless I would also be writing her letters in the mail, and we could only talk every other Thursday. I feel like it’s important to mention that she told me she was worried about losing the bond she had with my kid, and sister told my kid to start calling her mom. And when my kid would have a second where she was alone, she would whisper into the phone that she wanted to come home with me and she would start crying.
We were doing the phone calls every other Thursday … until March. Me and my sister got into a huge fight because of a miscommunication and she cut me off from contacting my kid at all. Blocked me on all social media. Blocked my number. I was devastated and confused.
I haven’t been able to talk to my daughter since then. I tried filling a petition for visitation by myself a couple of months after this happened, but I messed it up. So I thought I would try to just talk to my sister about it because I wanted to see my kid. Don’t know when it happened, but I sent her a message and it finally went thru which obviously meant she unblocked me and she didn’t tell me. I asked about it and she said “yeah I unblocked you”. As if I was supposed to just know she had unblocked me?? But I apologized and started asking about seeing my kid in person. By this time, I had been on medication for several months, I was taking care of myself, I was doing okay. She basically said that I would have to start the whole communication process over again with just writing letters. Then work up to calls then I could see her in person. So I confessed to her (before I realized I messed it up) that I actually already filed the petition in court, but I was trying to see if we could figure it out together without having to do all that.
She got really pissed and said that because I didn’t set an official contact order when the adoption was happening, then I had no right to anything. But this was the first time any kind of contact order anything was ever mentioned to me. MONTHS after everything happened.
It’s been two years since I’ve talked to my daughter. I am still on medication, working, and also in school. I am planning to hire a lawyer after I’m done with school because I’ll have a well paying job, and I would finally be able to afford a great lawyer. In my state, it’s possible to have an adoption reversed if the birth parent can prove that basically they didn’t know what they were doing when this all happened. Has anyone ever done this before? And were you successful?
TLDR; I (29f) let my sister (31f) adopt my daughter 3 years ago when she was 5, and it was the worst mistake of my entire life. I want to hire a lawyer to reverse the adoption, and I’m seeking any advice about what to expect. I also want to know if anyone has ever been successful in doing this?

So I (20F) live with my parents and brother (17M). I have a twin sister who is my best friend but she moved out recently. Me and my sister really mind our own business and my brother is so obnoxious. I wish he would act normal so I could just relax and take it easy, as my parents are quiet and introverted as well and our house would be very peaceful if he wasn’t so goddamn horrible
EVERY TIME he does things like this they always find a way to blame me. They say I “traumatized” him at a young age and yeah I was an asshole. But I have ocd, anxiety, and depression and when our family was in a bit of a rough patch i would have outbursts and meltdowns. I did yell a lot but physically maybe i threw a book at the ground or something and walked away. I recognize that was an issue, however, i apologized and haven’t acted that way in a long time and go to therapy and take medication so i’m trying to handle my own issues the best i can.
Every time i use the bathroom late at night (my parents room, my brothers room, and my room are all upstairs. his room was in the basement and since my sister moved out he took her room) he screams, yells, curses, and my parents blame me. look i know this can be annoying but i do not deserve this kind of treatment and i am very quiet and considerate when doing so. i also get back from work late some nights and get met with screaming. Every time me and my mom try to have a conversation but he’s trying to nap or whatever he will not stop yelling until he eventually makes us stop talking and he gets his way. we WHISPER at like 7pm and 9am sometimes and these aren’t unreasonable hours to be talking, much less whispering in the goddamn living room or basement. today i took my mom downstairs to talk about something and we were very quiet and he screams and yells to shut up and we ignored him and he came downstairs and flipped a coffee table, went up to my room, threw a bunch of my stuff on the ground, and threw my vapes in the trash. I demanded my parents make him pay me back but of course they told me “just roll with it it’s better to quit anyway” yes, that is true. but i am not going cold turkey im trying to reduce intake. besides that’s $30 down the drain so whether i continue or not i need the money back. I broke down and yelled at my parents about how i can’t be surrounded like this and i feel so fucking trapped and i work so hard and still deal with so much shit from them. i’m so upset and they do almost nothing. he wasn’t like this as a kid so of course it’s hard to realize your sweet baby boy grew up into an abusive nasty asshole. but they do nothing and this kid is so stubborn and i’m angry. i’m so frustrated
He always says horrible things to me and my parents say “he’s just teasing!” “ignore him” as if were fucking third graders. i was in an abusive relationship and it is so triggering to be put down for no reason all the time. i’m sick of being everyone’s target
TL;DR my brother is an abusive asshole and my parents don’t do shit about it and blame it on me and it’s hard to live with but i can’t afford to move out

it was 2020, i was getting my application materials together to apply for PT school and needed a letter a rec from a professor. Since it was a large state school getting a letter a rec was a challenge. I asked one of the professors in my department who i took a class with in my freshman year and received an B+ and the conversation went like this (over email) “while your practical experience is substantial, your academics show that you don’t have what it takes to realistically pursue a clinical doctorate of physical therapy, have you tried considering other professions such as social work?”. Long story short i ended up asking my internship coordinator who was more than happy to write one, it’s 2023 and i’m on my 2nd to last rotation away from graduating with my DPT degree. Grades aren’t everything, trival numbers don’t define people who bust their ass off to achieve what they want to.

Arsenal 22/23 A Season Review Part 1 Of 3: August-World Cup: A Stunning Start.
The 2022/23 season is Mikel Arteta’s 3rd full campaign in charge of Arsenal and as well the 3rd of his managerial career. His 1st game in the hot seat came on Boxing Day of 2019, a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth which saw Arsenal drop down a place to 12th in the table. Just a few months into his reign and Arteta was the first high-profile figure in English Football to be diagnosed with Covid-19, the virus which drew the Premier League to a standstill for 3 months and the wider world for a much longer time. It was to empty stadiums which Arsenal played out the remainder of their season which eventually concluded on the 1st of August. An 8th-placed finish was the club’s lowest since 1995. However, there was joy to be found as there so often has been for Arsenal, in the FA Cup. In the one and only Covid FA Cup Final played in front of no spectators Arsenal came from behind to defeat London rivals Chelsea for their record-extending 14th FA Cup, after reaching the final with an unlikely triumph over Manchester City in the semis. Arteta’s first half-season had ended brilliantly and his first full-season started in the same vein with more silverware following as Arsenal defeated Premier League Champions Liverpool to win the Community Shield. Tough times quickly followed and Arteta may have been somewhat grateful for the empty stadiums, as it’s questionable whether the board would have held their nerve and kept faith with such a young manager through this dreadful period had the fans been inside the ground and able to voice their frustrations. On Boxing Day of 2020, not only did Mikel celebrate the 1 year anniversary of his first match in charge, he celebrated a 3-1 victory over Chelsea, his side's first league win for nearly 2 months. It was the first time Saka, Martinelli & Smith Rowe all started a league game together for Arsenal. It was to prove a seminal moment, but it wasn’t enough to move his team up from 15th in the table. It was never so bad again for Arteta and his Arsenal team, with the side eventually settling for a repeat of the previous season’s finish, again coming in 8th. Failure to win the Europa League (exiting the competition to Villarreal in the Semi-Finals, who were incidentally managed by Unai Emery, the manager sacked prior to Arteta taking the job) meant that Arsenal would be without European football for the first time since the 95-96 campaign. And the 21-22 season would begin horribly with Arsenal bottom after 3 matches in which they failed to score and conceded 9 goals. However as the season progressed Arsenal began to find some resilience, quality and self-belief. The sides upheaval came not coincidentally around the time club captain Aubameyang was stripped of that duty before being allowed to depart for Barcelona in the January window. Aubameyang had been the team’s standout performer when winning the FA Cup, but since those performances had seen him rewarded with a new bumper contract which made him by far the club’s best-paid player, his attitude and performance level had become a problem that needed to be dealt with.
More so than any win, it was actually a home defeat to Champions City which perhaps best demonstrated this new Arsenal which was beginning to emerge. They took City on and pushed them all the way only to eventually lose in the 93rd minute, whilst being a man down for the final half-hour with centre-back Gabriel being harshly dismissed. The fight was on with local rivals Tottenham for the final Champions League spot and it was firmly in Arsenal’s hands until a run of 4 defeats in 5 allowed Spurs back into contention. The Gunners appeared to retake control with a run of 4 straight wins before losing tamely away at Spurs and then Newcastle, in the end missing out by 2 points. Throughout the season Arsenal had spells of real high-quality football, and the fans had taken to the project with more passion and belief than they had in the final years of Wenger’s reign or during Unai Emery’s short-lived stint. In the end, though they missed out on the prize of Champions League football due to a combination of injuries to important players and the inexperience of a young group.
Despite the significant setback of missing out on a Champions League spot having held it in their hands for many of the season’s final months, Arsenal still entered the summer of 2022 with plenty of reasons for optimism. Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe had emerged as the real breakout stars of the prior season and Gabriel Martinelli wasn’t too far behind. There had been some clearly smart signings made by the club, in particular, those of Martin Ødegaard and Ben White, signed from Real Madrid and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively. The July purchases of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko for a combined 75M from Manchester City seemed yet more smart business, in them, they had picked up two quality players with four Premier League winners medals each, and both arriving aged 25 they seemed in the perfect age bracket to become big players for Arsenal not just for the immediate but as well the foreseeable future.
Jesus’ Arsenal debut came in a 5-3 friendly win over FC Nurnberg in which he scored twice. He followed this up with another in a 2-0 win over Everton as Arsenal continued their pre-season with a tour of the USA. Arsenal played 3 matches in America and won all 3, by far the most impressive being a 4-0 trouncing of Chelsea. The Gunners made it 5 pre-season wins from 5 when they returned home the following weekend to beat Sevilla 6-0 at the Emirates, a hattrick from Jesus meaning he had netted 7 goals in his first 5 appearances in Arsenal colours. Arsenal would get the Premier League season underway away at Crystal Palace, under the Friday night lights of Selhurst Park. No Premier League side would have envied them this difficult fixture, Arsenal had experienced just how tough it was 4 months prior when a 3-0 loss away at the ground began a torrid run of results for the Gunners. Arsenal had also begun the previous season away on a Friday night and come unstuck against newly promoted Brentford. Again Arsenal was straight back under the Premier League spotlight to see whether they had grown and matured from such damaging defeats last season. The Arsenal quickly proved they were up to the test, starting right on the front foot and keeping Palace penned back in their own third. Jesus immediately highlighted the new dimension he was going to bring to Arsenal’s attack, when his strength and then neat dribbling fashioned a great chance out of nothing, a chance Martinelli should have done much better with, his side-foot finish going the wrong side of the post with the goal gaping. The Brazilian would make up for it in the 20th minute when a corner was headed into the six-yard box by Zinchenko, who was picked out by Saka to deliver a free header. His head found Martinelli’s and from close range, he was able to notch Arsenal’s first of the league campaign. That was to be the only goal in the game for the next hour, but despite Arsenal’s slender lead they rarely looked in danger of being pegged back. On the instances that keeper Aaron Ramsdale was called into action, he was ready and dealt with Palace’s occasional threats soundly. The game was put beyond Crystal Palace in the 85th minute when Bukayo Saka’s dangerous ball across the six-yard box was headed into his own net by Guehi. This made certain of 3 richly deserved points for the Gunners.
Jamie Carragher for one was particularly impressed with the start Arsenal made to the game saying afterwards: “Arsenal played like a big team. When I say a big team, I’m talking about a Man City or Liverpool, a team who wherever they go, dominate the opposition. I felt like we were watching City or Liverpool in that first 20 minutes, half an hour.” Fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was more impressed with Arsenal in the second half saying: “The question mark about Arsenal will be whether they’ve got that robustness and resilience, physicality to get through that difficult 15 or 20 minute periods in away matches, and they got through that (tonight) and that impressed me.” Saliba was also singled out for praise with Carragher adding: “He looked the real deal. He adds something, we’ve always felt they were weak, at Brentford last season they got bullied and here last season, his physical stature will certainly help them in tough away games.”
Arsenal’s first home league game of the season was against Leicester City. The opening goal began with Jesus tormenting Johnny Evans tight to the touchline, after beating him he fed Martinelli who was able to get into the penalty area and find Xhaka, the Swiss international touched it first time back into Jesus who took a touch to steady himself then teased it over the head of Ward in the Leicester goal and into the net. It was an angle he had no right to try from, let alone score from but such was the Brazilian forwards confidence in front of the goal he fancied his chances from anywhere. The goal was nominated for Premier League goal of the month. Jesus got his second to double Arsenal’s advantage in the 35th minute, this time in a much simpler fashion. A corner across the six-yard box was not dealt with, a Leicester head on it only sped up its path to Jesus who was waiting to nod home from practically on the goal line.
Later in the first half, Leicester thought they had a way back into the game when referee Darren England pointed to the spot having judged Ramsdale to have brought down Jamie Vardy. However VAR advised him to check the monitor, and after re-watching the incident it was clear there was no contact made and the penalty decision was reversed. Leicester did still manage to half their deficit early in the second half though, a long ball was flicked on leaving Saliba in a difficult situation to deal with. Ramsdale was advancing but wouldn’t get there first and Vardy was waiting on the French defender’s shoulder, leaving him no alternative but to try and head the ball clear whilst facing his own goal. He only succeeded in diverting it into the net. This could have been a moment when the Arsenal crowd got nervous and frustrated. They had allowed a soft goal and their youngest defender was at fault. However the crowd immediately rallied behind Saliba and his teammates, he and the team needed help putting that mistake behind them and the crowd’s noise in the aftermath of conceding will have been reassuring to the players.
Demonstrating this, Arsenal went straight up the other end and scored, Ward made a meal of a cross, dropping it at the feet of Jesus who squared for Xhaka. The Swiss midfielder was being deployed in a new, more adventurous role where he was spending more time in the opposition box, he got his reward for this new tactic with a simple tap-in from right in front of the goal. Leicester would again reduce the home team’s lead to one however when Iheanacho found Maddison, who was able to shoot straight through Ramsdale. The young English keeper will have been disappointed at being so easily beaten from such an angle, his wide-open legs presenting the opportunity to the Leicester midfielder. Again Arsenal immediately responded to the setback by going up the other end and scoring again. This move began with Martinelli winning the ball back and feeding Ødegaard who moved the ball on to Jesus, who carried it forward before finding Martinelli who shot low from outside the box, he beat the outstretched Ward and hit the bottom corner, with the ball hitting the inside of the post on its way in. It had been a good day at the office for Arsenal and a great day for Gabriel Jesus, though despite scoring 2 and assisting the other 2 of Arsenal’s 4 goals, according to his manager Jesus left the field disappointed because: “he thinks he should have scored 4, that’s the sort of mentality you need. I wouldn’t like to play against him. He’s so mobile, intuitive, sharp and proactive in any moment or phase of the game.”
Arsenal next travelled to newly promoted Bournemouth. It took The Gunners just 5 minutes to take the lead and again it came from the phenomenal centre-forward play of Gabriel Jesus. A loose touch from White saw the ball launch high into the air, the Brazilian reacted first, beautifully controlling the ball whilst at the same time using his considerable body strength to hold off the Bournemouth midfielder, with exceptional balance he then dribbled around two other Bournemouth shirts until he was on the edge of the box facing their defence, with a lovely disguised pass he then fed Martinelli who was free to his left, his shot was saved but it fell straight at the feet of new captain Martin Ødegaard who was on hand to notch his first of the season. Rightfully though the praise went to Jesus with commentator Alan Smith saying: “You won’t see a better example of centre forward play than this.”
Ødegaard had to wait just 6 more minutes for his second of the season, a cross along the floor from White found Jesus who was free, his first touch wasn’t the best but it allowed it to set up nicely for the Norwegian to strike first time, which he duly did and the ball flashed into the net. Early in the second half and Arsenal had a third goal, with Xhaka setting it back to Saliba just inside the penalty area. Saliba struck it beautifully the first time, keeping his shot down under the bar and too perfectly placed for the keeper to do anything about. It was just Saliba’s second goal in senior football but he had finished it with the class and composure of a player who had scored 200. The strike drew Zinchenko to his knees, clutching his head in disbelief at the quality of the finish and unsurprisingly it was voted as Arsenal’s goal of the month. Jesus thought he’d netted Arsenal’s 4th but a VAR check ruled the goal out for offside, so the North Londoners had to settle for a 3-0 win in what had been an excellent away performance.
The Arsenal faced more newly promoted opposition the following week, this time back at home against Fulham for Arteta’s 100th Premier League game in charge. They would be without Zinchenko and Partey who had picked up injuries and were replaced by Tierney and Elneny respectively. The best chance of the first half went to Saka who got beyond his marker to face Leno one-against one, but he was unable to beat the keeper. It would be Fulham who took the lead however with Arsenal falling behind for the first time in the season. From the full-back position, Saka flighted a ball into Gabriel, who unnecessarily played himself into trouble. He never seemed to have the ball truly under his spell, and his second touch invited Mitrovic to try and take it off him, the defender then got his body positioning wrong, and failed to protect the ball allowing the forward to nick it from behind him and then the Serb was able to keep his composure and finish past Ramsdale.
Fulham’s lead lasted just 8 minutes, Martin Ødegaard lodging Arsenal’s response. There was a degree of good fortune about the goal, with a big deflection on the strike. But there was no doubt the Norwegian had deserved it, he was having an outstanding game with all of Arsenal’s danger coming through him. He was constantly creating, with inventive passes and dribbling runs. In this instance, a clever stepover had bought him the space for the shot. Ødegaard continued to lead Arsenal’s push for a winner with he, in particular, deserving to be on the winning side, and the winner did come though not until the 86th minute. Leno failed to deal with a corner, missing his attempted punch clearance and the ball fell at the feet of Gabriel who was able to gain the perfect redemption for his earlier error by securing all 3 points for his side. The goal kept Arsenal at the top of the Premier League as they remained the only team with a 100% record.
Arsenal finished August with another home game, facing Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa. This presented Arsenal with a chance to win their opening 5 league games for the first time since 2004. Saka passed up a golden opportunity to give Arsenal the ideal start when Martinelli’s cross found him completely free at the back post, it was set up perfectly for Saka to hit on the volley, which he did but he got too under the ball and lifted it horribly high and wide from inside the six-yard box. An Arsenal opening goal felt inevitable however and it came on the half-hour mark when Emi Martinez could only push out an Xhaka shot as far as Gabriel Jesus, who was on hand to punish him. Martinez did go someway to redeeming himself later in the half with an excellent stop to deny a brilliant half-volley from Martinelli from 25 yards out.
Arsenal dominated the first half and continued their domination in the second but could not increase their advantage, it was instead Aston Villa who got the second goal of the game, in a somewhat controversial fashion. A corner from Douglas Luiz went straight into the net with Ramsdale unable to reach the ball due to his path being completely blocked by Kamara, who also limited the keepers’ movement by having both arms wrapped around his back. The goal stood but Arsenal cancelled it out in their own way, by going straight up the Villa end and retaking the lead. Saka coolly picked out Martinelli who struck it the first time on the half volley, Martinez clawed desperately at the ball but could not prevent it from going over his goal line and The Gunners were able to see the victory out. Arsenal’s player of the month was unsurprisingly Gabriel Jesus with 3 goals and 3 assists in 5 games. Arsenal’s maximum points after 5 games saw Mikel Arteta pick up Premier League manager of the month.
Arsenal started September with a chance to go 4 points clear of City in 2nd, after just six games. Standing in their way was Manchester United who would be hosting the Gunners at Old Trafford, a ground Arsenal had only won at once in the league since 2006, that one as well being without fans during the Covid season. Arsenal was boosted by the return of Zinchenko but had to start with their 3rd choice midfielder Sambi Lokonga for the Partey role after Elneny had followed the Ghanaian onto the treatment table. Regardless of the blow, Arsenal appeared to have made the ideal start when Saka threaded the needle and put Martinelli clean through on goal. The Brazilian finished brilliantly to give Arsenal the lead, but VAR advised the referee to have a look at a potential foul in the build-up. On review, the referee judged Ødegaard to have won the ball from Eriksen unfairly and chalked the goal off. The intervention made by Lee Mason on VAR was later judged by a Premier League review to be an incorrect one, the minimal contact not penalised in real-time by the ref was judged not to be a clear or obvious error. The review came too little and too late as far as Arsenal were concerned as they’d lost their lead and instead found themselves trailing at half-time after a good move from United culminated in a debut goal for Antony who finished past Ramsdale.
VAR’s intervention in the Arsenal goal was always likely to prove a vital one as remarkably United had not lost at Old Trafford when leading at half-time since 1984. This showed the size of Arsenal’s task going into the second half, but they continued to probe and ask questions of United and they got their equaliser on the hour mark when the ball broke to Saka in the penalty area after Ødegaard had looked to thread one through to Jesus. United dealt with that immediate threat but could only clear as far as Saka who slotted through the legs of Martinez for his first of the season. Arsenal looked to be in the ascendancy, but they were only level for 6 minutes. Overcommitting bodies forward left them without a midfield and after winning it back United was able to counter-attack with Bruno Fernandes who looked and found Rashford in behind the defence and he put United back in front. Arteta reacted immediately by looking to chase the game, giving a debut to summer recruit Fabio Vieira. The changes appeared to backfire however as Arsenal were left with even fewer defensive bodies on the field and in the 75th minute they were cut through once more, with Eriksen and Rashford both left in acres of space as United hit Arsenal once more on the counter-attack. It was a horrible goal for Arsenal to concede, it reminded of the worst years of Wenger with everyone so committed to attacking they had no thought for defending. Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season going down 3-1.
There were some positives to take in how confidently and capably they had passed the ball around, however, United had defended their penalty area very well and counter-attacked effectively. The frustration for Arsenal was how they had helped them in that regard, by leaving key areas of the midfield devoid of players. Partey had been very badly missed, and to a lesser extent so had Elneny whose defensive intelligence would not have seen him vacate his position as often as Lokonga did. The third goal conceded was perhaps the responsibility of Arteta who had gone all out attack mode too early, given the counter-attacking success United were already enjoying.
Arsenal got the chance to put the defeat behind them 4 days later when they began their Europa League campaign. They were placed in Group A alongside PSV Eindhoven, Bodo/Glimt and FC Zurich, and would kick off against the latter away in Switzerland. Summer signings Matt Turner and Marquinhos made their competitive debuts, and Vieira would make his full debut. Arsenal did some counterattacking of their own in the 16th minute when Vieira found Nketiah who travelled down the wing before playing a great ball across the box which found Marquinhos who expertly finished the first time into the top corner. The hosts equalised on the verge of half-time however when Nketiah was judged to have committed an offence in his own penalty box. The death of the Queen being announced during the first half led to the unusual circumstance of a minute’s silence taking place before the second half. When it did kick off, Arsenal regained the lead in the 62nd minute through Nketiah who was found with a delightful ball by Marquinhos who had made a fine debut. That’s how the score remained. Arsenal would not be in Premier League action that weekend, with their home game against Everton being postponed due to the Queen’s passing. Also delayed was their home game against PSV the following week, so the team were not back in action until 10 days after the Zurich game when they travelled to Brentford.
Arsenal dominated the games opening and took a deserved lead in the 17th minute when Saliba’s header from a corner struck the inside of the post on its way over the line. Just shy of the half-hour mark and Arsenal had their second, again with a header, this time it was Gabriel Jesus who rose to meet Xhaka’s perfectly placed ball. The Gunners then got the ideal start to the second half, when Vieira, making his first start in the Premier League in place of the unavailable Ødegaard, struck a beauty out of nowhere from well outside the box for Arsenal’s September goal of the month. Arsenal was in cruise control, always looking like the more likely team to score whilst barely giving Brentford sight of their goal. In the final minutes, Ethan Nwaneri came on for his Arsenal debut, aged 15 years and 181 days he became the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League. After the match, Brentford Manager Thomas Frank was one of the first to tip Arsenal for a title challenge saying: “I think they will do brilliantly. I think they compete for the title now.” Xhaka was the resounding winner of Arsenal player of the month picking up 83% of the votes. A once deeply unpopular player, his turnaround best exemplified the strides in the right direction Arsenal were taking.
After the international break, Arsenal returned to action in the North London Derby against hated rivals Tottenham. Arsenal went into the fixture just one point above their opponents. Spurs were content to let Arsenal have possession whilst aiming to contain them and spring counterattacks. They kept Arsenal at bay until the 20th minute when Thomas Partey shot from over 20 yards out and hit it so perfectly that Lloris couldn’t get so much as a fingertip to it, the ball flew past him into the net for Arsenal’s goal of the month. Spurs responded in the 31st minute however after a good counterattack between the front three of Kane, Son and Richarlison saw the latter presented with a chance to cross from inside the penalty area and Arsenal did not effectively deal with the situation, a loose touch from Xhaka put his side back in trouble and Gabriel was panicked into conceding a penalty. Kane stepped up and of course, scored for the 7th time from the spot against Arsenal. This sent the sides in at the break-level pegging.
Arsenal regained the upper hand early in the second half after a shot by Saka was spilt by Lloris to his centre-half Romero who, under pressure from Jesus, looked to return it to the French keeper. Lloris missed the ball, it travelled under his body and then Jesus reacted first to poach it home. Spurs hopes of drawing level for a second time were damaged when Emerson Royal was shown a straight red card in the 62nd minute for a stupid and unnecessarily bad tackle on Martinelli. Arsenal quickly punished this ill discipline getting their third 5 minutes afterwards, with Granit Xhaka rifling past Lloris. At this stage Conte retreated to avoid a hammering, he accepted defeat and took off his offensive players, bringing on defenders to ensure the score line didn’t get embarrassing and Arsenal saw out a comfortable 3-1 derby win. Arsenal next returned to Europa League action putting Bodo/Glimt to the sword with a 3-0 win, goals coming from Nketiah, Holding and Vieira, the latter after brilliant footwork in the box from substitute Jesus.
Next up for Arsenal was another tough test at home against Liverpool. With a win, Arsenal would return to the top of the Premier League. Arsenal had faced Liverpool 4 times the previous season, failing to win any, losing 3 times including twice at home. They had also failed to even score against Liverpool in their last 6 meetings with them, but they needed just 58 seconds on this day, with Saka finding Ødegaard, whose ball between Van Dijk and Alexander Arnold put in Martinelli who finished beyond Alisson. Liverpool recovered well from the nightmare start however and was the better team from that point until they got their deserved equaliser in the 34th minute through Darwin Nunez. It was Arsenal however who went into half-time with the lead when Martinelli led a brilliant counter-attack from a Liverpool set piece, finally taking out both Arnold and Henderson by cutting inside and finding an unmarked Saka who slid in to put his team back in the ascendancy.
Again Liverpool responded well, equalising for a second time early in the second half through Roberto Firmino. From that point on though Arsenal found another level, they searched feverishly for a winning goal, looking to pass Liverpool to death and calving many openings. The noise inside the Emirates had reached deafening decibels as the fans urged their team on. The golden chance came with just under 15 minutes to go when Thiago was judged to have caught the back of Jesus’s foot inside the penalty area, having been beaten to the ball by the striker. Saka stepped up and held his nerve, confidently dispatching an excellent spot kick. Arsenal held out for what was in the end a deserved win after an excellent second-half display. In a decision that had raised a few eyebrows, Tomiyasu had been drafted in for a first league start of the season to go into an unfamiliar left-back position, the move paid dividends as the Japanese international had a fine game up against Mo Salah. The result put Arsenal 14 clear of Liverpool who had endured a dreadful start to the season.
“These are broad shoulders, this is courage. A sporting moment in time. Bukayo Saka.. Such poise! such noise!” – Peter Drury as Saka beats Alisson Becker from the penalty spot.
Four days later Arsenal made it 3 wins from 3 in the Europa, with an away win in Norway on the artificial pitch of Bodo/Glimt. A sole goal from Bukayo Saka was enough after he got on the end of a one-two with Lokonga. His initial shot was blocked by a defender but the ball then deflected in after coming back off the Arsenal winger. Bodo calved out many good chances for themselves but was let down by woeful finishing, squandering chance after chance by blazing high and wide of the target. Arsenal then returned to Premier League action at Elland Road against Leeds, though 40 minutes behind schedule after a power outage just after the game had initially kicked off caused the game to need restarting once power had returned.
Again Saka was the only man to get himself on the scoresheet, his goal coming after Jesus had passed up a golden chance to open the scoring failing to hit the net from close range after Ødegaard had found him with a backheeled flick. Jesus attempted to lift the ball over the keeper, but he lifted it too high and it ended up over the crossbar. Arsenal did not let Leeds off a second time however and punished them after a sloppy cross-field pass from Leeds midfielder Rodrigo only found Saka who headed it into Ødegaard’s path. Ødegaard’s return pass then asked a lot of the winger, but his speed allowed him to reach the ball first. Saka was faced with a tight angle, but it didn’t phase him one bit and he picked out the top corner hitting it high into the roof of the Leeds net.
The second half was full of drama, first when Bamford thought he’d equalised but was instead penalised for a foul on Gabriel. The Leeds striker received a second chance though when Saliba was found guilty of a handball in the box after the referee had checked the monitor. Ramsdale guessed correctly in his dive, but in the end, he wasn’t required as Bamford’s penalty went wide of the post. Arsenal continued to suffer in the second half, struggling to cope with the Leeds onslaught and maintain their slender advantage. Through fatigue and pressure from the home side, Arsenal had lost all ability to pass the ball and could do little else but stay in their own half and try to defend. Ramsdale proved his worth to this Arsenal side with his best performance of the season to date, right when his team needed him most. It appeared as though Arsenal had got the job done when crazily they conceded a second penalty of the half in additional time. Patrick Bamford was nowhere near the ball which was safely back with Ramsdale when Gabriel was penalised for a kick out in the box on the Leeds forward. As well as a penalty, the Brazilian centre-back was also dismissed. However on a VAR review, it was clear that Bamford had fouled Gabriel first, barging him to the floor, so rightfully the decision was reversed and Gabriel’s red card was rescinded. Arsenal held on to a win they’d scarcely deserved and it proved an even bigger win later that day when City lost at Anfield meaning The Gunners stayed 4 points clear after 10 games.
The following Thursday Arsenal were back in action in the Europa League. They were originally scheduled to host Manchester City in the league that mid-week, but the Queens’ death led to the postponement of Arsenal’s fixture with PSV, and it was re-arranged to this game week. Arsenal battered their Dutch visitors, in the end mustering 25 shots to Eindhoven’s 4. As was often the case Saka and Jesus were the standout performers. The young English winger was unstoppable in his direct dribbling runs, unstoppable that is without resorting to fouling, which PSV defenders did time and time again after being skinned by Saka’s great ball control when running at speed. Jesus was similarly dangerous, doing his usual thing of fashioning chances out of nowhere with his quick thinking and somehow even quicker feet. In the end, though the deadlock was broken by Xhaka in the 70th minute when Tomiyasu found him in space 15 yards from the goal. He hit the shot down into the ground and it bobbled just at the right time to go under the keeper and past him.
Next Arsenal travelled to struggling Southampton looking to make it 9 straight wins across the Premier League and Europa. They started fast, and when Xhaka finished off White’s cross with a brilliant volley into the back of the net in the 11th minute, it looked like it would be a case of how many, as it wasn’t the first good chance Arsenal had created. For the first 20 minutes, Southampton couldn’t get out of their own half, Ødegaard cleverly found Jesus with a lifted return pass but his volley was straight at Bazunu in the Saints goal. Jesus was in again after a long ball flighted over the head of Caleta-Car putting the Brazilian clean through until the defender dragged him back using both arms. There seemed to be enough contact for 3 separate penalties in there, but unbelievably the referee Robert Jones didn’t point to the spot and nor did VAR intervene. One of the most inexplicable decisions of the season, and that’s saying something, meant that Arsenal went in at the break only a single goal to the good.
The Southampton defence must have felt encouraged from not being penalised inside the box, as the fouling continued on Jesus outside the box for much of the second half, Lyanco getting away with man-handling Arsenal’s striker time and time again, wrapping both arms around his body whenever the ball was anywhere near the Brazilian. Jones did not however ignore perceived ‘diving’ from Saka showing him a yellow card for simulation, even though there did appear to be some contact. A one-sided refereeing performance and poor finishing from Arsenal allowed the home team back into the game and they got the equalising goal with 25 minutes to go through Armstrong after a swift move cut through Arsenal’s defence. In the 78th minute, Ødegaard thought he’d put Arsenal back in front but Tierney had just carried the ball beyond the line before he was able to cut it back into his captain’s path.
The Gunners had to settle for a point and an end to their winning run, paying the price for not scoring more in the first half. As they began to tire in the second half Southampton calved out some good chances of their own, but there’s no doubt the visitors were also harmed by a dire refereeing performance. The dropped points cut Arsenal’s lead at the top down to two. Another away game followed for The North London side as next they travelled to Eindhoven. With 2 group games remaining, they needed just 1 more win to secure the top spot which would mean they progressed straight through to the final 16, without the need for a playoff game. However Arsenal’s performance was poor, PSV were the better team for 90 minutes and good value for their 2-0 win.

I (34/f, 103lb 5'6") have always been told that I've experienced hormonal migraines, and I certainly think that's an element, but I'm trying to narrow down exactly what's going on so I can finally get some relief. I don't think it's just hormonal.
I have had migraines since I was a kid, probably late elementary school. One sister, grandmother, and dad have them too. I remember coming home from school in the afternoons and opening up the freezer and just laying my forehead on the ice box to get relief not realizing what they were. They've gotten worse as I've aged, to the point now where they are so debilitating I cannot drive or form a coherent sentence. I vomit often from them. I can go 3 months without a migraine, but they seem to go in waves, where 3 months will pass and then I will have 2 weeks of migraines that never really go away for more than a couple of hours at a time only to come roaring back. I always always have a monstrous one in early December and another wave in the sping, usually around late March when it warms up.
I have done physical therapy, chiropractic, and currently see a neurologist. Neurologist won't/can't do anything for me until I'm done nursing in 3mo or so. I want to be prepared for my next appointment and know what questions to ask.
My biggest issue is that I feel the ease with which they're triggered is incredibly small. I can't sit on a couch like a normal person anymore- hard chairs are fine- but when I watch TV or whatever I have to either be laying horizontal or sitting on the floor leaned up against the couch. I feel like a dog. I can't lay flat on my back for more than about 120 seconds without triggering a migraine that starts at the base of my skull (always one side or the other) and ends up feeling like a needle in the back of that eye. I had kidney surgery while pregnant and bc I obviously couldn't be on my side, woke up with one of the worse migraines of my life that had me down for over a week, vomiting and unable to take pain meds. Sinus pressure can trigger too. Last night my baby kicked me at the top of my nose between my nose and eye and triggered one.
I take fiorcet. It helps sometimes- they either go away or get worse. They rarely get "better" until they're gone, and I can go from vomiting to totally fine, playing with my kids in the space of an hour. They come on so fast, but go away so fast too. (Hope that makes sense- the improvement isn't gradual--- its usually all or nothing).
Triptans are a no for me, I've fainted on one and my throat gets tight on another. Have tried cyclobenzaprine, valium, oxycodone, and naproxen. (All legal leftover from surgeries or births). All have help seemed to numb the pain but nothing truly helps and I hate taking those long term. They seem to numb the pain til my body decides to stop overreacting to the trigger. Ive taken magnesium and b2 at the advice of neurologist for about 4mo now. Doesn't seem to help or hurt really.
Please tell me what's going on and how to fix it (or suggest to my neurologist). I'm sure the inflammation and the position of my neck has something to do with it given how fast sitting on a couch or laying flat can trigger a migraine, but I don't know how to fix it.
Thanks all.
ETA: spelling fix

The duration of pain relief provided by epidural injections for back pain can vary depending on the individual, the underlying cause of the pain, and the type and amount of medication used. In general, the effects of epidural injections can last anywhere from a few days to several months.
For acute back pain, a single epidural injection may be sufficient to provide significant pain relief for several weeks. However, for chronic back pain, multiple injections may be needed over a period of weeks or months to achieve long-term pain relief.
In some cases, epidural injections may not provide significant pain relief, or the relief may be temporary. If this is the case, other treatments may be considered, such as physical therapy, oral medications, or surgery.
It's important to note that epidural injections are not a cure for back pain, but rather a tool to help manage symptoms. To achieve the best results, it's often recommended that epidural injections be combined with other treatments, such as physical therapy, exercise, and lifestyle modifications.

Hi I am 23f and I have had on and off shoulder blade and neck pain for over a year. Last year around may- I started to have shooting pain down my right shoulder after 2 weeks of no real improvement I went to the doctor and he wrote me a script for physical therapy and did no imaging/ gave nothing for pain relief. I did 2 and half months of physical therapy and it made my symptoms mildly better. The PT is the one who gave me a diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy. Every time I think I can become active again (I used to exercise 4-5 times a week) It ends up hurting me. I have even tried to modify exercises. Now it’s a year later and my pain has improved. I still have mild shooting pain but it general I just have a very sore neck and it’s very stiff. I’m considering going to a doctor again but I’m not sure if there’s anything they can do. I miss being active. The pain is honestly really affecting me mentally. Any advice?

OK take two. This is very important I say this here since ppl don't know how to read. This is my now sitch. I have a good job making ok money and so does my husband. I will add the OG text becailse I deleted the OG since idk how to edit my posts I'm new to reddit.
Please keep in mind this all happend over a year ago and I want to just get it off my chest because things have DRASTICLY CHANGED. So here it goes.
So this will be a long one and I apologize for that. A year ago my step mom called Cps (child protective services) on me. And now my dad is gaslighting me to try to make me feel guilty and to have me to apologize for her doing it.
Here is a little back story to understand how this got so bad. I (f 27) met my fiance (m28) 5 years ago, we got pregnant 6 months after we met. It was not on purpose, and I admit we weren't careful because I was told at 19 I'd never be able to have kids due to some medical issues.
Now I moved in with my fiance after we had the baby (f), and I was a SAHM I worked Uber and Doordarsh and instacart while I was a SAHM. My fiance let's call him J, worked full time at a box store. We rent from Inlaws and it's a decent place just small. We had to fit two lives in one area and when H was a baby it was easy to keep up. Now she's three and we are teaching her to clean up after herself.
Fast forward to Dec 2021, J had quite his job and we were both driving for DD and Uber eats (this was not permanent since he was looking for a job right after he had quit his job for good reasons)not really making much at all, and my step mom and dad kept telling me that I needed to do better. I already was trying to do better and was secretly looking for a job. I say secretly because then I knew they would say something along the lines of good your finally listening to us. And I did not need that. So in Dec my step mom had a party. We had talked and agreed I'd let them take my daughter until the day of the party. When my dad came to get my daughter she was in the bath because she had woken up from her nap completely drenched in pee since her diaper leaked. I told him it'll be a couple minutes and then she would be ready, I went to check on her. When I came back he was in her room and I saw his phone was in photo mode. I saw red! I berated him about taking photos of my home and how disrespectful it was. He at first tried to deny it but when I pushed the issue he finally admitted he was doing it at my Step mom's orders.
I was so upset. I told him to delete the photos and he told me if he didn't bring them he would get into trouble with my step mom. I said if I ever catch you taking photos of my home secretly again we would have a different convo. I did end up letting him take H (daughter) because I didn't want her to not have fun. I had told myself I would just talk to my step mom at the party and tell her that is a boundary that was crossed. (Yes in hindsight not a smart move for me but I didn't think it'd had gotten as bad as it did)
The party came and as I was just enjoying it everyone in my family was really heavily telling me I needed to spend the night, and I kept saying no because I had planned to work the next day and knew I'd stay and never work. I finally cornered my step mom and asked her to talk with me. She was refusing originally but I was persistent. I told her how bad it looked she was taking pictures of my home and she said "if I wanted to call CPS on you I wouldn't need pictures " 🚩number 2. I then told her it was a boundary for me for her to secretly take photos and have me feel like a poor parent because my home was messy. Her response to this was "honestly, I'm tempted to take H until you get your shit together."
I was dumb founded! I took my daughter and left. For three weeks I did not talk to them. After a week I let H face time them but I was not in the video chat and I would not say anything if very minimal. During those three weeks I worked non stop on the delivery apps and didn't really get any rest I was working mon-sun from 6am to 7 pm just to get gas and food money. I DID HEAR BACK AND HAD SEVERAL JOB INTERVIEWS LINED UP BY THIS TIME. By week three my dad and step mom asked me to come up and I felt I could handle it finally and said I'd come that Sunday. Well that Saturday I had a babys shower and my mom was teaching me how to cook turkey. I still worked in the am and was a little late to the shower. Mom and I had a blast at cooking turkey and the next day I woke up late. H didn't and by the time I woke up we had an hour before her nap. And if I'm honest I still didn't want to see my family. So I laid her down and fell back asleep untill about 3pm. I woke up in a panic because I knew I was in deep shit with my step mom. I rushed to get my kid and our stuff into my car and try to get up there as alfast as I could ( the drive was an hr from my moms 2 1/2 from my home) and as I was pulling out of my.moms street I got a text
" don't bother coming up because I wanted to spend the whole day with H not a few hrs." But I went anyways and the whole time my step mom tried to ignore me. She kept saying how she wanted H to stay the weekend and just have some time alone with her. Side note me and my husband both agreed by then our daughter would not be going to spend the night by herself for a very long time because I had reason my step mom was going to try and take her or try ro stop me from taking her back.
I kept saying.how I'd love to join them so I could reconnect with the family. My step mom did not sound happy with my suggestion. Well around 9 I finally said we had to leave because I needed to drive the 2 and a half hours back home. We said our good byes and headed out About 20 minutes into the drive I called my mom to see if I could spend the night again becaise she was closest, because I was worried with how tired I was I'd get into an accident. She of course agreed and I stayed the night. I stay lied at her house talking how the rest of that day had gone and she was weirded out too. I got to my home about 5 pm and 30 minutes later my MIL come knocking at the basement door in a tizzy because there was a CPS worker at her door. My heart stopped. My husband and I went up greeted the worker and let her in. She said that she was there because there had been a complaint against us. I knew right away who. And asked her if it was my step mom. She said she couldn't disclose that because her job was to keep the peace. Well she came to see the home and inspect it. After she asked questions and looked around. She stated that other then a few things around the house needed to be fixed (easy fixes too) she didn't see a reason for the call. She said the complaint was there was cat pee smell everywhere and it was bad. She said she knew we had two cats but couldn't smell them... that was kinda prideful for me. She said to clean the home and fix the few things physically. she would came back for a follow up in two weeks (it was early 3 months by the time she came back) she told me that she felt that she'd be able to close our case relatively easy. We bid her goodbye. And the first call was to my mom screaming and crying on how I didn't have a dad and that my step monster had really overstepped. I told her everything she was seething! So was my husband and MIL. I was in Shock and tears, I blocked my SM and called my dad crying and upset on what he just let happen and I got nothing back. Then I told my mom he didn't puck up she called him a cowered. She then took a call to him and cussed him out. I blocked him then unblocked him. And it wasn't until three days later he called me back i didnt answer. He said he didn't know I had called and that he would try my mom. When I heard that on the voice mail I took a little pleasure because he did not know what he was in for. J had to hold me because I had started to shake after hearing my dad's voice. I called my mom told her he would call and to call me when she was done. She did told me she cussed him out and told him how he has abandoned me yet again and how much of a shifty father he was to not protect me or to warn me what was transpireing from his wife. He defended himself and said he had no knowledge my mom didn't let him get away with that. And he admitted to knowing somthing but sisnt think she would go through with it.
I ignored his calls for two weeks. He called everyday. Which is sad to say he never did that before he would call maybe every other week. Then I got a message from my SM. " A it's obvious you don't see me as a mother but if you don't let your dad see H I will blast you on FB and put all the evidence out there. Becaise obviously I'm not your mother it hurts your dad that you rnt talking to him. I am a grown women who makes her own decisions and i called csp with out your fathers knowlage. (She mentions that obviously I don't see her as a mom again even though prior I did call her mom.)" I screen shotted the message and sent it to my dad and said this has to stop I will talk when I'm ready. About a week later I finally picked up my dad's call and I had him on speaker. I told him I felt I had no father and how he abandoned me. How he didn't tell me what was happening. And so much more.
But after that I started to forgive him because being mad is more work. Plus he isn't soly responsible. Now I see home on and off. But recently he has been gaslighting me when he brings the whole situation up. Saying things like
"It's hard on me because I want my whole family back", and "how SM didn't really call out of spite but to get you to do what she wanted. I had told him through the first meet up that I had a job lined up and had worked hard on the house. (At this point the house was immaculate its amazing what organization can do. Ps somthing i had been working on doing before all this happed!) During the first few days I couldn't work while we were cleaning because we were cleaning all day everyday. For two weeks I couldn't go work alone the apps because I was waiting for the cps worker to show up. J had started to work the apps and doing interviews during that time as well. my mom helped us with getting strage and food during the time I couldn't work. BTW I knew stroage is what we needed all along to our mess, and have been telling them all that. He praised me for the job and cleaning and I told him I didn't need his validation and I didn't get the job because of cps I had started looking before this all transpired. He asked why I didn't say anything because it would have had SM calm down and probably not call CPS. (Highly doubt it) I told him because it's my life and I'm going to live it the way I see fit not him and definitely not my SM.
But anyway like I said now he just gas lights me to day I have to make the first move because i made a TT when I was mad calling her a narcissistic abuser and she saw it and hurt her feelings and how she was not afraid she had hurt all of us.... 🙄. So am I the asshole for the TT and should I apologize for everything and speak first or what should I do now? I will say I wrote a note to her that I haven't sent expressing my feelings and what I needed to say. Thank you for any advice plus for reading this long story! Also sorry for bad Grammer and bad spelling lol. The messiness of the house consisted of laundry in baskets because I didn't have a place for towels and bedding and loads of books and other things I use on a regular with no storage. It's now organized and put away thanks to my amazing mom who helped me through this time of my life.
Now this is where I give what life looks like now.
The house is still a little messy but that's just home life with a toddler. The dishes are still done and laundry put away but now her toys are EVERYWHERE she finished her first year of PreK (it's for her speech therapy) and my fiancé and I are bis drivers and make ok money. It's still our first year of it but hey!
I worked at HD for a year and for several months of that year I worked both bus and HD working in till 5 at bus and from 530 to 10 pm. I quite HD to focuse on bus. No the catalyst for the job was NOT my sms doing and I don't care what she thinks
Yes I still have a relationship with my dad but he is at arms length at all times. Yes I left a lot out originally and now I see why that is bad.
I want to thank all the commenter before who wasn't tearing me down and shaming me for my PAST and trying to give me good vibes and helpful tips! I don't know how to delete comments I'm new to reddit. Please do not come for me for my PAST issues I'm not that pathetic person anymore. I have refound my original self and going strong and hard to figure out all the possibilities I can do to better my family every day.

I know this sub gets lots of posts like this, so if you make it through, thanks for reading.
I’ve just been diagnosed with a hip impingement with cam (left hip, 31f, athlete). I’ve been having pain in my groin, down the front of my hip, in my glutes for several years now, off and on, and then in January strained my left hamstring due to what I’m guessing is compensation for my weak, unstable hip.
I’ve been in physical therapy working on fixing my pelvic tilt, strengthening my core and trying in vain to improve hip internal rotation. The pain only got worse, so I’ve seen an ortho and had imaging. No tears, but ortho says a steroid shot and surgery to remove the cam lesion could help.
It wasn’t always this way: A year ago I was doing yoga and running and lifting with only intermittent pain. Now, my hip hurts daily. It gets worse while sitting and overall just feels disconnected from my body and weak.
I’ve never had surgery of any kind and a hip surgery at 31 sounds daunting. I want to try other interventions before that—but don’t know if there are any others. The practitioners I’ve seen have given up: basically get surgery or we don’t know how to help you.
My Achilles tendon and heel on the same side of my impinged hip have now started to hurt. I recognize my other muscles and their functions are starting to break down.
I read all sorts of advice that contradicts each other: do stretch your hip, don’t stretch your hip, do deadlift hinges, don’t do anything with a hip hinge, etc.
For those of you without tears, and who didn’t opt for surgery…yet…were there exercises you did to strengthen your hip function?
Did you find PT that actually helped you? What kinds of protocols did you do?
Did you stop all exercise activity to heal? I want to keep working out, but I fear I’m harming my body by doing so.
I’m not ready for surgery because I feel like I’m young and can do more work to help ease my pain…but I just feel lost at this point.

Author's Note: This was not originally the second poem I intended to post here, but one of the poems I commented on recently, discussing complexity for complexity's sake, and challenging yourself rather than going basic, made me want to share. I agree it can be hard to swallow people prefering simplicity. However, complexity also needn't be rewarded. Sometimes, you just need to challenge yourself for your own confidence and growth, not for approval. Complexity and enjoyability as a read are not directly correlated. However, if possible, please, enjoy.
Rhyme Scheme
Sometimes I don't know where I'm going when I begin to ramble, Sometimes I just feel like I'm tired of being caught up in the scramble.
I just want to put my thoughts on a page, And not have to worry about having to act my age.
I want to scream, I want to be obscene.
I don't want to be judged, Or to be coaxed and nudged.
I'm so tired of people opining that you can't have an opinion, It makes me want to open the inkwell and stick my pen in.
And overflow the page with my thoughts, To show how it feels to constantly have your mond tied in knots.
To have your heart and brain betray your hand, To crack another sarcastic joke that fails to land.
I don't need to feel like a saint, But somedays I want to drench this world in artistic paint.
Make it black or make it red, Sometimes I just need to detox and get this shit out of my head.
Clean out the clogged up attic, And fire a shot at some prick who pissed me off, while I'm at it.
It isn't right, it isn't wrong, But ya, if you want to fight, I'll write you into a song.
I am able to get physical, But I would rather kepe it on a page and continue to be quizzical.
Like, how can I say what I need, In a way that will still get people to read?
What if I bend a word here, Or combine some words there, would anyone even care?
What if I get complex? Am I really in a rut if what I utter is a common hex?
Or should I say, what if I swear when I flex? Is it fair if my words cause some people to become jibbering wrecks?
What if I self censor? But then, eventually I snap, and everything gets tenser?
And no, that isn't a word, Let it go, if you really want to rhyme, you have to let language get blurred.
Not everything sounds right phonically, So, you gotta mash the words together like they aren't just together platonically.
Screw them around, Brew them into a sound.
Give them a shake, Take out a line break.
Cut the sentence in two, Changing the tense will do.
It's better to just let the emotion flow, You don't gotta follow the letter, the motion will grow.
By the way, that was a triple rhyme, Because sometimes I just get tired of saying the dribble that comes to me on a dime.
And it is almost funny how many people will miss it, They miss the honey and only hear the whining from the steeple of the misfit.
And you are damn right that I can offend, If I let people tell me what not to say, their rant would continue into the night and never end.
Because if it isn't the progressives I upset, it will be the conservatives. Either get verbally aggressive, or live my life like I gotta serve to live.
I just need something to make me feel alive, Why fall to lust or greed when I can come sting a fake by being the real deal, while catching my strive.
Because they won't take a moment to notice that you just rhymed almost every word, They have no trust that I will take the time to go absurd.
They just see that the end of each sentence echoes the last, Then they remind me without a compliment or pretense that my spelling was off, like I even asked.
And don't get me wrong, I can take criticism, I'm just more worried about the song and the lyricism.
I'm a fan of the game, And once I learn how to not just be a stan, it will never be the same.
I'm not crashing out for any pipe dream, Hashing it out until it's ripe is my scheme.
Because I'm not learning for the money or the fame, I'm just yearning to to be funny, while staying sane.
I'm just a tired jerk, launching a firework in the sky, And I'm so wired that it doesn't feel like work, and it helps me not to cry.
It will burn bright in the night, Then fade before the early light.
There will be flair and contradiction, Generally I don't care whether or not you think it is fact or fiction.
Hopefully someone will enjoy the read, Rope-a-dope, like a pulley you employ to bring you what you need.
And if some people can see me through the smoke, If some people notice there is truth behind every joke.
That's fine, But I will still be smashing gnats who cross the line.
Because it is one thing to stick to being humble, But it's another to let people kick you every time that you stumble.
They don't know this is just practice, And I won't stop continuing to grow until I hack this.
And in the end, I said nothing here, it was just for fun, I was just bluffing, shaking off the rust for the fun.
Stay on my good side and there won't be a price to pay, I'm done being snide, so have a nice day.
https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/1409bu4/the_worst_poem/jmux5qx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/14067ba/dark_fragments_of_the_wounded_soul/jmuxgzt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Hello, I'm a 17 year old girl and I have severe "mommy issues" or whatever you want to call it. I grew up without being able to experience parental love, I was also abandoned by my father in elementary school after being raped which is why I am terrified of men. Since then, my mind automatically chooses an older woman who's nice to me and considers her my mom. My first one was a teacher in middle school who hugged me when I hadn't been hugged by an adult in years. Then I had my doctor, and now it's my therapist. Actually right now it's mainly my therapist but still a lot my doctor. I'm not going into detail about my relationship with them because it's long and unnecessary, just keep in mind that I am terrified that they'll abandon me. I have been in therapy for two years and I have given her three handmade gifts on three different occasions. I do it to thank her for not hurting me and to make sure that when she'll leave me she won't forget about me. I also gave my doctor (psychiatrist, I have anorexia) two handmade bracelets over the course of the last two and a half years.
Lately I have been particularly scared of my T leaving me because it's gotten to a point where if she was ever to leave me I think I'd fall apart. I think I'd never recover from that, she literally has my heart in her hands.
I'm scared that if I tell her how much I depend on her she'll send me to someone else. She knows about the mom thing, it was really hard and took months but I managed to tell her. But telling her how terrified I am that she'll get tired of me, or that she'll see that I'm recovering and won't want to see me anymore feels like giving her the precise instructions on how to rip me apart and then trusting her not to do it. Plus I'm shy, I'm physically unable to talk about certain things and I'd never be able to beg her to stay with me. I had written her a note begging her not to abandon me but I never gave it to her because of reasons above. Giving her a handmade gift sounds like a good way to thank her for being so sweet to me and maybe having the occasion to tell her to please don't leave me. But it would be the fourth in 1 year and 11 months and if she doesn't accept it I'd be devastated. She keeps the previous ones in her office and they're taking up all of the space on the shelf that isn't taken up by books.
I don't know what to do I'm sorry

So I will share a success story as per the topic of this sub, that I had after I transitioned to carnivore diet, and I'm only in week 3 so far.
 
I have many health issues, which I tried to naturally heal with carnivore diet, but one of the most annoying one is my back and shoulder problems. I have been officially diagnosed with dorsal discopathy (spinal cord discs are too compressed) and osteophytosis in my shoulder (tiny bone deformations) and has been very painful. I could barely sleep on my side, constant pain, discomfort, jolts of pain when I moved my arm, stiff arms and the rest of it. It's an extremely annoying condition because I constantly have to move my body to find a comfortable position to sleep or to sit in, otherwise my muscles get cramped and it would hurt. Now the spinal cord problem is probably not due to diet since I had it from a young age, and went to physiotheraphy multiple times as a kid, it's either genetic or due to my mostly sedentary lifestyle (I literally didn't do any sports until highschool), mostly sitting in front of my computer. However my shoulder problems are somewhat recent and I have a strong suspicion that developed due to my diet.
 
Now before I went to carnivore I was eating a very heavy carb based diet, which initially included meat and fats but later on I messed up my liver and I could eat less and less fat so I almost became a vegetarian by the time I transitioned. On top of that I ate sugar like crazy, every day a can of soda a chocolate bar, and all sorts of sweet pastry, cakes, and I was shoving in chocolate muffins like crazy. So my blood sugar was probably higher than Mount Everest. I also ate junk food all the time, fast food with extreme carbs, and pre-made meals with was more and more vegetarian like mushroom pasta with rice. I was lazy to cook, because at least when I cooked I did from time to time some schnitzels with eggs, but at that point I was basically a vegetarian. My back and shoulder problems was of course getting worse and worse, the aching and constant inflammation was getting unbearable so much that there was a point when I couldn't even lift my arm up above my elbow. Physically there was no more or less injury, it's just the inflammation of my muscles and tendons that made it more painful.
 
It was so bad that I eventually went to the doctor, even though I am skeptical about the medical establishment in general and prefer natural remedies, but I had no choice now because the pain was so bad. So I did all the analyses, radiography, MRI, reflex tests,etc.. And basically that was my diagnosis. The doctor said that my condition is not that bad objectively, so it doesn't require surgery, but there is also not much they can do about it aside from more physio and some anti-inflammation drugs (they prescribed a weak one I should take regularly and a strong one on occasions when the pain is bad). So that was about it.
 
Of course the doctor never asked anything about my diet, they asked about my work history (if I got injured from work or whatnot) and just the standard questions, but never asked as single question about my diet. Now I am not blaming my doctor for anything, they did their job, by the book, and they are specialists in neurology, so it's not really their business to ask about my nutrition. It's just funny how certain doctors focus on 1 thing but don't view this as a holistic problem, as if there is no connection between diet and health, illnesses just fall down from the sky, they don't have causes. I believe it's also not professional to ask about seemingly offtopic things, because it might go against medical code of conduct, like you don't bully alcoholics with questions about why they destroyed their liver, you as a doctor only treat the disease you have, and don't ask questions. Kind of a sad state of things in the official medical establishment. Again I am not blaming my doctor for this, it's rather the system that is the problem.
 
So I became a carnivore, for multiple reasons, but this one was one of it, after I learned about sugar<>inflammation connections. And guess what, my inflammation went down just after the first 5 days. Now I am on the 3rd week and things are looking good so far. Now my illness is not healed, make no mistake, I still have to do physio, and occasionally I still get the never pinch, but as far as the inflammation in my shoulder, it's basically gone, and I haven't took a single pill. All the pills that was prescribed to me were anti-inflamation drugs, taken only when needed, but I don't need them now because the inflammation is gone, so is my gum inflammation by the way. My pain was worse than my actual physical injury, due to the inflammation caused by sugar. I eliminated all sugar and the inflammation was gone.
 
But wait it get's better: SUGAR LITERALLY BLOCKS THE ABSORBTION OF CALCIUM!!!!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140170/
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-021-00698-1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5588311/
https://blog.algaecal.com/dangers-sugar-bone-health-addictive-cocaine/
My condition, together with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis were very much linked to diabetes and high sugar consumption! So it's not just that my inflammation and pain was caused by sugar, but the very condition itself and the bone deformation is caused by sugar blocking calcium absorbtion and damaging my bones.