Therapy

Saw my massage therapist yesterday for my back. After an hour of iron palm/steel fingers, sharp elbows, and what felt like a jackhammer, my back is doing better.

Problem with an injury like this is that it isn't just a pulled muscle in the low back you have to deal with, it's the skewed mechanics that result as your body tries to compensate. That spasm causes other muscles to step up, to splint or shift the functions, so it's rather like tossing a rock into a pond -- you get ripples everywhere.

You might not realize it, but stand in front of a mirror, and you can see that one hip might be angled slightly higher than the other, your upper body canted or twisted, your spine slightly concave or convex sideways ...

If you believe in trigger-point theory, wherein there are areas that knot and are really irritable when a muscle goes into spasm, when the therapist digs into one of these, you sometimes feel it all the way from your toes to your hairline, and the sensation is not -- how shall we say? -- pleasant.

Like rubbing balur or jow into a bruise, it helps heal things, but in the moment, it's an owie.

I think the treatment is worth it, but it ain't pain free ...