Sadistic Massage for Everyone!

Thank you all so much for loving my mommy. She came through the hip replacement surgery very well and I even got to talk to her for a few minutes yesterday. (And may I just say if the South Beach Diet came with the kind of drugs my mom is on, the whole experience would be a LOT more pleasant. Or maybe it wouldn't but who would care?)

Today I went to a 2.5 hours of neuromuscular therapy, which is basically, a really sadistic form of massage apparently combining a tiny bit of Swedish massage and a fist-fight plus a few sharp implements.

It's unbelievable. Because it hurt-- oh my gosh, it really did -- but she got movement out of my foot that I haven't seen since before my surgery in March of 2007. Y'all, I can do FOOT CIRCLES. I didn't know that was even possible, given the three screws in my foot. She used this wooden implement thing that I told her I was going to kidnap and take home and set on fire but that thing has some sort of MAGIC in it. And then she pointed out all these other areas of my body that have been affected by the rigidity of my foot and that was quite the eye-opener. (And more pummeling.)

Naturally, I now think that EVERYONE should go for neuromuscular therapy. I felt TALLER walking out of there. The therapist said she could tell from my posture and alignment that I get migraines. "I can help you with that," she said and she was dead confident.

I'm going to be going to her weekly until we get some of the kinks out of this old body and I retrain my muscles to walk like a normal person. I think it's the missing piece to my treatment. Like now we've found the structural cause of my pain and we have one piece in place for treating the bones and now we have to build up the soft tissue that supports the bones and correct all the funky alignment I've developed while trying to compensate for the pain I had just walking.

Of course, it's not covered by insurance, so that might cut into the idea I have that we should all have someone take a look at our alignment. But yowsa, it was truly amazing. If I can figure out a better way to describe it, I'll let you know.

So, the thing about my massage therapist is that she lives with chronic pain. She has Fibromyalgia AND MS, and while she has bad days, she is actively continuing her search to find ways to live BETTER and with less pain. Just like my friend Laurie. Just like the Pasta Queen. What continues to surprise me is how many people live in chronic pain and are managing it because there just aren't any answers for them. I feel like I should do something on their behalf, having now had a pretty good schooling in the shades of chronic pain.

Because what this experience has taught me more than anything else is that suffering in silence is not the answer, and there are a lot of people out there doing just that.

Comments

hokgardner said…
Given that I'm on day five of a pretty constant migraine, I'm willing to try sadistic massage.
MadMad said…
Yay! Yay for your mom! Yay for your foot! Yay for massage that works. Oh, just yay!
Maggie said…
I hope your Mom heals fast and is soon up and about and enjoying life with far less pain. And that your pain levels drop hegely, along with that weight, take care,
Best of luck to your mum. I wish you both many a happy amble around Manhattan.
Miri said…
The happiness turnaround is at your corner? I'll be right over!

Seriously: I am so glad your mom's surgery went well and I am SO jealous of your diet misery (read: success) and SO SO thrilled that your sadistic massage is good for you.
Tiny Tyrant said…
I swear by my hubbys NMT. I wish he saw him more often.

Hubby has mild scoliosis and the NMT can really help straighten him out so that he is taller when he walks out of there and more balanced...

Woot! for foot circles!

Glad you mom's surgery went well.
Anonymous said…
WOW - you just gave me a feeling of "ok, I'm doing the right thing!".
I too suffer with fibromyalgia and massage therapy has helped me SO MUCH that I have decided to go back to school (at 36 yrs old) to become a Massage Therapist. My goal in the end is to provide people with chronic pain affordable massage treatments. I truly believe that if massage was more affordable for the average Joe, there would be a lot less people on pain meds. I have been proactive enough to NOT let myself go on the heavy pain meds, massage plus staying active has played a major part in that.
I'm starting to get a little nervouse about going back to school and I'm hoping that I'm doing the right thing. I have 18 yrs of experience in sales so this is a HUGE change for me but I do feel very stongly about wanting to help people who suffer with chronic pain ~ it's no fun :-(
Thanks for helping me feel even better about what I'm doing!
Jodi
Royal Oak, Michigan
PS - LOVE your blog!