June 12, 2013
-
Doctors are miracle workers in
the truest sense of the word.
xx
I had my first physiotherapy
session today at Global Doctors.
Coming in after work I was a
nervous wreck after having
found out yesterday that my
spine isn’t aligned to how it
is naturally supposed to be.
After ruling out the possibility
of quitting running and other
exhertive physical activities,
we decided on physiotherapy
and to hope for the best in
my older years. We’ll just take
the incoming knee problems
and back pains with stride, eh?
Dr. Nick and I bonded over our
chance love for Dave Matthews
and Zainal Abidin during the
hour-long session. Coming from
South Africa, the man is a true
blue Dave fan. At some point
in there he played a live DVD
of Dave at Red Rocks, Arizona.
This was amazing in itself as
Red Rocks is the one concert
I have always wanted to watch
on DVD, but could never find.
“Have you heard of the penny
whistle?” He asked.
“No, what’s that?”
“Here, let me show you.”
He walked over to his cabinet
and pulled out this pen-like flute.
Then he switched to a Youtube video
of Dave playing One Sweet World in
acoustic, and started jamming the
heck out to the song, right in the
middle of his chiropractic office.
Those two minutes made my night.
xx
I struggled to keep up with our
conversation throughout the rest
of my session as he kept pressing
on my spine several times – it would
squeeze the breath out of me and I’d
get a mild form of panic attack each
time my bones cracked or snapped.
In the midst of my review of Abang’s
90s music playlist against his own,
Dr. Nick pulled me upright and held
out my left arm. “Do you sleep on
this arm a lot? It’s a little stiff.”
It was, in fact. I had never told
anyone about this problem before.
I tried to describe how it always
feels dislocated when I wake up,
and the teeth-gritting way I
would usually snap or wind it
back into place. He tutted.
“Yoh! That’s bad. Stop doing that.”
(Oh believe me, I will.)
He patiently taught me a better
way of fixing my arm in the
mornings – definitely less painful.
It was also really comforting to
hear that this is common among
some people. “Our bones have
a funny way of protesting our
postures sometimes. Just try
and change your sleeping
positions a little bit and
give that arm a break.”
(A ‘break’? Really now?
Medical humour, you slay me)
I felt much better upon leaving.
Almost decompressed, somehow.
Like my spine feels elongated.
I realised that our body is taken
for granted for a good part of
our lives. We physically exhert
ourselves, knowing our bones
can hold out, but don’t really
understand the kind of care
they need to continuously
serve our physical demands.
Thank you God, for miracle workers.
xx
“You’ll get your backbone back
in no time, miss!” Dr. Nick said
cheerily as he waved me off.
‘In more ways than one,’
I thought wryly, waving back.
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