Finished!

Today I officially completed Occupational Therapy for my hands. With progress! There is no pain and my range of motion is improving daily. Now I can spend my time stretching and practicing at home and put more time on the clock working at Pilates. That's the kind of therapy I really need, so I'm going in the morning to private training, followed by Body Flow.

On second thought, I'm not finished after all.

Temple Maintenance

1 Cor. 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? 

So that was the verse that started the ball rolling. Or the body moving. I finally had an awakening to the revelation that I was worth spending some money at the gym, at the massage therapist, at the beauty salon, and now at the occupational therapist. In my fifty third year my patella tendon ruptured while I was standing still in the aisle at Target. After many pain killers, excruciating diagnostics and treatment, I was immobilized, and spent two months in physical therapy repeating scores of exercises three times a day. I felt so guilty that I was spending all day long just taking care of myself until I read the verse above. Voila! I am worth it. It is temple maintenance for the Holy One. 

This week begins twice weekly OT for my hands and thumbs, which have developed tendonitis from repetitive music making on the violin over the past fifty two years. This is, so far, more pleasant than PT for the knee.  The therapist uses cold laser on my hands and forearms to move tissues around more quickly than stretching.  The first treatment left me sore and aching, but nothing an Advil wouldn't shut down.  Today I got the deluxe massage, deep tissue in the hands,  forearms and especially my thumbs. While I was slippery from the lotion my therapist decided to go more deeply into the tissue with a reflex hammer.  That wasn't exactly relaxing, but it did break down some awful inflamed  and crunchy tissue. Next stop was a room with some fluid treatment, but it wasn't wet. I slipped my arms into sleeves which were Velcroed shut, then plunged my arms into finely ground corn husks which were heated, swirling and sifting around my hands. Lovely. After washing off all the excess corniness, I began stretching exercises. Repeat 5-10 times for 5 seconds each time on each arm and hand, please. The final treatment is to make ice burritos of my arms and hands for 8 minutes.  

So basically the recipe for keeping the hands going is to tenderize by laser, rub with a fine basting solution, poach in a corn husk bath, allow to rest and stretch, then chill.