Fit to be Thai-ed
Let us say you have an injury of sorts. Nothing outwardly visible, but an ongoing problem, perhaps in your left shoulder. You feel it every time you try to put on a jacket or scratch your back. Sometimes, when you lift your arm overhead, you feel a burning, twisting sensation shooting past the outer edge of your shoulder blade.
Your doctor rules out anything grave, like a torn rotator cuff or a problem in the joint. She recommends stretching. You try it, and your range of motion increases a bit, but you continue to experience pain, discomfort, and the all-too-frequent bad torque.
Now let us say you have a friend who is trained in Thai massage therapy. Repeat after me: If you fail to ask this friend to help with your trick shoulder, you are an idiot.
This evening, while we were sitting in a restaurant booth waiting for dinner, my friend with the mighty skills and the robust grip opened my shoulder up more in five minutes than I had been able to move it in the previous five months. With my newly released arm, I felt like the Bionic Woman, but it’s really Mr. Magic Hands who has the crazy cartoon superpowers.
I can’t believe I didn’t try this sooner — the shoulder cramps must have cut off the blood supply to my brain. Tonight I can finally catch some decent southpaw sleep, and dream of Sandy Koufax to my heart’s content. Roger Dodger, over and out.
