Unintentional rest day

[flexagon]

This morning I went to see a man. Not my husband, I should add.

"Does that hurt?", he asked kindly after I got my clothes off and we got started. "Good. We'll just break up this scar tissue, and get some nice warm blood in there!"

He inflicted this sort of thing on me for almost an hour, and I paid him for it. Sick, you may say, sick sick sick -- but I say there's nothing like a really deep massage from someone who really knows anatomy. :)

Actually, this guy works almost exclusively on injured athletes. I talked him into seeing me even though I'm not injured and he's stopped working at the massage place right next to McGym, and my forearms are pretty damn happy about that. I think he is too... he lives for squashing scar tissue and pressing hard on bound-up muscle fascia, which must be a bit like popping bubble wrap for a living, and he likes people with a high tolerance for being so treated. It doesn't really seem to be about pain tolerance. It's more about how a person interprets the signals coming from muscles. I'm like someone who's had contacts for a long time and can easily touch my eyeballs; I mean, I actually am that, but in a similar way I don't mind deep muscle pressure either.

One peppermint mocha later, I decided to knit a row on the front of my sweater (which looks very stupid, by the way, like a blue worm) before working out. I did that row, and then Nala plopped down on me so I figured I'd do one more, and I was out like a light for the next hour and a half. Making up for abandoning me yesterday, kitteh? When I finally stumbled to McGym, rather reluctantly, in the dark, I was kind of relieved to find its building closed. Back to recovering from having all my bubbles popped... I can do my Sunday workout on Tuesday instead. I know part of this is that I'm still tired from playing Rock Band for a few hours last night, which was excellent and fascinating, but that's something I'll have to tell you about later.

Comments

[belacane.livejournal.com]

where is this guy?

or rather, does his type have a name, of which I might find one in chicago?

I have a ripped something in my left thigh that is so painful I cannot even sit in a basic straddle. I wants to fix it!!!!!

[flexagon]

Oh noes!! He's in noplace that works for you, but his type... hmm, I think you could search for "muscular therapy" and maybe "sports massage".

Since you specifically mentioned a straddle hurting, I wonder if it could be your inner hamstring (semitendonosus, the same thing I ripped)... Does it hurt to do this hamstring curl on a ball?

http://www.sissel-online.com/exercise/sup_hamstring_crl_ft_exercise_ball.php

[nevers.livejournal.com]

i love your explanation of it being about how a person interprets signals coming from muscles. when my dr was doing prolotherapy on me i said "it's actually really satisfying more than painful" and he said "are you crazy?" but the whole purpose is for him to inject into the places that are the most tender and hurty, so having them stimulated was satisfying in the same way you test out an injury to see if it still hurts, or in the same way you love it when a massage therapist presses on exactly the right spot.

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

I used to love that scar tissue break up. Not during, but afterwards it was such a good ache. They can't do it anymore because of the nerve problems (which I don't really get, since fascia being tight doesn't seem like it would help the nerves, but whatever), but I'm looking forward to it in the future!