Saturday, January 8, 2011

A bit of a stretch.


Now, I want you to guess before reading more. G'wan. Guess.

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You really want to know? It's an Extensorciser! This will probably salvage my career as a massage therapist, because lord knows I needed something.

The problem is that the muscles on the palmar side of the hand and forearm, the flexors, are always activated. Every time you grasp something, there go your flexors. So they overdevelop, and overpower the extensors on the back of the hand and arm. I mean, when you do get a real workout in extension, huh? Rarely. Couple that situation with improper muscle firing due to injuries and whatnot, and Hey Presto! You've got a muscle-stress disorder!

And if you're a massage therapist with distressed extensors, you'd better find a solution right quickly.

My darling chiropractor came through for me with this gadget. It's reversible, and causes the extensor muscles to work differently, strengthens them, and apparently breaks down adhesive patches in the connective tissue that surrounds them. It's been a week now, and I'm noticing a significant improvement in the stability of my thumb joints and the pain in my forearm and elbow.

So YAY!

It's just a cosmetic bonus that I get to look like a Transformer to boot!

4 comments:

CG said...

beautiful "open the hand" gadget! Maybe I need one for my spiritual practice!

Madcap said...

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that side effect. I am now a spiritual hand master, in only 10 easy sessions!

CG said...

Does that make you and me the masters of it? We get to confer the degrees and stuff? Oooh, like Reiki except you get to work on yourself!

Madcap said...

Isn't Reiki a bit weird that way? I can't really say much about the modality as far as its healing capacity, b/c my exposure to it has been extremely minimal. But the last time I went to a large training session, I swear, about 10% of the participants (mostly massage therapists) stood up and proclaimed themselves to be "Reiki Masters". Really? That many masters among us? Apparently mastery is easily mastered!