h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Plesse folks, Zed and I have made peace in a separate thread, so don't feel intimated.

Bruising has shrunk, and is now greyish/blueish.

Function of elbow is back to state before treatment, so sore at specific types of movement, sore when carrying anything, and sore if typing - which I try to avoid.

And no, I will not attempt to pressure anything today - the bruises still bother me on a skin level.

I've been trying to remember to firmly stroke my forearms to locate muscle knots, and I've tried w*rking on them (press hard with finger tip, rotate in tight, small circles) but there's one big one that I haven't manage to remove.

I'm hoping that by applying the pressure plate on my tennis arm support exactly on the knot will help reduce it. We'll see.

The bruise is still quite colorfoul albeit hardly tender any more. I've been thinking of applying some kind of cream to reduce the colouring of it, but not sure if I can combine it with the anti-inflammatory pills (Naproxen/Pronaxen) that I take.

Maybe a hurodoid cream?

Right, time for an update.

Found out, when trying to figure out if I could use a hurodoid cream in combination with my anti-inflammatory pills that the pills make me 'more prone to bleeding' or whatever the proper English expression might be.

Which would explain why I got such an enormous bruise from the naprapath's treatment.

And the physiotherapist I saw today (finally) echoed the naprapath's advice, partly.

After a careful and thorough examination:

Avoid using your left arm unless you can do it in the opposite way that caused the tennis elbow, palm facing UP instead of down.

Use liniment.

Keep it warm, for example by pulling a leg warmer over it.

Do some stretching.

And that exercise you found while googling, by all means try it out, as long as it doesn't hurt 'the wrong way'.

A more careful way of stretching, because I'm obviously very 'bendable' (no idea what that is even in Swedish, never heard the expression before).

Ultra sound treatment (that was quite relaxing and didn't hurt a bit, but afterwards I could feel *something had been done to my muscles/tissues).

Stop taking the anti-inflammation pills (since they've done nothing so far anyway except to diminish the pain, somewhat, but no longer) and a week from now, we'll try acupuncture

Needles, did it have to be needles...

Liniment, self massage and, above all, keeping the elbow area warm by pulling a leg warmer over it actually helps ease the pain.

Unfortunately, I can only use the elbow support band for a short time before my edema causes the area above the band (although only slightly tightened) to swell up. Pity, because that felt really good.

Fortunately I've never had tennis elbow. It sounds dreadful. Let's hope it clears up soon. Seems like you've had it a long time already.

Wouldn't call 3 weeks a long time, considering some of the people who have replied says it might take ages - 3 weeks isn't 'ages' in my world

The physiotherapist showed me an exercise where you grab a tennis racket with your palm facing down, then turn your hand outwards until your (clenched) palm faces up. I can do that easily with my (so far) unaffected right hand, but I really have to make an effort with my left hand, almost having to force myself to turn it all the way around, because of the tension, swollenness and pain. Odd feeling.

And this leg warmer is staying on - it's loose enough not to cause my edema to swell up, but keeps my arm nicely warm.

One odd thing at the physiotherapist: she asked if I was right or left handed, and I replied as I always do - born left handed and taught to use my right hand when taught to write, but that I'm ambidextrous these days.

She asked some additional questions and felt my muscles in both arms, and then said:

'No, I think you were born ambidextrous.'

That got me thinking, and I realised that, among other things, I've never ever tried using scissors with my left hand, not even as a wee kid. I also learnt to crochet right handedly, when it might just as well have been left handedly, because that teacher didn't really care which hand you used.

On the other hand, the only way I finally managed to play castanets was left handedly, after failing miserably trying to do it right handedly.

Born ambidextrous? Certainly an interesting idea...

That's interesting. I didn't realize some people are born ambidextrous. I assumed you had to train yourself to use both hands equally.

'People that are naturally ambidextrous are rare, with only one out of one hundred people being naturally ambidextrous' (from Wiki). There's also a link right next to this text leading to an article in Science Daily that is titled 'Mixed-Handed Children More Likely to Have Mental Health, Language and Scholastic Problems, Study Finds'

Let's see... didn't get my first depression until well into adulthodd, no other mental problems (as far as I know), have studied several languages and was often among those at the top of the class, and got good grades in general.

And my strength is 'abstract reasoning' according to a pretty complicated personality test I did a few years ago (the first test where I've agreed with all the conclusions), which I think is thanks to both my brain halves being involved in my thought processes more often than in people who are 'single handed'.

I'm thinking there might be additional factors besides the 'handedness' issue involved.

'The study looked at nearly 8,000 children, 87 of whom were mixed-handed, and found that mixed-handed 7 and 8-year old children were twice as likely as their right-handed peers to have difficulties with language and to perform poorly in school.

When they reached 15 or 16, mixed-handed adolescents were also at twice the risk of having symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were also likely to have more severe symptoms of ADHD than their right-handed counterparts. It is estimated that ADHD affects between 3 to 9 percent of school-aged children and young people.

The adolescents also reported having greater difficulties with language than those who were left- or right-handed. This is in line with earlier studies that have linked mixed-handedness with dyslexia.'

I wonder what result you'd get if you checked whether dyslectic people are mostly left- or righthanded or ambidextrous?

Z, are you still following this journal of mine? Would you know anything about this?

Ah, sorry - a link to the article in question:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125094511.htm

Well, the acupuncture experience was... interesting. I knew beforehand that the needles would be very thin, and that they wouldn't actually puncture your skin (my mother has tried it). The therapist even showed me how very thin the needles are.

The physiotherapist started out simply by placing out the needles; three around the outside of my elbow, one inside, and one in the angle between my left thumb and index finger.

I couldn't even feel her doing it, except for the topmost outer one, and that only hurt a tiny, tiny bit. Or felt, rather than hurt. After a while, she moved that needle to a spot that turned out to be equally tender.

And then she tapped in some notes on her computer, leaving me to relax and get used to having needles in my arm, after which she got up and gave each of them a 'twirl'. Youch! That hurt a bit!

When I asked how deep she had pushed in the needles, she indicated about half the length of the actual needle, and explained that it only *really hurts if you prick the skin lightly - the deeper the needle goes, the less you feel it.

Odd thing, really.

'You have turned quite red in the face, do you feel warm?'

'Not really' I replied, feeling my face with my needle-free hand, but it didn't even feel hot (I was lying down, with head end slightly elevated with a paper-covered pillow beneath my head).

When the therapist removed the needles, it turned out the topmost needle had actually punctured a tiny vein that had failed to 'roll aside' like all the others had done, so there was one tiny drop of blood. After it had been wiped away, you couldn't really see there had been a needle there, nor in any of the other spots.

I was fascinated.

After that, ultra-sound.

And you know what? My arm/elbow didn't hurt at all today (I saw the therapist first thing in the morning before w*rk).

Am to have 4 more sessions of acupuncture. If there is no dramatic change at that point, she'll try something else.

Well, one pain free day without taking any pills is definitely a change, whether dramatic or not.

And, as the therapist explained to me, anyone in Sweden can offer acupuncture treatment.

But - if you have an officially approved medical license of any kind, the kind of acupuncture knowledge demanded of you is of a Western variety that is accepted as a kind of 'classical' ('certified'?) kind of treatment.

Painless Friday, Saturday and half of Sunday, when I made the mistake of playing Mario Kart (sp?) with niece and nephew. Those WII gadgets are a bit heavy to manouver. We had fun though, almost fell off the sofa laughing when my character drove over the edge of yet another precipice - without ever having tried it beforehand, it was hard to steer!

But even after that exertion, my elbow is hurting a lot less. Hmmmm.... four more sessions. That just might do the trick. We'll see...

I had accupuncture for my back and shoulder many, many years ago. It wasn't painful at all. But I'm not sure it actually helped much, either. I think it works better for some conditions than for others. My problem was related to herniated discs and I don't think that sort of thing responds well to accupuncture. There is supposedly a technique called accupressure that you can do yourself at home that uses the same 'points' on your body. But you'd have to be able to both locate them and reach them to do it yourself. I think some major accupressure points are in your feet.

Can't stop thinking about the 'born ambidextrous' thing - just today, I realised I switch hands while applying eyeliner and mascara. Left hand for left eye, right hand for right eye. Always have.

Another acupuncture treatment today, and this time I felt the physiotherapist push in the needles

She was a bit surprised at that, because it seems you usually don't become more sensitive to the needles until the fourth of fifth treatment. Yes, it seems to work opposite to what you might expect - you don't get used to the needles, you become more sensitive to them.

She also commented on my skin feeling 'softer' making it easier for her to push in the needles.

Either it's the aloe vera in my liniment, or it might have to do with which time in the month it is for me. That's my personal theory, anyway.

Oh, and ultra sound therapy after the acupuncture - I'm certainly getting my money's worth, and I can feel things going on in my elbow for something like an hour afterwards.

6.5 hours from treatment, my elbow is free from pain, yet again. Let's see how long it lasts this time if I stay away from playing WII with my niece and nephew...