Massage & Bodywork

May/June 2012

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best practices BUSINESS SIDE | Q & ART | TABLE LESSONS | SAVVY SELF-CARE Renovation Blues By Douglas Nelson "Hi Ms. D.," I said. "Nice to see you. You can come on back." "OK, but you might have to help me," she replied, struggling to rise from the chair. "What in the world happened?" I asked. After helping her to my treatment room, she began to relay the whole story. "My son just purchased his first home, and I volunteered to help him remodel, starting with removing some very old wallpaper. We had rented a steamer, but even that didn't help. Mostly, I had to use muscle power to pull it off the wall. Not long after we were done, I started to have this deep aching pain in my hip, which kept getting worse as the night went on." "Where do you feel the pain is centered? Did the pain come on suddenly, or did it slowly develop afterward?" "The pain is really mysterious, unlike anything I have had before. Most of the pains I have had are really easy to point to, but this is a deep ache that I cannot locate. I feel pain into the groin, but not in the way that a groin pull would feel. I feel a real tightness here (pointing to the pectineus area), but it isn't exactly painful when I press on it. At the same time, it hurts above my waist, all the way up in here (she pointed to the anterior superior iliac spine area), but again, it doesn't really hurt when pressed on. I thought I was being so careful. I even sat down most of the time and didn't do any of the high work above my head." "Describe the motion of removing the wallpaper," I said. "I want to visualize your exact motions." "I was only doing the lower part of the wall, and this paper seemed cemented on the drywall. To avoid hurting my back, I sat pretty much the whole time. I was grabbing the wallpaper at about shoulder height and pulling downward toward the floor. It was slow going the whole time, but I worked for hours. Not long after returning home, the pain began. I couldn't lift my leg; getting up from a chair was almost impossible. My husband had to help me in the bathroom, and I slept in a recliner because lying on the bed was out of the question. I barely slept. Now, I can hardly stand up, but once up, I can slowly adjust to the position. Moving my leg forward while walking is very painful." 32 massage & bodywork may/june 2012

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