Acupuncture = voodoo?

Way back in December, we were playing kickball on the last night of derby practice.  It just so happened that Ruthie fell and bruised the inside of her kneecap in the process.  After two months’ rest, she finally went to the physio*, who fussed at her for not having come earlier, and ultimately told her she needed sever restriction of movement in the knee combined with some stretches for the muscles around the knee, to heal up.  It’s one of those injuries where there’s not a lot of blood flow in the area, so healing time is significantly increased.  Ignoring the rest order only exacerbates inflammation.  However, the issue quickly presented itself that in order to severely limit movement to the knee, she’d be losing all attempt at cardio [even copious amounts of walking inflame the knee].  Presented with this conundrum, the physio said she could go swimming with a pool buoy, to which she’s begun doing. 

In the mean time, we’ve also begun to seek out alternative methods of treatment.  Australia, or at least Melbourne, presents an interesting opportunity for us in situations like these because there is a really big blend of eastern and western medicine available.  Being friends with some really sporty people helps in that we know some people who have had to recover from injuries in order to keep performing, and it was through one of these friends that we were referred to an acupuncturist, with the recommendation to also look into dry needling.  Now, I’m fairly sceptical, about needles accessing my qi, and changing the flow of my energy.  But, I’m willing to have an open mind.  In fact, I’m actually eager for my mind to be changed, and in particular because both of us really want Ruthie to be able to skate [and thus bout] for the remainder of our time here.

Ruthie’s been tasked with making an appointment, and so we’ll see what happens.

*Physio, short for physiotherapist, which, as far as we can tell, is a physical therapist, but a bit better/more knowledgeable.  For example the physio that we have on our derby team went to school for eight years.  The only thing that would match that in the US is a Doctor of Physical Therapy [to the best of my limited knowledge].