Massage-er-iffic

So today I tried Massage Therapy for the first time. My chiropractor and I agree that everything he has done has definitely loosened me up and things are going really well, but it's still not correcting the main arm pain issue. I'm glad he was down with that, because I can't keep paying him and being in pain at the same time.

I still had a chiro treatment this morning, but then did the consult with the RMT. I have to say I'm learning a lot about my internal anatomy these days. Which is funny because you would think that since I've been seeing a chiropractor fairly regularly since I was 16 that I might already know a lot...but neither of my previous doctors really spent a lot of time explaining things. (Well, in fairness, my first one probably did but I was 16 and likely wasn't listening!)

Anyway, I don't remember it all because it was a lot of medical terminology, but it turns out that my biggest problem is actually these muscles called scalenes that are located right under my collar bone. Funny because all of my pain seems to be just below my shoulder blade and radiating down my arm. Turns out its all connected! The scalenes are stiffening and because they are attached to that muscle in my upper back, it's being pulled too....and if I understood correctly it's the combination of the two of those and a few others that are affecting that nerve in my arm. He actually had a diagram on the wall of different hot spots, and this is one of them. Quite text book apparently.

The bad news is that this is basically postural and environmental. Mainly from sitting at a computer all day and from other things like driving. Wrong angles and hunched back and bent neck and blah blah blah. So we'll try a few treatments and I'll do stretches and we'll hope for the best. Oh, and I'll try to move the purchase of a new computer up in my financial schedule (of course I've spent all the money for that on all these damn appointments!!!).

So I did go back this afternoon for my first session, and this is when he really figured everything out. He had been right in his guesses based on my symptoms but was totally sure when he actually started working on me and saw how my body reacted. Funny enough I wasn't in any pain while I was there because laying down is the least aggravating as long as my arms are in the right position. And unfortunately, even after the session I still basically feel the same. I knew it wouldn't magically fix me right away, but I had hope that I would feel something that would lead me to believe that it would help.

I'm getting so frustrated.

And next Wednesday I have to sit on an airplane to Vegas...which I imagine will feel a lot like sitting in my car...which is the most painful position I can be in. I hope the other passengers don't mind my heavy breathing and whines of pain.