Yesterday Joe Holder published an article for GQ about going to physical therapy before you need it, “If You Put Off Seeing A Physical Therapist Until You’re in Pain, You’re Doing It Wrong”. If you are my patient and have seen me in the clinic we probably have discussed this. I urge all my patients in pain or not- to seek out PT to see what stretches/exercises might be best for you for building strength and for everyones individual needs.
Reading this article reminded me that on New Years Day I woke up in a lot of pain in my upper back. Feelings of tightness, Limited ROM (range of motion) and of course pain. I am an acupuncturist - yet just like any other person I have my own sets of aches and pains that I deal with on a daily basis, especially since my job is very physical. I have been explaining to patients recently, just because you wake up or somehow “hurt your back” it doesn’t make you a bad person or mean you did anything necessarily wrong to be in that pain.
I am FAR from perfect, but my back was mostly really good in 2023! Which I thank mostly to weekly massages and getting back to my own regular acupuncture treatments. Recently I started a new work out routine program recently made my a colleague Dion Olivier of Flux Vitality. My focus is to build some more upper back strength so that I don’t injure myself from a weakness in that area. Waking up the way I did on New Years Day I attribute to a few things:
The main reason I think I messed up my back is on New Years Eve morning I went on a very long walk/hike with a friend who was in town from New York. We walked and then we sat in a park for nearly 5 hours talking in probably 50ish degree weather and I was not dressed for it! I always tell all my patients if out and about make sure you are dressed properly! I had layers on but not enough! No scarf protecting my neck and it was actually cold outside. After 5 hours in the park I started to feel the chill and realized how tense my upper back and shoulders were. Had we been out for a short amount of time I probably would have been fine.
I wrote down the things I did that day to help me ease the pain and discomfort I was in. This of course is not medical advice, but I want to share what I did that day and if this happens to me as an example that feeling better and reducing pain from an acute injury can take time!
on January 1st:
I woke up and had my boyfriend massage my upper back for a minute to try and loosen things up with a Chinese Medicine topical liniment full of blood moving herbs.
I immediately got into a hot bath with a LOT of epsom salt.
I drank a lot of warm water and drank some electrolytes and took my usual evening magnesium supplement in the morning
I also took my various Chinese Medicine herbal formulas I have for pain
I massaged more topical liniment onto my right shoulder after the soak
I layed down with a heat pack on my shoulder for quite some time.
I then used my Lanshin massager on my back to help relieve tension
Mid day on January 1st I wrote that I had a little more mobility and movement in my upper back. The pain was still there but I could tell it was better. Because it was New Years day I couldn't rush to the many acupuncturists I know in LA to help me out. So I needled a few points on myself. Even if I had made it to a massage that day or to my acupuncturist my pain would most likely not have been 100% better.
Acute injuries can take some time to heal and usually are never instantly ‘fixed’ by any modality, whether that is acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care etc. I emphasize that things take time and that we need to have patience. My friend Vanessa Hardy said today via text, “care is a symphony!!!!”
Today, March 7th the death toll in Gaza is over 30,000. Reading online that the number is much much higher as so many are buried under rubble still and are unaccounted for.
I think of the video of Mohammed El- Kurd at the Palestine Festival of Literature where he speaks of his friend Refaat Alareer.
“Last I heard, Refaat was still under the rubble. You know, such a sentence should not be meant literally. But there is no metaphor or hyperbole here. There is no poetry in this sentence. Refaat is still under the rubble and he isn’t alone in this suffocation. Thousands in Gaza remain buried in debris, but airplanes still take flight. People still travel. And what’s worst is the birds still migrate. I checked this morning. I’m told its blasphemous to ask why God has yet to show face. But its hard to keep a faith that hasn’t kept my people. Refaat is still under the rubble and I don’t think I understand the heft..the heft of such a sentence. They say there are seven stages of grief and thus far they have all seven of them been disbelief.”
The Sweet Life, Ameslan, & Vision of the Divine recently came in the mail from friends online shop: Puppy Pillow
Wandering Stars came in the mail recently and am I excited to read it!
Football from Middle East Archive which just came out!
Bread & Salt by Amanny Ahmad on Mold
The designer who turned her pain into a colorful crochet brand in the LA Times
I haven’t been able to stop watching Fall Out Boy’s new music video for “So Much (For) Stardust- featuring “Emo Jimmy” aka Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat.
I also haven’t been able to stop watching the live performance of “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs at the Grammy’s. I spent a Sunday a few weeks ago playing it on repeat and the next evening on the way home from the clinic on NTS this cover of “Fast Car” by Foxy Brown came on coincidentally and is one of my current favorite covers/songs.
Middle East Archive launched fundraiser of this print, “Gaza, Sympathize With Gaza” where 100% of the proceeds go to grassroots efforts on the ground in Palestine.
Maia Ruth Lee, made this silk screen titled, “B.B.S. 2-9 Gaza” that is printed by Kingsland Editions and : “All the proceeds will directly be wired to a team on the ground in Gaza, and will be used towards providing clean water, warm clothing and blanket delivery; building clay ovens, toilets, and temporary shelters for those violently displaced from their homes. This micro-fundraiser initiative is organized by Gaza Mutual Aid Solidarity, a small group of volunteers who have loved ones in Gaza. Since November GMAS has been giving direct mutual aid to families to meet their basic needs, and organizing teams to cook for the displaced families in Rafah”
eSims for Gaza: Purchasing eSims allows people within Gaza to connect to the outside to communicate with their families and also to show what’s happening within Gaza.
A postcard I had sent to my friend Katie. It arrived coincidentally the day after she published this piece, “Micro-utopias for March” where she talked about the postcards I send her.
A photo my friend Rebecca sent me. She said she keeps this bookmark I made on her air purifier to block out the light.
A tip: block appliances annoying lights so the light doesn’t wake you in the night if you get up to pee, take the dog out etc, etc.
My friend Jade shared last week that: 69 herbs is going to go on an indefinite pause. I suggest stocking up on Coat My Nerves, and thanking Jade!
This Friday, March 8th will supposedly be the last day to get free COVID tests via USPS so go order some!
Here is a passage from Russell Brown about Late Winter:
"the death toll in Gaza is over 30,000." What a sad world we live in. Thank you for speaking out about this. Hopefully, a ceasefire will come underway soon.
❤️