First, before I begin, I need to give a little background info. To make a long story short, I had back surgery when I was 9 years old. They discovered that my back was growing incorrectly when I was 6 and they waited to see if I would outgrow it and I didn't. By the time I was nine, doctors decided to correct my juvenile scoliosis. I had surgery at a hospital about 4 hours away from my hometown and I stayed in that area for 6 months until my back healed. Basically they took bone grafts from my hips and placed them along my spine. It took 6 months of me being in a body cast in a nursing home for the bones to fuse so now I have 13 fused disks and a somewhat deformed back. I also have amazing posture (which is easy because I can't slouch).
Anyway, I have had back pain my entire life. Most of the time it's not that bad and I can easily live with it. Sometimes is pretty bad and I have to create this little compartment in my mind where I place that pain so I can function day to day. Staying active and stretching helps but ibuprofen helps more. And then there are times where the pain is pretty much unbearable and it takes everything in me to make it through the day. Those times are rough but I get through them. Suck it up, don't complain about it and deal. That's my motto. A few years ago I went through the worst stage of this pain and I thought I was going to lose my mind. Doctors don't know what to do because they, literally, have never seen a case like mine before. The last specialist I saw said "Holy Shit!" when she saw my x-rays. That's not the most reassuring statement I've heard from a doctor! Often, these same doctors, want to prescribe me some heavy duty pain killers for the pain and I refuse. I do NOT want to live my life like that. I just suck it up, cry some, force myself out of bed and deal. That's when ibuprofen becomes my best friend.
During this really rough time I found 3 things that saved me. First, I started seeing this physical therapist who practices feldenkrais, a different type of physical therapy. I had never been approached that way before and he looked at how I moved and used my body and helped me make these tiny corrections that made a huge difference. I also started doing more yoga, which is one of the greatest healing activities ever. But the thing that made the greatest difference was my finding a massage therapist. It changed my life. I still have pain and some days can be bad but I don't feel like I'm losing my mind anymore.
Coming to Taiwan, I've been so busy and have been working 12-14 hours a day that I haven't taken the care that I should have. I haven't had a massage in over 2 months and I haven't done much yoga. I KNOW! I'm a bad, bad girl. This week, I paid the price. The pain kept me up at night and I had a hard time even getting out of bed a couple of mornings. I had to find some help, stat! It's my own damned fault and I'm old enough to know better.
Is massage hard to find in Taiwan? Absolutely not! There is some type of massage place on every other street. The problem is that many are for foot/leg, shoulders and neck (in one of those chairs) or they provide "special services" that I'm not interested in exploring. More importantly, I needed to find someone who speaks English. I have to explain why I have several feet of scars on my body. It's not just because I'm built for speed.
Through Google search and a site called Kaohsiung Living, I found a woman who was mentioned twice so I contacted her. She scheduled me for this morning and I just got back from my time with her. This is the part I'm hoping I capture as vividly as possible. Apologies for the long intro but I had to set this up a bit.
She gave me an address that actually is only about a 12 minute bike ride from my apartment. I'm totally proud of myself for being able to get around this city now and when she told me she was off of Gushan 3rd Road, I knew exactly where that was. Yay me! Of course, as per usual, I was a hot sweaty mess when I got there. That, my friends, is getting old! Apparently I was having this massage at her apartment which is located in this lane (really an alley) off of a major avenue. She met me outside and we walked up the 4 flights to her apartment. What's really cool is that I got to see how a local lives. More about that later.
We spoke for a few minutes and she took me to her bedroom where the massage table was set up. She asked if I wanted to take a shower (which was so kind) but I told her I had just taken one but was just sweaty from the bike ride. I asked if she wanted me to take a shower and she said that sweat is natural and she hopes the room is cool enough for me. Windows open and a fan blowing will never be cool enough for me but I told her I was fine. She asked me to take my clothes off and to lie down face up. She stood there as I disrobed, which was interesting, but I've given birth so some amount of modesty left me when that happened.
I laid down and she put a bath towel over my torso. She started with my feet and ankles and moved up to my calves (which are a bit sore from my painful massage from last night) and then my thighs. This is when it started to get interesting. She started moving my legs in and out, over and under, up and down (all with my kibble and bits hanging out mind you). At one point she was standing up on the table pushing both of my legs over my head and her weight pushing against me. Talk about butt up and shut up (I couldn't even breathe). Then she had me turn to one side and had my legs every which way, arms up and behind my head and over my head and doing things I have never done with my body....EVER! Then it was over to the other side and the same treatment. At this point, screw the towel. It was now on the floor and I had to just forget about it. She's a woman; she's seen this stuff before. I felt like I was auditioning for Cirque du Soleil and was in survival mode.
She asked me to turn over and face down on the table. She began working on my shoulders and back, which is the part I really need some work on, and although elbows and forearms are painful in my back, I know they are necessary for the knots I have residing there. She then went back down to my feet, worked her way up and suddenly she hopped up onto the table and proceeded to do yoga poses....ON MY BODY! Downward dog - check! Feet on my calves, hands on my shoulders or shoulderblades and down she goes. At one point she was doing planks, some side angle poses and, I'm not kidding here, she had her knees in my lower back and elbows under my shoulder blades and was going to town. I couldn't take a breathe so I couldn't protest even if I wanted to.
She worked her feet, knees, hands and elbows up and down my entire body. That woman is in some serious shape! At one point she had my arms straight back with my legs bent up touching her back. She pulled on my arms so that I was shaped like a little boat about to float out to sea. Holy Mother of Pearl! This whole process went on for at least 20 minutes!!!! Picture this (image below) but with my legs bent and this petite 100 pound woman doing the honors and her knees on my lower back. Did I mention that my back is fused?
She stepped off the table and took this mediation bowl (about 10 inches across), laid it on different parts of my body and hit the bowl many times for the vibrations to travel through my body. Each part of my body was vibrated for about 2 minutes and by the time she got to my shoulders I was practically humming. This is what Quasimodo must have felt like each time he rang those bells.
I got dressed (she left the room this time), poured me a cup of water and proceeded to invite me to lunch. How sweet is that!? I was still in a bit of a daze and a little achy so I declined and thanked her. I made my way home and had to blog about it before I forgot some of the details. So, only time will tell if the massage helped. Right now I'm sore and my shoulders and back feel like I went to war but that often happens after a major massage and I also waited too long so I was already sore to begin with. I'll know in a day or two whether I should make another appointment. Next time, if there is a next time, I think I'll be leaving the panties ON.
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