A knotty problem

Muscle knots. Don't you hate them?

I got a doozy this morning. There I was in bed, half awake, on my side with my legs curled up. I decided to do a little stretch, then a little clench and WHAP!  I felt the muscle 'go' with a twang on the outside of my right knee.

I moved my leg. Not good. I got out of bed. Even worse.  I couldn't put much weight on my leg and it hurt like buggery to walk.

I rang a sports coach mate who took me through what happened and told me that if I hadn't heard a distinct "POP" it wasn't a tendon, it was a pulled muscle. Ice packs, he said, and put a tennis ball behind your knee when you sit at the desk to act on the pressure points.

Well.

All day I've been alternating between ice packs and my trusty Sunbeam Masseur machine, which has a deep muscle attachment. Both of these gave me an excuse to quit the desk and go lie on the sofa with a book (ice pack) or bed with a book (Masseur). I was having trouble concentrating on work anyway as my leg was aching.

By lunchtime I was hobbling a bit better.

In the end it was the Masseur that made the big difference. I smeared liberal amounts of Tiger Balm on my leg and got to work.  Moving around the affected area this afternoon I suddenly hit an ouchy spot, a real humdinger.  Hmm, that felt hard as a rock and I figured I'd found the problem. A knot.

There's a real exquisite agony to sorting this kind of problem yourself. I wouldn't have gone to a physio or masseur, afraid of the pain they'd inflict without warning. But when you DIY you can feel what you're up to and how far you can go.

Two intense Tiger Balm-laden sessions later my leg feels almost normal again. I'm not limping. I can walk up and down the stairs again.

This morning, when I thought I'd sprained a muscle and would be days hobbling and cursing, I cancelled all my meetings for tomorrow as there would have been no way I could drive. Tomorrow was looking like a bastard for meetings - too many of them. So suddenly I have a free day to crack on with other work and do my Mum's shopping (more important than meetings anyway). The knotty problem was a bit of a blessing after all. Was it worth the pain though? Nope. No injury is.

I'm seriously impressed with the old Sunbeam Masseur though :-).