Today's Melman Moment has a certain aesthetic appeal. But first, the backstory:
For the past 20 years, I've had pretty severe Ileo-Tibio Band tendinitis. I can do some things like skiing, biking, walking, etc. But I cannot run, roller blade, swim, etc. I've had three surgeries, run the gamut of anti-inflamatories, done a bazillion hours of every sort of physical therapy imaginable with absolutely no luck. However, other than the no running, it hasn't been a major lifestyle issue - until recently.
Over the past two months, my right IT band has tightened even more and is now pulling my tibia and fibula up into my femur. And my poor patella is getting squished off to one side. All of which has resulted in some nasty little knee discomfort.
So, my chiropractor suggested we wrap my knee. Well, I've had my knee wrapped a kazillion times and never once did it do any good. But to appease my chiropractor, I agreed (while internally rolling my eyes). Well, she whipped out this very spiffy blue wrap and proceeded to put a strip here and put a strip there. And after a few minutes, she was done. I looked at my knee and asked "That's it? Is this actually going to do something?"
She assured me that it would - this same technique has been used with great success on Lance Armstrong. Well - if Lance uses it, it's good enough for me!
However, it is very odd looking. I have received a ton of comments. My personal favorite is that someone thought it looked like a Matisse paper cutout.
All this being said, it does seem to be working a tad - I can feel a bit of release on my IT band - not a ton - but the tape has only been on for a few days. Plus my tendinitous has a twenty year head start. Realistically, the tape isn't going to fix the problem - I'm going to have to do something more drastic. So I think my next step will be rolfing - we'll get the stuffing ripped out of the IT band. That will be quite the little experience.
Here's a picture of my artistic wrap job - I took this one myself. Peter also took a several pictures. But my thighs took on a beluga-esque appearance in those photos. So, we're going with this one:
9:47:15 PM 
|
