So sorry to have skipped a week, but I must admit to being very bummed about the whole tendon inflammation situation. I have been through this process so many times only to have the same problems come right back. Thus, it has been really tough to keep my focus and determination.
So, last week, at my PT visit on 3/17/10, Travis tried the ASTYMâ„¢ treatment. ASTYMâ„¢ is truly one of the strangest treatments I have had. Most PT involves really painful digging into the inflamed area to help it release. So, when Travis mentioned ASTYMâ„¢, and then one of the other therapists was asking one of her patients if they had experienced any bruising after the ASTYMâ„¢, I was frantically thinking, “Ok, I’ve done this before. It cannot possibly be any worse than the IT band treatments in Atlanta. I hope…”
It wasn’t bad at all! As a matter of fact, ASTYMâ„¢ is relatively mild – of course, I am not that painfully inflamed at present. It might be different for someone who is really tender on tendons or muscles.
Here’s how it works.
1. A smooth balm is used (this can be shea butter or something of that nature).
2. The ASTYMâ„¢ tools come out of this tiny little black bag. They are all made of a clear plastic. One is small, about the size and shape of a finger. A second one is larger and shaped like a spoon, and the third is a wide flat device that reminds me of a kitchen scraper.
3. The therapist then takes a tool (each one is designed for a different area) and just runs it along the direction of the fibers in your muscle or tendon. This is done over the entire length of the group of muscles that feed into the part that is inflamed. For me, that constitutes my ENTIRE leg! Yes, for my one tiny little posterior tendon in my ankle, Travis treats my whole leg: front and back. This process takes about 15 minutes.
4. After the ASTYMâ„¢, you stretch. Travis described it as follows: when the muscle is inflamed, the fibers can look something like spaghetti – all jumbled up. ASTYMâ„¢ encourages the fibers to straighten out, and then stretching pulls them into the more correct position.
5. ASTYMâ„¢ is supposed to stimulate healing to inflamed areas of tissue.
How did I feel after it? I felt pretty good. I had to do four stretches – two hamstring, one for my calf muscle and one that looked like the calf muscle stretch except that the leg stretching was bent. This one hurt like crazy. The posterior tibial tendon ignited like the phosphorus on the end of a match. Whew!
Did I bruise? No, I did not. Not even a little.
That night and the next day, my posterior tibial tendon was more tender than before as well as a few other parts of my leg (a tendon on the outside of my calf – don’t know the name, not looking it up at present). However, this went away quickly and my posterior tibial tendon did feel better by the weekend.
My takeaway workout was awesome – just three little moves all designed to strengthen my poor little tendon in my arch as well as the muscles on the outside of my foot (also not looking the name up now – will edit later :-)).
If I get really excited, then I might just post my exercises. Hmmm….something to keep you coming back. Muwahahahaha!
Tags: physical therapy