New Standard Procedures

You may remember that last week I fell and sprained my wrist.  Several hours later I left the urgent care center with a brace and the standard instructions for RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation).   I'm good at following instructions, so I babied my wrist by doing as little around the house as possible.  After a couple of days I realized the big brace I got at the urgent care was too hot, so I bought a smaller one at Walgreens.

Today I had my monthly 'tune up' appointment at the chiropractor.  When I walked into the treatment room I was wearing the small wrap-around wrist sprint. He asked what had happened and I gave him the Reader's Digest version.  I also told him that I had quite a few aches from my tumble...my left shoulder, the right side of my neck, and my lower back.  He had me move my wrist back and forth, up and down, then announced that for the past week I'd been treating my injury all wrong.

WAIT........WHAT?!?

 He explained that there was a new way to treat sprains which pretty much contradicted what I'd been doing.   The sports medicine field has recently figured out that METH (Movement, Elevation, Traction, Heat) works better and helps sprains heal faster than the old protocol.

I got an adjustment and a demonstration of some pressure points on my forearm that help the sprained area heal, then a session on the traction table.  When I left the office all of my aches were gone!  Sadly, as I used my wrist during the day some of the discomfort came back, but it was not as severe as before.   Massaging the pressure points helped, and after dinner I soaked my hand and wrist in a Epsom salt solution while Hubby Tony and I talked about out days.

I'm a horrible invalid, and can't wait for my wrist to get back to normal.

Five years ago today:  Straight From The Farm