Physiotherapy

I've started seeing a physiotherapist twice a week now. It's kind of nice having someone really care about your body and help you fix it!

Back in the days when I was graduating from art school, I decided to start practicing karate again after a few month long break, having gained a few kilos and wanting to get back into shape. My knees and hips were always killing me after exercises. I decided that I must have arthritis, so I went to the doctors to get a cure for my imagined arthritis, and she laughed at me. She told me, after examining me a little, that I was too heavy for the amount of effort I was making my body go through, so I had swelling around my joints. The cure: she told me to rest and loose weight!
That was when I stopped practicing karate, and a few months later I started practicing belly dancing in stead.

Now, six years later I have the same problem when I'm starting to practice karate again. My joints ache a lot after intense practicing, especially karate. At first I tried to solve things by myself by going swimming and trying to strengthen my knee-area by doing a few laps every other morning without using my arms ... but the pain just got worse. Finally a karate-instructor recommended that I see a physiotherapist. My physiotherapist is wonderful, she has taken so much time into studying my knees, watching me move, giving me all sorts of treatment. After examining me she explained where exactly the pain is coming from. It's not actually in the joints them selves, it's my thigh-muscles, where the muscles gather together over the knee and fasten under the knee ... that's where I have massive swelling. And the best way to solve the problem is not to loose weight (all though it probably wouldn't do any harm), but to strengthen my thighs alongside therapy to decrease the swelling.

I'm very excited about this process of healing and getting stronger, because I can feel that it's working. And I love having a physiotherapist care so much about my thighs!!!