Week 3 and 4
Two more weeks has passed and I am even more excited about all this with every day that passes. But I am also nervous that I have reached the half-way milestone and that I will be leaving soon. It has been such a great experience being here and I will definitely miss all this.
Life here is so different from one day to another because the program is made according to the way patients have their appointment. For example, one day we receive 6 different patients with 6 different conditions that need 6 different kind of treatments. And it is so interesting to see how my internship host manages to work with each one of them and provide the appropriate treatment.
The most common disorder by far is the Frozen shoulder syndrome. During my staying here I have met 7 people suffering terrible pain because of this condition. As I could see, it affects more men, age 40 and more who perform jobs that involve moving the shoulder a lot. 3 of them work as drivers: 2 as taxi drivers and one is driving a bus. We even had a female doctor coming in with this condition.
The usual treatment for this disorder includes painkillers and waiting for the shoulder to heal itself. This can take up to 18 months in which the patient is suffering terrible pain not even being able to sleep at night. If the pain lasts for more than 12-18 months, the patient has to go through a surgery to loosen the shoulder.
By using an electronic stimulator and applying electric impulses to the muscle, my internship host is able to release all the tension and loosen the tightened tissue. It hurts a lot the first time he does it, but only after 3 sessions the patient regains full mobility of the shoulder. I was pleased to see how after the first session, all patients are able to feel less pain and therefore sleep at night.
After the second session, all patients go through the process of helping healing the damaged muscle tissue using an infrared massage device. This has become my task because my internship host was pleased by the way I can apply a constant pressure for more than 30 minutes without getting tired. (My hands actually get a little tired but I haven’t told him that :) ).
For the massages made in the practice we use a special oil blend made by combining different etheric oils (orange, bergamot, rosemary, eucalyptus) with sea buckthorn oil (rich in vitamin A and antioxidants and which gives elasticity to the skin) and of course a carrier oil- usually Grapeseed oil because it has a lower viscosity and a neutral smell and it is easier absorbed by the skin. Depending on the patient we used also Dill oil or Celery oil: Dill for females and Celery for men. I have a personal interest in Aromatherapy and my internship host was pleased to hear how much I know about etheric oils and how to use them. It was my suggestion to replace olive oil with grapeseed oil as the carrier oil in the massage blends and it seems that it will stay like this.
