I'm in LOVE, with PAIN and HEALING

Love these two!!
I can never thank them enough for
bringing my life back!!!

I am addicted to physical therapy.  I totally love it.  Never in my life did I imagine I would enjoy the pain and torture of arm manipulation and strength building as much as I do. 

When the staples came out of my arm in December, the realization hit hard that my left arm was little more than a dead weight, and I begrudgingly prepared for a year of rehabilitation to get my arm back to normal.  When we arrived home in Madryn two months after the accident, it had little movement and demanded work to be brought back to life. 

Sonia and Claudio
with a signed jerseys in the background!
They are loved by ALL!

I met Sonia and Claudio at Centro Integral Kinesiologia, aka CIK, a ten minute walk from our house in the center of town.  They were overwhelmingly recommended by the doctors in Buenos Aires as the best therapists in the world, and every day I am astounded by their incredible dedication and work.  Their gym and clinic is filled with framed soccer jerseys scribbled with dedication notes of appreciation, trophies, and a plethora of gifted mates. 

My buddy with the exact same injury, on
the exact same shoulder.  He was run
over by a truck in 2015 and remembers
 the WHOLE experience, including the
SOUND of the bones in his shoulder breaking
and moving his head out of the way of the
tire.  He was on a motorcycle and had on a
helmet when he was hit on AR route 20.
No Joke.

They oversee my exercise routine as I build strength and flexibility.  There is a mountain of stretching designed to separate my shoulder from my homoplato – shoulder blade - which after two months of immobility are united and move as one.  Sometimes I extend the arm myself by pushing it as high as it can go with a cane and more recently I have graduated to hanging from a bar and letting my 52 kilos pull and disconnect the muscles. 

As I lay on the table on my back or side, Claudio physically divides and splits the muscles.  He is no joke and super strong, but I completely trust him.  I am always amazed at how he can use his hands and body to manipulate my arm into positions I never imagined necessary.  I am astounded by his knowledge.  I would never think of half of the motions he comes up with, but ultimately, they make sense.  He takes the time to strengthen my wrist, elbow, arm, and shoulder.  It hurts so good when he sticks his elbow in my axila – armpit - to hold my shoulder blade down while forcing my arm up and away from my body.   

Always smiling, and yes that is the mate too!

The best part of therapy is the atmosphere.  It is friendly, tranquilo, focused, and entertaining.  Whenever our strengthening exercise group is crying in pain from Claudio’s commands, he cheerily reminds us to do everything, “Con uno sonrisa! With a smile!”  The mate is passed around, and I savor the conversations about dirty politicians, mother-in-laws, and life.  It cracks me up that I will be laying on the table with Claudio torqueing my arm to a 7 on the pain scale, while he is sipping a mate and casually conversing with his buddy who comes in every morning to socialize.  When it is my turn for the mate, I sit up, savor every drop of the hot amargo yerba and 15 seconds later I am flat on the table again, smiling with joy and holding back tears of pain. 

I know the day I walk out of CIK for the last time, I won’t be able to hold back the tears.