Adam & Claudio express concern

I did overdo it at the gym on Tuesday.  The back of my knee ached and cramped all day Wednesday; I texted Adam to report this, and got instructions back to 'take it steady.'  I thought that I had been, but apparently my idea of steady and Adam's are very different.  I promised to not do any more exercise until I saw Claudio today.

Upon hearing my tale of woe, Claudio responded with, 'That's not right, it shouldn't be doing that.'  Apparently I should be better by now and the fact that I'm not means that I'm still out of balance.  Thus began an hour of pain.  First he poked my hamstring in various places and determined that the ache is in the biceps femoris (but I could have told him that).  Then - and look away now if you're of a squeamish disposition - he stuck his fingers between the muscle strands of the hamstring and scraped them down the muscle to break up any adhesions.  Over and over again.  It felt like he was dragging a spike down my leg but it could have been worse; some osteopaths use an implement like a crochet hook to get even further between the muscles.

That would have been enough for me, but Claudio was just getting started.  Next up were my left hip and lower back.  Claudio put on what looked like a climbing harness and looped a thick strap around my left thigh which he then attached to the front of the climbing harness.  And then he leaned back as though he was about to rappel down a cliff.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  He did this several times, then heaved me around like a sack of potatoes while he manipulated my hip joints and back.  I had my doubts as to whether I'd even be able to move by the end of this but I was amazed when I got up to find that, not only did nothing hurt, my lower back felt incredibly loose.  I left feeling quite euphoric, although that may have been due to sheer relief at not being paralysed. 

By the end of the day, however, I felt like I had been beaten from the waist down with a stick.  Claudio said no exercise tomorrow at the very least in order to give my muscles a chance to settle into their new positions.  That won't be a hardship if I still feel like this.  I'm sure that the soreness will wear off soon...just in time for my next sports massage with Adam.  Woo hoo.