My first visit to a physiotherapist's clinic

Yesterday my right arm became too painful to bear. Earlier massage by the Chinese chiropractor did not work. At 10.00 am, I was at a sports physiotherapist's clinic to seek treatment.

As this was my first visit, the lady physiotherapist who attended to me spent quite some time diagnosing the condition of my elbow. After pressing certain painful points she confirmed her diagnosis. According to her, I had a condition known as tennis elbow. She told me that the tendon at my right elbow had inflammation and swollen. That explains the pain I experienced when I tried to lift things.

Then she told me that it would take quite some time to heal.

The first thing she did was to attach four suction rubber cups between my right elbow and sent mild current through them to my arm. There was vibration and some tickling sensation. This lasted for 15 minutes. Then a device she used sent ultrasound to the area around my elbow. The physiotherapist told me that the sound would induce the growth of more proteins to expedite healing. For ten minutes my elbow area was exposed to ultrasound. It was followed by cold compress. A tube containing cold water or some coolant was wrapped around my elbow area. It would help in healing my inflamed tendon, she said.

After all these had been done, she started to mobilise my elbow. There was bending of my arm, traction and meridian point massage. Finally I was fitted with a tennis elbow wrap. It took one hour and fifteen minutes for the treatment. I felt better after all her trouble and I thanked her before I left the clinic. I had to see her again for review and treatment again the following week.