Beaten up by midgets

How’s my back doing, I hear you ask (and if I don’t hear you ask, where’s your compassion? This is not just a blog, this is a relationship)? Not so good, but thanks for asking.

Three weeks since the removal of the back brace and my back is hurting as much as it did when the brace first came off, if not more so. This is not good and something must be done. Feels like the damn thing is seized up, which is hardly surprising given it was clamped in one position for three months. But maybe there is something wrong with the bone, maybe a disk is buggered, no end of unpleasant scenarios you can imagine when you don’t have any answers.

Then yesterday, Amara owner of the best watersports club in Thailand (or probably The Universe), told me that she had just been to her physio who had cured her of a stiff neck. This same physio looks after the aches and pains of the Thai windsurfing team, so she seemed worthy of a visit.

Down Sukhumvit to the strangely named Good Point Clinic and a meeting with Dr. Pinkul, a cheerful lady who spoke excellent English and was pleased to tell me that part of her training in Bangkok had involved cutting up cadavers to inspect all the muscles. Nice.

Ten minutes of checking me out and she told me that my vertebrae were not rotating as they should and that my spine, instead of being curved at the base as it should be, was locked straight. In short, as I had expected, I was seized up.

I wondered briefly why my bone doctor had not advised me that I would need physio once the brace came off, but of course he was only concerned that the bone was fixed. The muscles were not his problem, or maybe more importantly, he could not make any money from resolving the problem.

Anyway, Dr. Pinkul was quite sure she could fix me up and first it was fifteen minutes lying on a very hot blanket. Once my back was nicely cooked she turned me over and started massaging to release the muscles. This was occasionally painful, but often pleasant as I felt muscles coming free and stretching. Finally, there was a dose of ultrasound to reach the areas deeper inside.

She who must be obeyed came along and had a session to work on her frequently aching back. The charge for more than an hour of therapy is 500 baht which is great value, especially when Dr. Pinkul really seems to know her stuff.

I walked away feeling more flexible than I did when I walked in, which counts as progress. Of course this morning the impact of the massage has set in and my back felt like it had been beaten up by a gang of midgets with many sore spots. But I did the stretching exercises she gave me and I definitely have more movement than I did.

If you need a physio in Pattaya, Dr. Pinkul is the one to see.

Comments 🔗

2009-01-30 | todd says

Thanks for that, i hunted around for a physio for my girl for about 3 months, hard to find a good one, but we did in the end, an english guy who’s been around for years and is only available ny appointments (4 day wait)… only 500b as well… hard to find good help in pattaya

2009-01-30 | Spike says

I saw the thread on Nigel on TV, was not sure whether he was a chiro or a physio; I don’t subscribe to the notion of moving bones around, sort out the muscles and the bones will take care of themselves, usually. Well, I hope Ms. Pinkul does the trick, if not I will hunt down Nigel.

2009-01-30 | Billy says

Jock will be able to put you in touch with a number of very attractive young Thai Masseurs. Unlikely to help your vertabrae much though they are available at short notice, just need to wait for them to finish with the previous customer I imagine. Might be more than 500 baht as well.

2009-01-31 | Spike says

As a participant in such activities, I am sure Jock can confirm, but I understand that 500 baht will buy you what is euphemistically known as a “short time.” For twice the price you can have a “long time”, although why you would want to spend any more time than necessary with someone with the intellect of a two year old and a face like a train wreck is beyond my understanding.