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How
Oriental Medicine Helped Me Make the Team!
"As many
of you know I count myself firmly among the ranks of
the exercise addicted. For about 10 years I was
sidelined by a rotator cuff injury that didn’t heal
very well and was unable to practice my favorite
sports - swimming and rowing. It wasn’t time wasted,
I studied 3 different styles of Tai Chi, walked a
lot of miles in a circle practicing Ba Gua, and
encountered acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine,
all of which ultimately landed me back in school.
While I
was at New England School of Acupuncture studying
acupuncture and herbal medicine and taking advantage
of treatment at the student clinic, one of my
professors decided that she wasn’t happy with the
results that we were getting with my herbal
treatment and changed strategies dramatically.
About a
month into the new treatment things started to
change, my shoulder stopped being a chronic source
of pain! I didn’t jump back into the water right
away, something about being a full-time student in
the last year of an exhausting program, but in the
summer of 2005, when graduation was finally in
sight, I took my first tentative steps back to
rowing and signed up for a 6-week summer rowing
program at North Eastern University. The great sage
who said "its just like riding a bicycle" was right;
my body still remembered the old skills, and it felt
great to be back on the water.
That
fall I reconnected with Community Rowing Inc. and
joined their recreational program. For the last 2
years I rowed and raced with the General Sweeps 2
program and rowed tanks and swam during the winter
slowly getting back into shape and coming to trust
that my shoulder might be able to do this stuff
again. This year I decided to turn things up a notch
and try out for the competitive women’s team at CRI.
Tryouts started April 2nd and went for 3
weeks; it was great, I love being out on the water
with all these strong, dedicated women (even when I
couldn’t see who was sitting in front of me till the
sun came up half way through practice and despite
the strange patch on my wrist that I think might be
frostbite).
I’m
happy to report that I made the cut and will be
rowing with the Comp. Women this year condemning
myself to 4:30am wake up calls and lots of bad Lycra
but hoping for many happy miles of soul soothing
swing and hopefully some exciting races. I’d like to
say thank you to all my patients and co-workers who
have accommodated my schedule changes and supported
my efforts, this is one of those lifetime goals and
I am incredibly grateful to have a chance to play
this out."
--
Rebekah Michaels, Lic.Ac., MAOM,
Diplomate OM
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