China curing

So, there I was lying on a massage chair with needles prodding, and then cups hugging me. Neither of these were the sites and experiences that I want to share, nor the best use of precious time. I've had these before and did not really wish to repeat them, but the final eight days of my China trip were slowed down considerably by a sore hip. 

Now, all of you will be thinking that I must have overtrained but it started when I was playing with the kids, as I do, probably a few hours after quite a lot of drinking and I tripped, as I do. At the time a grazed knee, hand and an incipient black eye were all I had to blush for. Overnight though I felt enough pain in my hip to reconsider even running the next day. In fact, even getting up was more than uncomfortable. It was an oddity because though my belly flop of the previous day was impressive, the impact was nowhere near where this horrid ache was coming from. It was not just a spot, but the whole lower part of my right hip and lower back were inflamed. 

I did an x-ray, because in China it is quite easy, which ruled out a broken rib but the pain remained and kept me from sleeping well or running. On our trip to Zhaoqing the pain eased - I could walk and be active without issue, riding bikes was painless, but running was not. It lingered till afterwards and I did want some treatment akin to a kiwi-style physio which is almost non-existent in China. I opted for 推拿 (tui na) which is a method of Chinese massage. The result, worse discomfort. Any gains in comfort I had with a vigorous trip out to Zhaoqing were erased.

I dallied on booking a physio for my return and missed out on a booking for Saturday morning. And so the day of our return flight, I decided on the acupuncture route. I am not a big fan of acupuncture or cupping even though I have had dry needling at kiwi physios, too. It is just that what I wanted was some form of non-aggravating massaged, and some prescribed exercises, not for hit-or-miss Chinese medicine (from my experience). But I wanted some relief for the flight and wanted something to change the trend in some way.

The Chinese doctor in this case did not instill in me much confidence by not asking about my symptoms, taking my pulse and then saying I had kidney stones on the right. I had already indicated to him my pain was on the right but no one had told him the cause so it made me recall how cold readers tell fortunes. Middle aged guy, pain near kidneys, well, why not guess a kidney stone.

But we went on, the needles went in, the cups absolutely sucked but the pain I had was noticeable lessened and not just from the relief of not being tortured any further. Reading more about kidney stones though, maybe he was onto something. The early signs of them are literally what I have been experiencing so it will be the first thing I explore on my return, and possibly my spectacular fall were either coincidental to them or might have dislodged one or two that have now re-lodged unhappily. Either way, I really want an answer and really want to lace up my shoes again to run! I hope both of these can be achieved when I get home.