Acupuncture Break-Through

When I first started seeing Robert (the acupuncturist) at Magna, he tried working my sore lower leg a LITTLE. Back then, we thought it was a stress fracture, and shortly after, we thought it was referred pain from a lower back issue. (Now I'm pretty sure it's actually a lower leg issue with some tendons/muscles down there.) He put 1 or 2 needles in "the sore spot," and I thought it actually made things worse the next day. So we stopped doing that.

Recently, I told him we should try working the leg again. He'd been timid to do so based on what happened in May. But he thought it was worth a shot. So ten days ago, I Instagrammed this picture:

Captioned "'You look like a puffer fish,' said Robert from @element_mpls.
Really worked on my sore leg this week."

About 15-20 minutes into the session (which usually consists of having the needles in for 25-30 minutes), I felt a tingly sensation around the side of my leg and looping below the back of my calf. It didn't hurt, but it sure was odd! It lasted about 5-8 seconds. When Robert came back in, he said that could only be a good thing. And my leg felt a bit better later that week.

When I saw him earlier this week, he loaded it up again. Only this time, he even put needles straight down the back of my calf:

(There are some on the inside of my leg here, too, that you just can't see.)

During that session, I felt a slight cramping sensation in the back of my calf for a few seconds about 20 minutes in. So something was working. We think.

After that visit is when I posted about my first "speed work" since March, and Robert shared that on the Element Wellness Group's Facebook page:

I can't WAIT to hear all of his thoughts put together in a big case study someday!

In the meantime, I'm finishing up a week of 40 minute runs, and I'm thinking about my first race back in about 5 weeks! More on that in a few days.

p.s. Robert and I have been talking for a few weeks about social media, and he's just getting his pages started for his new solo company. So check out Element Wellness Group on Facebook and on Instagram as Robert is getting things going.