After 4 years of playing in Switzerland I have come to accept the medicine here. I was very skeptical at first because of the whole unfamiliarity of it all. From the language barrier to different practices it took awhile to get used to the whole thing. I am completely comfortable with it now but every time I get a medical or physical therapy treatment it is quite the experience.
At the beginning of this year I had a calf problem. After around 15 minutes of playing/practicing, I would feel an intense pain in my leg. Sometimes it was so bad that I had to stop playing. Something needed to be done so I asked the training staff if I could see a doctor to figure out what was wrong. The team doctor here is an extremely nice guy but his english is not that great. After explaining to him my problem, I expected him to tell me that I strained my calf somehow or maybe tore something. Instead he told me that my muscle is "tired" and said I needed some physical therapy for it. I don't know what he wanted to say but I am pretty sure my doctor from back home would not tell me my leg was just tired.
It is very frustrating when words get lost in translation. The word "sore" for example. I was talking to the team massage therapist and I told him that my back was really sore. He did not know what I meant and wanted me to try and explain this to him. I told him it is like something hurting but it doesn't hurt. He still did not understand so I just told him my back hurt and then got a massage. Sometimes I just have to take little defeats here and there.
It seems like the most popular treatment here is just a simple massage. A couple years ago I rolled my ankle in practice and the next day I went to the physical therapist. I was expecting to ice and maybe get some electric stim on my ankle. Instead I got a painful massage on my ankle for 20 minutes. I would expect to get massage on my thigh or back but I have never heard of massaging an ankle. I am not saying I disagree with it, I am just saying I have never heard of it.
The massages tend to be painful too. When I had a little tendinitis in my knee the physical therapist was poking around and moving my knee every which way. I think they like inflicting pain on me so they do it any way they can. They even have a little tool to make it more painful. It looks kind of like a hook and they use it to dig deep into the muscle. Not much fun for me.
Another strange treatment I can only describe as acupuncture. It involves moving a needle in and out of the muscle. If it sounded like a sprained ankle massage hurt, then this hurts 100 times more. I have had this procedure done twice, once when I pulled my hamstring and one time this year for my calf. The physical therapist picked out where I pulled my hamstring and then put the needle right in. Even though there was a lot of pain, my hamstring felt better a couple of days later. I wish I could say the same thing for my calf. When he stuck the needle in my calf my whole foot felt like it was on fire and I told him to stop immediately. Even though it only worked once for me, I would still endorse this treatment because I have seen it work many times. The whole key is just to open your mind to the procedure.
Four years ago I had another procedure involving needles. I was experiencing back spasms when I played for Lugano. I went to get weekly massages to try and loosen the muscles up. When those didn't work, the physical therapist pricked my back with a syringe filled with medicine. After 20 pricks he would be done and then cover my back with a bandage. I had this done maybe 5 times. I have no idea if it worked or not but I would be open to trying it again.
I am sure that my adventures with the doctor and physical therapist aren't over but I just have to keep an open mind to them all and take everything in stride.
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