Stick me with your best shot

I went for acupuncture today at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. I've never had acupuncture before. I've never even been for a professional massage before. But my hand's been bothering me and seeing as it hasn't gotten better, I figured I didn't have anything to lose.

So I went this morning for my 2 1/2 hour appointment. Lots and lots of questions followed by diagnostics to see what arm positions made my hand numb (answer: when my arms are raised and I turn my head to the left & up. I don't get the same feeling if I look to the right & up. Also found out that just turning my head to the left while she pushed down on my head had the same hand-numbing effect (but not if she pushed straight down or I looked to the right while she pushed down). Controlling for the experiment makes me happy.

Anyway, once she diagnosed where I was having the pain she brought out the needles. Seeing as my left forearm hurt, she inserted the 20 or so needles into my right shin, calf & ankle. Of course. Because that's where the pain is. I asked her why there and she told me it "had to do with the channels. It's all very complex".

Oh, OK... because that explains everything. Do you think I can use that explanation in my next paper? Anyway, I let it drop since I didn't want to hear any more about my Chi (which apparently is excellent, duh) nor the herbs I should be taking weekly (that's not going to happen either.... well, unless those herbs are actually strawberries and they happen to be dipped in 70% dark chocolate).

However, I did leave with less pain than when I went in and I was able to make a fist when I left. She mentioned the next 24 hours could be worse before it gets better, so we'll see how it goes. My fist-making has disappeared although I'm still able to move my wrist pretty well. I don't know if I'd go back for acupuncture again, but I'd definitely go back for one of their therapeutic massages. Sounds like 1.25 hours of heaven.

Oh, and they also told me not to pick any more weeds in mass-quantity. Yeah, like that's going to happen. Although I only have small amounts of weeds left, I didn't mention the recycled concrete path I'm planning on installing once my arm gets better.