It just goes to show
I had the honor a few weeks ago of giving a treatment to a truly world-class athlete. I have asked her permission to write about this, because it is so amazing to me.
Pam Reed just completed a world-record 300 mile no-sleep run. She took just under 80 hours to complete this amazing feat. Imagine starting at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning and running without stopping for sleep until Monday at 2 in the afternoon. Just the accomplishment is nearly unbelievable. If I hadn’t been with her for part of the time I would have wondered about her cognitive faculties towards the end of the run. I was lucky enough to spend Sunday night from 8 until 5 Monday morning riding my bike next to her. She was lucid and able to converse. At about 2 a.m. she got quiet, but never slowed down or stopped her run. I was giving her leg massages at the end of a lap (25 miles). All of this is amazing and was a pleasure to be around. That kind of dedication and perseverance is always inspiring.
But of course that is not what I am truly amazed by.
Pam has tight hamstring muscles. After she has been running for several hours her right hamstring gets tight and starts to affect her gait. I have had good results giving her acupuncture treatments either before or after a long run. But no one had ever made a run like this before. (One man had run 265 + or - in the same way, and that is incredible as well.) So I was giving Pam a pre-run treatment and making arrangements to meet her and give massages to her when I asked her if we could try something different. EAR PELLETS.
Auricular acupuncture is one way to extend a treatment and some people would say it enhances the effectiveness of any treatment. I like it, but do not always utilize it. I am now rethinking that approach.
I put two pellets (Silver coated stainless steel) into each ear. I was taught to use Shenmen (Neurogate) as an ‘amplifier’ with any other point. Then I found the most tender point near the hip joint/sciatic nerve area and placed a pellet there.
When I was riding with Pam she was saying how the ‘ear seeds have made a huge difference.’ Her gait was straight and her legs were tracking well. Two weeks after the run (she was out of town) we got together for another treatment and Pam told me “I am convinced those ear seeds made a complete difference in my run. My hamstring did not hurt for the entire run. In fact my hamstring did not hurt for two days after I removed the seeds and then only minimally.” That is a HUGE difference.
I met her this Wednesday as she was preparing to go to London to run a marathon there and then return to Boston for their marathon. She wanted more seeds. It just goes to show...
Pam Reed just completed a world-record 300 mile no-sleep run. She took just under 80 hours to complete this amazing feat. Imagine starting at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning and running without stopping for sleep until Monday at 2 in the afternoon. Just the accomplishment is nearly unbelievable. If I hadn’t been with her for part of the time I would have wondered about her cognitive faculties towards the end of the run. I was lucky enough to spend Sunday night from 8 until 5 Monday morning riding my bike next to her. She was lucid and able to converse. At about 2 a.m. she got quiet, but never slowed down or stopped her run. I was giving her leg massages at the end of a lap (25 miles). All of this is amazing and was a pleasure to be around. That kind of dedication and perseverance is always inspiring.
But of course that is not what I am truly amazed by.
Pam has tight hamstring muscles. After she has been running for several hours her right hamstring gets tight and starts to affect her gait. I have had good results giving her acupuncture treatments either before or after a long run. But no one had ever made a run like this before. (One man had run 265 + or - in the same way, and that is incredible as well.) So I was giving Pam a pre-run treatment and making arrangements to meet her and give massages to her when I asked her if we could try something different. EAR PELLETS.
Auricular acupuncture is one way to extend a treatment and some people would say it enhances the effectiveness of any treatment. I like it, but do not always utilize it. I am now rethinking that approach.
I put two pellets (Silver coated stainless steel) into each ear. I was taught to use Shenmen (Neurogate) as an ‘amplifier’ with any other point. Then I found the most tender point near the hip joint/sciatic nerve area and placed a pellet there.
When I was riding with Pam she was saying how the ‘ear seeds have made a huge difference.’ Her gait was straight and her legs were tracking well. Two weeks after the run (she was out of town) we got together for another treatment and Pam told me “I am convinced those ear seeds made a complete difference in my run. My hamstring did not hurt for the entire run. In fact my hamstring did not hurt for two days after I removed the seeds and then only minimally.” That is a HUGE difference.
I met her this Wednesday as she was preparing to go to London to run a marathon there and then return to Boston for their marathon. She wanted more seeds. It just goes to show...
posted by Michael Clifford, L. Ac. | 7:58 PM
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