Beautiful lavender

Lavender is doesn’t only have a beautiful purplish-blue colour but it’s also widely known as the healing herb.

The powerful healing abilities of lavender are derived from the chemical composition of this herb. You can freely and confidently use lavender to treat bites, burns, wounds, fatigue, depression, fatigue, cramps etc. Its wide variety of healing abilities makes it one of the most popular plants on the face of the earth.

Below are the 7 healing wonders of lavender:-

#1: Lavender is an antiseptic or disinfectant

#2: Lavender is an expectorant that helps soothe coughs

#3: Lavender is an analgesic that relieves headaches, pains, discomforts and tension

#4: Lavender is used in aromatherapy that has calming properties and induces sleep

#5: Lavender is a nervine that can gradually calm the nerves system

#6: Lavender is a cicatrizant that promotes natural healing

#7: Lavender is an antidepressant and helps to uplift mood

Elbow injury

I thought to myself when I woke up last Monday morning..."Hmm, my right elbow feels weird. The pointed end of my elbow bone feels slightly sore and tender. This is not something that I've previously experienced before. This is definitely not a muscle pull or tendon injury. Did I fall down or knock something? What did I do over the weekend to sustain this injury?"

I didn't have an answer. I was dumbfounded to say the least.

I tried doing some push-ups and the pain was more noticeable. As a matter of fact, all movements that involved the extension of my right triceps would cause pain. However, there was no pain whatsoever when I executed pulling movements.

"Could I have busted my right triceps? If so, how? I didn't workout hard the week leading to this injury."

I'd previously visited Oriental Tit Tar for my shoulder injury and naturally that was the first place I wanted to visit to get my right elbow examined.

At Oriental Tit Tar, I explained my predicament to the sifu. We tried to speculate the cause of my injury but couldn't come to a consensus. He pushed, pressed and rubbed my elbow including my triceps and concluded that I've injured the veins in my elbow. Apparently these veins wrap around the elbow bone.

I found it hard to believe but accepted it anyway. I was glad it wasn't a bone injury. If it was, it would mean a long recovery period. The sifu assured me it was a minor injury and I would fully recover within a few weeks' time.

Property of Mr Flabby Less

My wrapped elbow

I've since gotten my right elbow wrapped 3 times at Oriental Tit Tar (Mon-Wed-Fri). My elbow feels much better now and there's only minor pain if I press my right elbow against something (anything, even my soft pillow or bed when I get out of bed). I've not gone to the gym for the past week and plan to take a break for the next few weeks to ensure full recovery. I hate sustaining any form of injury as that would mean timeout from the gym but I guess a break from the usual gym routine will do me good. Besides, this would mean more time for "bicep curls" at the bar! :-P

Recovery is a slow process

What's the status of my shoulder injury since sustaining it about a month ago?

I think the condition of my left shoulder has improved significantly. No more acute pain and I can move my left arm freely. It was so bad when I first sustained the injury that I couldn't even sleep well as the pain (when I unknowingly roll over to my left side) would wake me up! OUCH!

Also, I think the tit tar therapy sessions at Oriental Tit Tar and supplements are doing me good! I'm so pleased and excited that I'm on the right track to recovery!

Having said that, full recovery takes time and is a slow process. I need to be patient and not rush right back into weight training as I might risk injuring my left shoulder again.

I'm incorporating very light (puny!) weight training for my left shoulder in my effort to strengthen it. The movements are basic front/lateral raises and forward/backward circular arm movements. I'm using super light dumbbells (2kg) for this at the gym. If I feel like doing this at home or in the office, I would use a book or a bottle filled with water/sand.

I know they say "patience is a virtue" but unfortunately I'm a "kan cheong" vain pot who is eager to get back to training with weights. Life can be such a beeatch, don't you think?

Oriental Tit Tar

I've been going for tit tar treatments (Chinese physiotherapy) at Oriental Tit Tar in Sea Park to treat my busted left shoulder. They specialise in "treating bone, joint and muscle pain."

To check out their website, please click Oriental Tit Tar.

These guys are pretty good as they know their stuff. My brother sees them whenever he injures himself. I too have brought Sonny there once to treat his foot about 1-2 months ago. Sonny hurt the vein in his foot due to his non-stop jumping (sometimes from the sofa to the floor!) and his condition improved after 6-8 hours of seeing the tit tar sifu and his foot being wrapped with herbs.

Why see a tit tar and not a conventional orthopaedic? Well, to simply put, I have more faith and am more comfortable seeing the former :-) I'm 50:50 when it comes to Western treatments...

I went for 4 tit tar sessions all in all, once every alternate day (Thu-Sat-Mon-Wed). Each session would involve massage, rubbing, pressing and scrapping of my shoulder area. It would then end with the sifu wrapping herbs on my shoulder. It's to be left there overnight and removed in the morning. It smells like any typical tit tar oil and not too overwhelming.

Each session set me back between RM80-100. So the total was close to RM400. Ouch! The pain in my wallet was nearly as bad as the pain in my left shoulder!

According to the sifu, I've injured my shoulder ligament. No surprises here. I blogged about it in my earlier post...Shoulder Injury even before I started seeing them for tit tar treatments.

"Unlike bones, veins and ligaments are difficult to heal. Healing process is also subjective. If it was a bone injury, all you need to do is to adjust it back into the socket/slot and you'll be on your way to recovery. You'll need to rest for a few weeks. No weights during this period. Cardio is alright."

I thought to myself, "Crap! Just my luck! There goes my come back..."

I was also given some black tablets (Chinese herbs) to aid recovery. The instruction says to take 3 tablets twice a day after meal. A packet was good for about 3 days. They gave me a packet each on Thu (Day 1 of treatment) and Mon (Day 3 of  treatment).

"These tablets will help strengthen your veins. You'll also need to watch your diet. You can't have cold drinks and any food/drinks with cold properties. Whisky and beer are out of the question."

I protested, "No alcohol? But that's elixir of life wor! No alcohol means no life!"


Property of Mr Flabby Less
List of food and drinks to avoid. How boring! Thank god durian didn't make it to the list! :-P

Well, I guess if it's important for me to abstain from alcohol for my own good and aid recovery, I should just comply.

But what about my favourite? "Err...durian can eat ah?"

"Yes, no problem. Durian has heaty/warm properties and not cold so that's fine."

WOOHOO! I did have durian after each tit tar session :-) No excuse right since it's just a stone's throw away from SS2's durian strip? :-P

I'm still not doing weight training and my workout is limited to cardio. Depending on my form for the day, I spend about 45-60 mins on a cardio machine. Sometimes I even do some burpees but my shoulder feels tender after that so I'm cutting back on that too.

I'm no longer young so I guess recovery time is a tad longer. I plan to consume some supplements to aid recovery. Do check out my post on Supplements For Shoulder Injury.