True story. I visited my parents a few months ago only to discover my 81 year-old mother limping. She said her doctor told her she needed knee-replacement surgery, which is covered under Medicare. She did not want her knee replaced even though it was slowing her down. My father, who likes to get-about fast, had been slightly annoyed by her reluctance. So, there was some peer pressure here.
X-rays showed bone-on-bone. As a former massage therapist, I asked my mother if anybody had touched her knee during her medical exams. “No, why should they?” she replied.
I asked her if I might massage around her knee. I am not particularly trained in knee-massage, but I myself experienced knee pain after running a half-marathon. Massaging on myself, I noticed that the muscles below and above my knee were particularly tight and I found relief by rubbing the area along my outer thigh called the IT band. It tends to melt when placed under pressure and warmth.
I spent less than 30 minutes rubbing my mother’s IT band, and below her knee at the front-of her calf. She was quite sore along both sides of her knee, and just below it.
The next day my mother phoned me. “Guess where I am?” she asked me.
“I have no idea.”
“I’m playing golf with Dad. Thank-you because you cured me.”
“Oh,” I replied, “A non-medical person does not cure. Only doctors are allowed to cure. They have legally trademarked the term, Mom, and if you tell your doctor that your son cured you, I could get into trouble.”
I saw her again at Thanksgiving. Her knee still gave her no trouble. But I massage her again. This time just for the fun of it. S.