My second visit to Orchard Health Clinic

Today I returned for my second consultation at Orchard Health Clinic. My initial consultation/review can be found here.

I experienced some soreness/pain again after my chest workout at the gym last week, so I shared that with my Osteopath, Lewis. He asked a series of questions again before beginning on my physical therapy.

Once again, he manipulated and twisted my joints in really scary ways. It really feels scary because of the angles he distorts and turns them while pressing down hard sometimes, but I never experienced any pain because of that! It doesn't seem possible and I felt like I should be squirming in pain all the way but he somehow was very skillful and I never felt any real pain.

He did some deep massages again, and helped cracked some joints (he's a very good neck cracker!! haha). I felt he focused abit more on my wrist today, really kneading and twisting and turning at all possible angles to stretch and feel out the entire joint. For some reason there was no pain while he did this, even though just before I entered the clinic I felt pain opening a toilet door.


Then he told me he wanted to apply some tape to me today, and asked me if it was ok. I realised later that this was because it cost $15 just for the tape :o

Looks kinda cool

After our 30 min session, as I was waiting for payment and discussing with the counter staff when my next visit should be, Martin (the founder of the clinic!) overheard our conversation and came over to give some of his own advice... which somehow turned into an impromptu consultation as well lol.

He did similar physical checks as Lewis - turned my wrist this way and that and pressed in similar ways. And reassuringly - he gave the same diagnoses as Lewis - that my left shoulder/traps were a little higher than normal, my rotation/flexibility of my left wrist wasn't as good as my left, etc. Reassuring because there's interrater reliability! So it should really be accurate haha. These osteopaths are really good at detecting asymmetry.

Anyway that session cost $120 + $15 = $135 :(( This is quite expensive. 

Lewis recommended I stop pressing exercises entirely, and work on pulling exercises and see how my wrist takes it. Let's see if the pain goes away...

The Kiwi Who Flew

There was a Kiwi, he lived on a tree,

He sang and he chirped, but unhappy was he.

He longed to fly, soar over the skies,

But he was afraid, "I'll get hurt!" he cries.

 

A pigeon flew in, cooing and fussing,

'Come on little Kiwi, come chase your dream!'

But the Kiwi said "No, I am comfortable here,

Being lost out there, is what I fear!"

 

Next a crow swooped over, and shot him a glance,

'Just flap your wings, and you'll be airborne at once!'

But the Kiwi said "No, I don't have the strength,

My wings will fail, they don't have the length!"

Then came a sparrow, lightly flitting by,

'My wings are short too, you just have to try!'

The Kiwi said "Fine!" And jumped off with trust,

And into the sky, he was airborne at last!

 

But he didn't go far,

He dipped,

He dropped,

He crashed.

 

There was a Kiwi, he lived on a tree,

He sang and he chirped, happy was he.

'Aren't you hurt?' a concerned bird cried,

"Yes", he beamed. "But at least I tried!"

 

---

 

Be like the Kiwi - pursue your dreams. Don't be afraid of getting lost, don't be afraid of not being capable. You just have to try. I pursued my dream of working in the gaming industry, and while I've found that it's not suitable for me, at least I've tried. Have you?

The only unpaid review of Orchard Health Clinic on the Internet

I have been having wrist soreness/pain for some time due to my weights training, and I've been wanting to get it treated. I learnt about the osteopaths at Orchard Health Clinic through some (paid?) blog reviews so I decided to try it out.

I'm kinda writing this partially because for some reason there is no other unpaid review (I believe all of the reviews online (TSL, GP, BW - just run a search for 'Orchard Health Clinic Review') are paid reviews? They were all 'invited down'. I may be wrong).  This isn't really a review per se, but just a document of what happens in a session there.

Their small clinic is located at Park Mall, pretty convenient. My osteopath was Lewis, a big strong man about twice my size lol. 

Background Check

The session started off with some background checking - I shared about my issue and Lewis followed up with further questions to get a comprehensive picture. He explained that even though some things may seem irrelevant (diabetes history), often it's possible that many things are interconnected. 

Physical Examination

Then he began his physical check on me, playing w my wrist and arm and pressing down on the joints and rotating them in ways I never thought possible. At first I was abit scared that I would get hurt but after a while it was apparent that he was super skilled at what he was doing such that I didn't feel any pain at all! He just controlled my body movements easily by manipulating my hands / joints. I think he can be a jujitsu specialist outside hahah

He identified that my left side was slightly rotated forward, and my left lats were underdeveloped (compared to my right), and left traps were a little overdeveloped (compared to my right), a sign of some sort of overcompensation due to something. I never noticed it till he pointed it out!

My left chest and arm was a little tight as well. And one thing he always does is to ask me to check it out myself, which is kind of an assurance he's not talking nonsense la haha. 

Treatment

So after the physical examination, he began a short session of 'treatment'. I don't know how to describe it accurately, but it's a combination of deep tissue massage + joint rotations and more pressing. A lot of it was uncomfortable but he told me it was normal, as he was helping me to stretch out those areas. And he's v strong so I felt abit like a rag doll in his hands.

But I think it was a combination of his confident and swift movements and presses, and he would continue to talk to me while he was doing all these, that helped me to relax and just let him do his thing and trust him. I hope all these really helps!

He ended off the session by telling me some stuff to do at home to further increase the mobility and flexibility of my joints, and arranged a follow up session in a week and a half. 

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I'll continue to document my time at OHC here, probably go for 1-2 more sessions until my wallet depletes lol. It's quite pricey, at $200 for an hour of consultation+treatment. But I must say Lewis seems extremely knowledgeable and skilled at what he does, and I felt safe and confident in his (strong) hands. Let's see if these treatments help with my wrist issue!