Three Days and Electrical Theory

I don't have to work on Monday. School is closed (MLK) and there aren't a whole lot of kids coming to the breaktime program. I told them I was quite happy to take that day off.

My knee is feeling worse than usual this week. I will appreciate the extra time of not moving furniture, chasing kids, hauling extras out of the back room, answering the door, taking kids to wash hands and to the gym and outside and all the other things I do in the course of a day at work.

It's been very windy here this week, which really affects my knee.

I have this theory.

On the surface it probably sounds nuts, but in discussion with the few people I've talked to about it, they agree it makes sense.

First, you have to go back in time with me a little. One of the pieces of equipment at the original place I went for physical therapy is called an accuscope. Not sure why it's called that, it's not a scope. Don't know about the accu part. :)

Shawn explained it to me briefly the first time he used it, and he continued using it each time I had an appointment.

It is an electrical instrument. Depending on which area is being treated, a conducting gel is applied to the skin. When I was having my shoulder treated, I held a metal cylinder in my palm while the gel went on my shoulder/bicep. The end of a roller type thing (think ultrasound) was then moved over the skin of my shoulder and upper arm. I felt very little sensation of electricity, but noticed a great improvement and a lessening of pain for a few hours after treatment.

Here's my understanding of how it works. Your body is a battery, basically. You generate your own electricity. Healthy muscle/skin tissue generates an electronic signature that's different from wounded or unhealthy tissue. The accuscope is designed to take the signature of a healthy part and mimic that in the wounded part, prompting the injured tissue to work on generating the proper signal.

Medical science doesn't really know how it works, but it does.

The TNS unit I use does something similar. That also provides some relief to me.

Now here's the thing.
When the wind blows here, it generates a great deal of static electricity. Touching your car or the metal handle of the screen door or brushing your hair or wearing anything that's been around wool or polyester in the dryer can cause a hell of a shock. Last night when I got up to pee, I pulled the blankets back in the dark bedroom and actually saw a big blue spark when I did.

There was a guy on the news a few years ago talking about the small explosion that happened when he went to pick up an almost-empty gasoline can from his driveway and the electricity built up in his body caused a huge spark, which ignited the fumes. He survived with singed clothing and a healthy respect for gasoline. :)

So I think that when the wind blows and gets all that static charge built up, it messes with my personal electric field and causes my knee to go from painful to really painful. When the wind dies down, the discomfort dies down, too.

Strange but true.

So it's time for my evening wind-down. Hit post, draw a little bit, and go to bed.
I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with my man and Monday trying to dump more ballast from our overwhelming supply of amazing crap filling the house.