Soundwave Therapy + An Amtrac DJ Set

This week in Sadia's healing journey...

I originally planned for this third post to be my final exploration of early papers on music and healing. But Samuel Matthew’s 1806 dissertation “On the Effects of Music Curing and Palliating Diseases” wasn’t uncovering anything Atlee or my unknown homie hadn’t already touched on. And TBH, this week I experienced something that’s more interesting to share.

This week I visited a chiropractor who uses Extracorporeal Pulse Activation Technology (EPTA) aka Radial Pressure Wave Treatment aka Shockwave Therapy…aka sound waves (honestly, they should just use that terminology. It’s way more fun). One of my PT’s recommended trying this treatment for my shoulder as an alternative to botox injections, so I stopped by their office to test it out.

EPAT utilizes the power of acoustic sound waves to stimulate the body’s natural healing processes. The technology works by sending acoustic waves into an injured area at varying depths to compress and manipulate the tissue. The acoustic waves generated by the machine used on me (The PiezoWave) converge at a point deep within the soft tissue to produce an intense, extremely short duration compression burst. These variations in pressure cause microtrauma in the treatment area that stimulates metabolism, enhances blood circulation and accelerates the healing process, allowing damaged tissue to regenerate and heal.

Crazy, right?!

My trial was brief but I got to experience what it felt like. The procedure was similar to an ultrasound - where a device is placed on the skin of the treatment area and moved around. I sat in a massage chair with my face and arms resting on pad and my back exposed to the technician. When they turned the PiezoWave on it made a noticeable clicking sound - not scary, but not particularly comforting. When the device was placed on a part of my shoulder that’s still impacted by the tree it created a dull ache. And on certain parts, that ache traveled down my arm or around to my chest. But these weren’t random paths. Any part it traveled to were parts of my body I’d been feeling tightness or limited movement in since the accident.

I’m not going to lie, my mind was kind of blown. Every time a the treatment resonated in a new part of my body I would think “Oh yeah, that’s the pec major that my massage therapist keeps working on”, or “Dude, that’s the part of my forearm that’s been so tight for so long”, or “WTF, that’s the part of my hand that’s felt like pins and needles since the tree!”

When the treatment was finished, we didn’t see any change in my shoulders mobility. And my arm was a little achy the the rest of the day. But the next day when I woke up, something felt different. I pushed my pillows to the side so I could start doing snow angels in bed and see if it was just in my mind. My mobility hadn’t changed but my shoulder felt less strained as I moved it. Later that day, as I did my PT routines, I could feel that subtle difference. So I stopped in the middle of one of my exercises to make an appointment for later in the week.

I should be the least surprised out of everyone that sound wave therapy would have an impact on my injury. All I’ve done since the accident is talk about how much I’ve relied on music (outside of my care team and my friends and family) to get me though my recovery. And music has always been my go to treatment for feeling better. But the idea that sound waves could literally heal my shoulder is giving me the the type of giddiness I would feel on Christmas morning when a wrapped present with my name on it had the same size and shape of a toy I’d been wanting for months.

That was the highlight of my week…until Thursday night.

That night my friend Lindsey and I went to see Amtrac DJ at Holoscene. We got there around 10:30, got some drinks, headed to the dance floor, and didn’t stop dancing until his set was over at 1am.

Non-stop dancing.

And I mean DANCING.

Not swaying. Not bopping. OK, there was a little swaying and bopping but I found myself dancing as hard as I did before the tree - with both legs and both arms moving the way they used to…or close enough to it that it didn’t feel like my ankle or shoulder was holding me back. Track after track I started feeling more and more like my old self again. And it felt…well to quote The Blessed Madonna…”marvelous”.

So that’s it folks. That was my week. Less researching 18th and 19th century academic papers on music and more getting healed by music from the inside and out.

What about you?

What did you listen to this week that made you feel better? What did you listen to that made you feel like your old self again? What did you listen to that made you feel…well…good?

I want to know. And other people do too. It might help all of us feel good.

Thanks for reading!

Now go listen to some music.

🫀+🎧