Search

ABSTRACTWhen I was twelve years old, I attended a routine school posture screening. Following an orthopaedic examination, I was diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Although it turned out for me that it was not a serious and progressive form of scoliosis, the diagnosis impacted my life in a disabling way, resulting in feelings of fear, anxiety, and losing a sense of trust in my own body. I experienced bodily doubt. This was also accompanied by me negatively objectifying my body. This article is an evocative autoethnography presenting my personal story of experiencing a medical diagnosis of scoliosis. The health of my spine was evaluated purely by comparison to a desired aesthetical straight line. The way I felt in my body was never taken into consideration during this process. It is also a story of finding my own ways of healing, which was possible through engaging in dance and somatic practices. They allowed me to experience my body as a living subject – a soma. I was able to find ways to positively objectify my body through practices of deep body listening and developing greater bodily awareness. My healing was also connected to re-gaining a sense of bodily certainty and trust, through experiencing moments of wholeness in spontaneous expressive self-movement. Dance is also vital in my story. The personal evolution of approaching dance presents a healing potential of this art, allowing for the conscious, expressive, and therapeutic nature of the living body to be unveiled.

Introduction. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation is applied in muscle atrophy and in muscle strength and endurance training in athletes. Muscle soreness and temporary reduction in muscle strength may occur as adverse effects. Laser therapy has been used as a method of counteracting delayed onset muscle soreness following volitional exercise, but not following electrical stimulation. The aim of the study was to determine whether low-level laser therapy applied prior to electrical stimulation accelerates the recovery of muscle strength and decreases the duration and intensity of muscle soreness at rest after intensive isometric neuromuscular electrical stimulation of the quadriceps femoris muscle. Material and methods. A randomised crossover trial was carried out on 24 healthy, recreationally active men aged 22-24 years. Low-level laser therapy or sham laser therapy was applied prior to a single session of neuromuscular electrical stimulation of the quadriceps femoris muscle with typical technical and training-related parameters. Irradiations were performed immediately prior to and shortly after electrical stimulation as well as 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after this procedure. Muscle soreness was examined using the VAS scale in the same time periods. Quadriceps moments of force were recorded with the use of a Biodex 4 Pro device during maximum voluntary static contraction and during electrical stimulation that triggered a tetanic contraction of the quadriceps femoris muscle reaching the level of maximum tolerance. Results. No significant differences were noted in the severity of quadriceps soreness and in the magnitude of the decrease in the moments of force of maximum voluntary contractions after stimulation preceded by laser therapy and that preceded by sham irradiations. Conclusions. In the group studied, laser therapy applied before single electrical stimulation with typical parameters did not bring about a faster recovery of muscle strength or a more rapid decrease in soreness than sham laser therapy used prior to electrical stimulation. Further research on larger groups of subjects with the application of various procedures as well as research on training programmes is needed.