Almighty Coach

Nelson stared at Helheim, his eyes as big as a bell, and he could not help but hold his glasses on his nose, just to make sure it was all happening.

Helheim did raise him arms, and could clench his fists. Although his couldn’t clench tightly, he had never been able to do so before. Before the massage therapy, Helheim was just able to move his fingers slightly, and had even had difficulty bending his fingers, let alone his fists. But with just one massage, he could raise his arms higher and clench his fists.

Clenching fists is an important indicator in rehabilitation medicine. If someone can clench his fists, it means that he can pick up the spoon to eat, without the help of others, which is a basic element of survival, and that he has made great progress in self-care.

For those who lost or partially lost the ability of language, clenching fists means he can pick up a pen to write down his thoughts, which is an important method to communicate with others. The Helheims were not doctors, and they didn’t know that clenching fists was such an important indicator. But it was much better to clench fists than to move fingers. However, being a professional doctor, Nelson knew that from moving fingers to clenching fists, in a mere dozens of minutes, was amazing progress.

"How come? Helheim can raise his arms! He can clench fists! I just introduced an epilepsy case here, but I didn’t know the details of his seizure. How could he do that in such a short time?" Nelson even had some malicious doubts as to whether Helheim had recovered, or he just cheated him.

This idea just flashed in Nelson’s mind, as he had been the attending doctor for Helheim for a long time, so for Nelson’s real condition, no one knows better than his. Of course, he knew that it is impossible for Helheim for clench his fists at this point.

"Why? Is it the massage therapy? Could muscle massage really cure nerve injury? That doesn’t make sense! I’ve been a doctor for most of my life and have never heard that!" Nelson looked at Dai Li and felt that what he had witnessed today was a violation of his common sense, him having been a doctor for decades.

Corinne covered her mouth with her hands, and tears of joy welled up in her eyes. These days, Corinne went through a string of bad news. Her strong husband had an accident and almost lost his life. Then, although, finally his life was saved, he still had a long way to go before he completely recovered, and whether he could take care of himself remained in doubt.

These days, she was beset with many things: care of her husband and two kids, communication with doctors to choose the best treatments, handling the media and facing the unknown future, all of which made her exhausted. She was suffering something she had never experienced before. Every morning, when she woke up, she hoped that what she had suffered was a dream, hoped her husband was still very healthy. But when she looked at the pillow beside her, she was always pulled back to the cruel reality.

Corinne needed some good news to encourage herself, or at least to give her something in return, to make her felt that everything she had done was worth it. Now, she finally got what she wanted, and saw the long-lost hope.

Next to Dai Li was Cloud, who felt proud and elated, because Dai Li was introduced by him, and Cloud would have been ashamed if Dai Li couldn’t help Corinne. But at present, the effect of Dai Li’s massage therapy exceeded everyone’s expectations, which made Cloud feel excited.

"My dear fellow, you will recover soon, having coach Li here!" Could said with a smile, and meanwhile, he gave Nelson a provocative look in a casual way.

Cloud’s eyes made Nelson depressed immediately. He was a doctor, a world’s top rehabilitation specialist! But in the field of rehabilitation medicine, to think that he should have been disdained by a coach, Nelson felt ashamed immediately.

"How could this therapy achieve such a good effect, just with massage, might he secretly use some injections of which I haven’t heard?"

Thinking like this, Nelson went back into the room, had a hacking cough, and then said, "Mr. Helheim, please allow me to examine your left arm."

Helheim nodded, and Nelson came to Helheim and had a careful examination. Nelson checked, caught hold of Helheim’s left arm, and pinched his arm from time to time, then asked him about the feeling. Nelson wanted to have a careful examination of Helheim’s hair and pores, in other words, he wanted to find out a few problems.

However, Nelson failed to find any problem, even after dozens of minutes, which made him even more confused about why muscle massage could be so effective.

Was my diagnosis wrong? Is it the muscle, not the nerve, that was really injured? It is impossible, the diagnosis can’t be wrong, not with so many times of MRI. But what’s the reason for the recovery of his arm? Perhaps, it is just a coincidence!

The word "coincidence" came to Nelson’s mind. "Coincidence" was the best explanation for this violation of his medical common sense.

"Coincidence! Coincidence! It must be a coincidence!" Nelson kept telling himself.

"Professor Nelson, how was my left arm? Any problem?" asked Helheim.

"After my examination..." Nelson immediately said with confidence, then added, "it was the same as before, if you want to know more details, I have to give you another MRI."

"Thank God, I am OK!" Helheim heaved a great sigh of relief, turned to Dai Li, then said in an earnest voice, "Coach Li, could you give me another massage, on my right arm?"

"Of course!" Dai Li answered, then wore the special rubber gloves to do so.

This time, Nelson did not introduce "epilepsy", nor did he leave. Instead, he stood by and stared at Dai Li’s hands. He wanted to have a careful look at his movements. But Dai Li’s massage manipulation didn’t bring any surprises to Nelson, as Dai Li used conventional massage manipulation, which was widely used by other therapists, and there was no novelty in his massage manipulation whatsoever.

It’s just common massage manipulation! It isn’t novel at all, I can do it. How can this common massage be so effective? It confirmed my conjecture, it must be a coincidence! Nelson relaxed immediately, and his gloom disappeared gradually.

Dai Li stopped to indicate that the massage was over and said, "It’s OK, now, Mr. Helheim, you can try to raise your right arm, or clench your fists."

This time, Helheim directly raised his right arm, without any hesitation.

Helheim was not a left-hander, his right hand being more flexible than his left hand, so the performance of his right hand was much better than that of his left hand. At least, he could clench that fist more tightly, and his fingers were more flexible.

"I can clench my fist with my right hand!" Helheim waved his arms at the same time and said pleasantly, "I think it won’t be long before I can pick up my knife and have a medium rare steak! I really missed that taste!"

Seeing the improvement of his arm, Helheim was in a good mood, and the thought of eating steak with a knife and fork made his mouth water. While Nelson, who stood to the side, stared at him, his eyes as big as bells.

"His right arm also has improved, it’s not a coincidence!" He was depressed again. He couldn’t find any evidence to explain what he had seen, and now, Nelson was completely at a loss.

"Why? What could be the reason? Why is this kind of muscle massage so effective?" Nelson couldn’t help mumbling to himself, and was heard by Dai Li.

"Professor Nelson, are you asking me? Dai Li shrugged his shoulders, looked at the bewildered Nelson, then said, "I’m just a coach, and knew that it was useful to do that. As for the principles behind it, or the deep-seated pathological factors, I thought all of these are the business of the scientists in the field of rehabilitation medicine. Am I right, professor Nelson"

Nelson was shocked. In Dai Li’s view, the "rehabilitation medicine scientist" was himself. Although Nelson was not the world’s top rehabilitation medicine expert, he must be one of the top ten experts in the world. However, Nelson must admit that Dai Li was right. He was a coach, who pursued training effects and had chosen the training methods for better effect. A coach is a man of practice, so do you expect a coach to do some scientific research? Why else would we need scientists?

Nelson glanced helplessly at Dai Li, only to find that he was looking at him with a spurious smile. Did he mean that I should explain all these? But I don’t know the reasons! No, he gave the massage therapy to Helheim, he was passing the buck to me! Nelson suddenly realized this.