"Come in." She said as I knocked on the door, I was not expecting to hear a female voice as Jack had always taken the treatment sessions previously, so in I went. Her face was hidden behind a laptop and did not look up as I approached. She pointed to the chair in front of her and said to sit down. She then looked up and explained that she was a student on an exchange from her sports university in Krakow and that she will be specialising in sports injuries. I think that's what she said, I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to what she was saying because I was transfixed by this woman's eyes. They were just this lovely shape and colour that drew your attention above all else.
"I have read the file notes but explain in your own words what happened and where you are with rehabilitation please." was what I recall I heard next.
"Sure," I said, "I pulled my right hamstring playing hockey a few weeks ago and instead of resting it I played the following week heavily strapped but that made it a whole lot worse. That was 12 weeks ago and for the last four weeks I have been back to light training and coming here once a week for sports physio."
"Okay she said, lets see where you are with muscle degradation."
I knew that for every month of non-activity it would take 3 months to build up back to where I was before the injury. She asked me to stand up in front of her while she was still sitting and let her measure my thigh circumference on both legs. I was down to 19" on my right leg and 20" on my non-injured left leg.
"Hmmm," she said, "You have lost a fair amount of quad and hamstring muscle already and that no doubt the glutes and adductors would also be affected."
I explained that I was aware of that and that I was on a program of exercises to minimise the impact. Then she stood up and said to stand next to her, she was dressed in a loose pair of jogging bottoms and a gym polo shirt that look oversized. I wondered what she looked like underneath as she tried to explain a new routine. I confess to being distracted by her good looks even though she was clearly in work gear, had her hair pulled back and was wearing little make up.
"Right, let me show you something, you stand on the soles of your feet relaxed, go to tip toe then back to your soles. You repeat this 10 times, rest, then do the same again but this time hold for 10 seconds each tip toe."
She took my hand and placed it on her thigh, "Relaxed quad." she said, her thigh did feel firm, not solid, but nice and firm. "Now squeeze!" she said as she went to tip toe and held for 10 seconds. "What did you feel?"
I wanted to say that they felt amazing, but all I said was "Yes, I did feel your muscles tighten and your quad firm up as you held the tip toe position."
"Exactly!" she smiled, "Now do the same with the hamstring."
As instructed, I placed the palm of my hand on the back of her thigh up high as close to her backside as I dared.
"Too close to the glute." she said quite curtly. Damn I thought; she might as well have said take your hand off of my arse, which she probably was in an almost polite non-polite way! I lowered my hand and made my apology. She said something like not to worry, the baggy leggings probably did not help. I can't recall the exact words, but I was relieved. I was busy concentrating on how good her thighs felt as she rolled from sole to tip toe.
"Here, I have written down some more exercises with step by step diagrams to do in addition to the ones that jack had given you." Said the physiotherapist.
She then promptly ended the session saying that Jack would be back next week and could I fill out a client satisfaction survey as part of her course work. Although the session seemed to be over in a flash we were in there the full hour, on my way back to the car I wondered what I was that I had learned today and just how pretty, if a little moody, this girl was.
I thought out loud, "Whatever, this girl would be back in Poland next week no doubt and I would not be seeing her again." Shame though, she had quite magnificent thighs.
Weeks went by and I was up to speed with my exercises, the hamstring injury was at the end of the last season, so I did not miss much hockey. Pre-season training went well, and I was on my way to the first league game which was at the National Sports Centre. The walk to the entrance was always interesting as it went past the full height windows to the two-tier gym which always had lots of fit young bodies. Initial glances looked like they were busy working on their abs, probably due to lock down excesses unaware of the looks in from the passers-by.
On the way to the changing rooms this goddess walked out in front of me from the ladies' change, she was blonde, had a light golden tan, and was wearing spray on pants and a very brief top. The rest of the guys I was with stopped talking for a moment, then she says;
"Hi there, how's your hamstring doing, is it okay now?"
It was then that I looked up to her face and recognised the blonde to be that physio I saw weeks earlier. Her steel blue eyes and beautiful smile told me this I said to her that it felt great but that today will be the real test as it was to be our first league game of the new season.
