A few years back, I had four large catalpa trees taken down in the backyard of my new home, and asked the arborist to leave the logs for firewood. I tried to move, stack and split all that wood in one weekend, and tweaked my back something awful.

I tried to deal with it myself for a while, with rest, heat pads and gentle stretching. I tried the doctor, who gave me pills that made it hard to wake up in the morning. At last, on the recommendation of a colleague, I tried Kathy Farwell, who cured me completely in two hour-long sessions.

Kathy does deep-tissue sports massage, and my experience suggests she’s good at it. I go see her every so often, usually about every year or so, when something flares up.

Lately, it’s my hip, and sometimes my behind. It didn’t hurt much while I ran, but it was keeping me awake at night. Kathy knew just what my trouble was, after hearing my description: the psoas. It’s a muscle deep down in the abdomen, and mine tends to get tight.

Kathy assured me she could take care of it, and went to work. While pressing in one point and pulling on another, she explained what was going on, and when she was done, she showed me more stretches and exercises to try to prevent it. After one session, I felt much better. It took two to really set things right, and I plan to take things easy for a little while to ensure my recovery. Honest, the weather has nothing to do with it.

Here’s the funny thing about all that. Because Kathy is a licensed massage therapist, and not a licensed dispenser of pharmaceuticals, my health insurance won’t cover her services. Anthem Blue would shell out for several hundreds of dollars of ineffective drugs and doctors appointments, but they won’t cover a service that provides quick and lasting relief. What a system, eh?