A sly chuckle escapes her lips as she plants the three-inch needle with surgical precision into the top of the athlete’s glute.
“Good Lord!” the athlete yelps.“I felt that in my foot!”
“Do you want me to remove it?” she sheepishly asks, knowing full well the answer will be a tooth-gritted, pride-retaining ‘No it’s fine…’
The athletic trainer meticulously continues her work, transforming the battered and beat athlete draped over the table like a lifeless bear skin rug into one that appears to have been repetitively tranquilized.
Ten minutes later, the final resemblance of the athlete is that of a porcupine on high alert with 50 needles trailing glute to toe, each needle working to undo weeks worth of pain and tension.