May clinic (Pain and Sport Rehab clinic) คลินิกเวชกรรมและกายภาพบำบัดหมอเมย์

I don’t mean to sound too harsh because I’m sure this clinic must be helpful to many runners, but they couldn’t really help me. I went because I get metatarsalgia(forefoot) pain every time after 4-5kms of running. The impression I got is that too much of the treatment felt like pseudo-science and not enough medical science. Was the first time I went to a sports podiatrist so maybe they are all that way? Not sure. But, I distinctly got the feeling it was a clinic more similar to a chiropractor than a doctor’s office. I was thinking imaging of my foot would be prescribed but instead Dr May diagnosed it as tight calves and had me take shockwave and prescribed static stretches for my calves. I canceled the next appointment, but out of desperation, have been continuing the stretching. The stretching I think has made my problems worse, not better. If you look up on GoogleAI, static stretching before workouts does NOT prevent injury in runners… nor does flexible muscles or tendons. Dynamic stretches are prescribed only for blood flow and warming up muscles not to get your tendons and muscles stretched. Clinical research has already proven that static stretches don’t prevent injuries and can actually hinder performance. It’s like your stretching out springs before using them. Instead, I feel like the recommended stretches has loosened my knee ligaments and now my knee is bothering me. And the calf stretches are what made me get insertional Achilles tendon pains even before the visit which I’ve been nursing off and on. When Dr May mentioned tight fascia, I began to tune out. Tight fascia is complete nonsense invented by the guy who invented the foam roller and wanted to sell more of his foam rollers. Foam rollers may feel good because thy massage your muscles but they do nothing for your fascia. I fear Dr. May like so many Thai doctors get set in their ways and don’t keep up with newer research and end up dogmatic that whatever they were taught years ago still holds true. I’ve been to Thai hospitals 4 times maybe since I’ve started living in Thailand for 3 years and had seen Thai friends tell me about their Thai hospital experiences. I corrected 3 out of the 4 doctors for wrong diagnoses after which they prescribed the correct medications and treatments. Vast majority of Thai doctors believe in outdated medical research imo. I think it maybe an endemic problem in the Thai medical industry since Thais rarely question doctors or authority and doctors never relearn new research. And so many times, the Thai doctors are so dogmatic with old beliefs and old research. I have a tight calf, sure.. I know why… because I have metatarsal pain and I subconsciously tense my leg up. The tight calf didn’t cause my metatarsalgia… the metatarsalgia caused my tight calf. And ofc, I knew about tight calves being suspected of causing metatarsal pain from yt videos. I’ve been stretching my calves already for 2 years to no effect. My forefoot pain started with Morton’s neuroma but changed recently to a different kind of pain. I wish they had taken a closer look at my forefoot at least, or scheduled an imaging of it, instead of prescribing stretches which imo was unrelated and unhelpful. Like I said. I’m sure this clinic has helped many runners as seen by the many positive reviews, and I’m not trying to criticize too harshly. I have no bad feelings for the clinic and I’m sure Dr may is competent majority of the time. But for anyone reading though reviews, maybe seek a different professional if it’s a very specific problem or you seek a more medical science approach instead of a holistic one. My father was a licensed acupuncturist and I know needling is snake oil and I’ve received many many acupuncture treatments as a child with zero effect; didn’t help anyone or anything except as a placebo. But I realize many people believe it so much they get placebo effects, but not me. My point: When Dr. May mentioned dry needling, well…ermmm…

3 months ago