“Don’t be so touchy-feely”… heard from not too many people ever!
That’s because we, as humans, all crave touch – to touch more often and to be touched more often. I don’t mean this in a sexual manner either – it’s meant as being an essential element in your “love language”.
And we all need to be loved in different ways. Don’t we?
“To touch is to give life” ~ Michelangelo
Did you know your body communicates with you around the clock?
Many of us are often too busy and stressed with everyday responsibilities, like work and childcare, or distracted with television and technology, to recognise and receive the messages our bodies are sending us.
But, you can gain valuable insight into your current state of health when you tune into what your body has to say.
Besides our love language fueled by the hormone Oxytocin, another one of the most common languages our body uses to communicate with us — is PAIN.
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as, “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.”
We’ve all got one or two gnarly looking scars on our body. An old injury from falling off our bike as a kid, or maybe even a bigger one from a recent surgery.
These scars tell a lot of stories and it’s not just the actual story of how they happened that I’m referring to.
For a bodyworker like myself, your scars tell me HOW to treat your body. They tell me WHY you may be experiencing pain or discomfort and WHERE.
Our bodies are so complex that the old bike scar from childhood that you may have completely forgotten about could still be affecting you today.
But before I go down that rabbit hole, let me first give you a brief explanation of scar tissue.
What if one day you woke up and you weren’t able to lift your arm above your head? No matter how hard you tried, it just won’t move.
And to make matters worse, your shoulder is swollen and you’re in a lot of pain.
These are just a few of many symptoms of a condition commonly known as Frozen Shoulder. As the medical folk like to call it — Adhesive Capsulitis. (See, that’s why most people prefer to just say ‘frozen shoulder’!)
Frozen Shoulder is a condition in which the shoulder joint experiences an extremely limited range of motion. In some severe cases, an individual with the condition will have difficulty performing basic daily tasks like getting dressed or brushing their teeth.
I recently had a new client in my clinic who was experiencing pain in her lower back. “Lisa” had just leaned down to pick up her toddler son, turned to grab something and…BOOM. The searing pain stopped her in her tracks.
She immediately gave me a call so we could start treating the problem and she could get back to her busy life.
After a few evaluations, I was able to determine the cause of the problem: SI Joint Dysfunction caused by Pelvic Girdle Instability.
In simple terms, Lisa’s pelvis moves all over the place when she walks and therefore is unable to support her lower back and torso. And Lisa is not alone in this.
An unstable Pelvic Girdle (just think wiggly pelvis) is extremely common, especially among women who have given birth OR are currently pregnant — AND HERE’S WHY…
What if I told you that that tight feeling you have across your hips (better known as cranky hips!) had more to do with your feelings than your daily activities or an old injury?
Sure, our lifestyles these days are a contributing factor:
We sit a lot.
We drive in cars a lot.
We spend time hunched over tech devices…A LOT.
And, yes these things can all cause tightness through the front of your body, including your hips.
But sometimes there’s more to the story…literally.
What if I told you that your hips are tight because of your emotions?
You might think I’m crazy, but read on, and you’ll see that there’s actually a HUGE connection between our emotional wellbeing and those chronically tight spots in your hips.
I love my job. I really do.
I love that I can help people achieve pain-free routines, and sustain active healthy lives. When a client comes to see me, I consider it a sincere privilege to help them find relief and more simply – to move better.
But I do have my limitations…
Truthbomb: as a Structural Integrator and Massage Therapist, there’s only so much I can do.
There’s only so many times I can treat each individual client each week. Not to mention that I can’t follow them around all week in between our appointments to make sure they’re watching their posture or lifting that big heavy object properly.
Pain management, especially that for long-standing, chronic pain – is a joint venture between the patient and practitioner. When my clients “do their homework”, their results are much better and long-lasting.
This is why I frequently assign clients take-home strengthening exercises and stretching routines. These exercises help them manage their discomfort in between appointments AND also minimize the likelihood of an injury recurring.
Some of the most common issues I treat are:
And the good news is that I have an exercise or stretch to help with each and every one of these conditions.
Ready to live with less pain and move more freely? I thought so!
Here are 7 stretches for every area of your body that you might be experiencing pain in.
My client was in to see me recently and told me about some knee pain she experienced in her last run.
While she was running, she felt a sharp twinge toward the outside of her knee. The twinge turned into a burn and by the time she saw me — a stabbing pain.
“Did you stop?” I asked her.
“No way. I’m training for a marathon, so I can’t. No pain, no gain, right?” she said.
I hated to differ with her, but no…wrong. All wrong.
We’ve been conditioned to think we need to push through pain in order to be successful – in so many areas of our life and of our health.
And while it’s normal to experience some strain and discomfort during exercise or even in our day-to-day life, pain should never be ignored.
Carol came to see me after returning from her most recent vacation. While she looked lovely and tanned, she was also in a great deal of pain.
She and her husband had gone on a road trip and the long hours spent sitting in the car had wreaked havoc on her back.
When I asked her about the pain, she described it as being “a sharp pain that starts at the top of her butt and goes right down her leg”.
I knew what it was right away – and it’s quite literally a pain in the butt.
SCIATICA.
TRIGGER POINTS (TrP’s) are actually very common and can occur within any muscle of the body. Patients of mine who have trigger points often report persistent, chronic pain that results in a decreased range of motion of that particular muscle.
The most common muscles affected are in the head and neck area, which can lead to symptoms such as headaches, jaw pain, ringing in the ear(s), and even eye pain.
“The daily clinical experience of thousands of massage therapists, physical therapists, and physicians strongly indicates that most of our common aches and pains — and many other puzzling physical complaints are actually caused by trigger points, or small contraction knots, in the muscles of the body.” ~ Clair Davies