Day 1 of 365 - Bodywork
Welcome to Day 1 of Health & Vitality - My Ongoing Search!
Today I'm going to talk about my current experience of bodywork, by which I mean appointments where I have someone physically manipulating my body in some way. This is currently very relevant to me because I've had three of those appointments this week. Normally, I try not to schedule them all so close together, but sometimes it happens.
First off this week, I had what was only my second appointment with an osteopathic manual practitioner. Here in Ontario they are not called osteopaths, something to do with how they are licensed I think. I decided to see an osteopath as one more practice tool in my health and wellness tool kit. It is a fascinating practice and experience for me. They do a history of course to have a background of just what kind of things your body has been through in life which may still be impacting you now. Then, your standing posture is reviewed from front, back and side to check your alignments and how you may be compensating in postural patterns. Then the fun of the subtle manipulations and adjustments begins and by the end of the hour there is a noticeable shift in posture and alignment. Over time the adjustments are meant to hold and subtle internal adjustments of tissues and nervous system responses continues beyond the treatment time. I'm very impressed and will continue with monthly appointments as there is lots of room for improvement in my body!
Yesterday I had both my monthly massage and my chiropractic appointment. These I do intentionally schedule together because they are in the same building and also, it is beneficial for me to have massage prior to chiropractic.
My current massage therapist is relatively new to me in the past few months since my previous one moved away. With a new therapist the approach is a little different. I tend to hold a lot of tension in my back and shoulders, so used to ask the previous RMT to spend the whole hour on that area. There was no shortage of things to massage! But, with the new to me RMT now I am having a full body massage in that hour and I like it a lot! There is less residual achiness afterward though it is still a fairly deep massage with good benefits.
I've been going to the same chiropractor on a monthly basis for many years, and more frequently when I'm injured or something flares up. She is not your traditional chiropractor, as she has trained in a variety of modalities which she can apply as needed. For example, sometimes I have laser treatment for acute inflammation in area. She also uses a technique called Trigenics, a trigger point and movement manipulation technique, prior to adjusting my most stubborn areas, or in lieu of that. My monthly 'maintenance' appointments are not long as we just address those usual trouble spots. I greatly appreciate all the care and help I have received from these treatments.
I didn't used to do all these things. I would just take over the counter medication if I was in pain, or try to fix it with more stretching or exercise and carry on with my busy life. But in my 40's life caught up with me, and things like taking a fall on my tail bone while cross country skiing or, straining my low back while reaching and lifting caused pain and discomfort which did not readily go away with the old strategies. So, I started with the chiropractor, who was someone recommended to me by a work colleague. From her techniques I got much more lasting pain relief than I'd had with my previous strategies. Eventually I added massage to the mix and only recently osteopathy.
I'm fortunate to have some insurance benefits for all these practices from both my pension plan benefits as well as my husband's work benefits, so we get reimbursed for a lot of the expense. When my husband retires I may need to reassess but for now I carry on with the current monthly schedule.
These tools and practices contribute to my health and vitality because they help me to feel more physically comfortable in my body. When my body feels good, I have more energy and focus for the daily activities that I want and need to do. For me, that's a good reason to keep going.
Today I'm going to talk about my current experience of bodywork, by which I mean appointments where I have someone physically manipulating my body in some way. This is currently very relevant to me because I've had three of those appointments this week. Normally, I try not to schedule them all so close together, but sometimes it happens.
First off this week, I had what was only my second appointment with an osteopathic manual practitioner. Here in Ontario they are not called osteopaths, something to do with how they are licensed I think. I decided to see an osteopath as one more practice tool in my health and wellness tool kit. It is a fascinating practice and experience for me. They do a history of course to have a background of just what kind of things your body has been through in life which may still be impacting you now. Then, your standing posture is reviewed from front, back and side to check your alignments and how you may be compensating in postural patterns. Then the fun of the subtle manipulations and adjustments begins and by the end of the hour there is a noticeable shift in posture and alignment. Over time the adjustments are meant to hold and subtle internal adjustments of tissues and nervous system responses continues beyond the treatment time. I'm very impressed and will continue with monthly appointments as there is lots of room for improvement in my body!
Yesterday I had both my monthly massage and my chiropractic appointment. These I do intentionally schedule together because they are in the same building and also, it is beneficial for me to have massage prior to chiropractic.
My current massage therapist is relatively new to me in the past few months since my previous one moved away. With a new therapist the approach is a little different. I tend to hold a lot of tension in my back and shoulders, so used to ask the previous RMT to spend the whole hour on that area. There was no shortage of things to massage! But, with the new to me RMT now I am having a full body massage in that hour and I like it a lot! There is less residual achiness afterward though it is still a fairly deep massage with good benefits.
I've been going to the same chiropractor on a monthly basis for many years, and more frequently when I'm injured or something flares up. She is not your traditional chiropractor, as she has trained in a variety of modalities which she can apply as needed. For example, sometimes I have laser treatment for acute inflammation in area. She also uses a technique called Trigenics, a trigger point and movement manipulation technique, prior to adjusting my most stubborn areas, or in lieu of that. My monthly 'maintenance' appointments are not long as we just address those usual trouble spots. I greatly appreciate all the care and help I have received from these treatments.
I didn't used to do all these things. I would just take over the counter medication if I was in pain, or try to fix it with more stretching or exercise and carry on with my busy life. But in my 40's life caught up with me, and things like taking a fall on my tail bone while cross country skiing or, straining my low back while reaching and lifting caused pain and discomfort which did not readily go away with the old strategies. So, I started with the chiropractor, who was someone recommended to me by a work colleague. From her techniques I got much more lasting pain relief than I'd had with my previous strategies. Eventually I added massage to the mix and only recently osteopathy.
I'm fortunate to have some insurance benefits for all these practices from both my pension plan benefits as well as my husband's work benefits, so we get reimbursed for a lot of the expense. When my husband retires I may need to reassess but for now I carry on with the current monthly schedule.
These tools and practices contribute to my health and vitality because they help me to feel more physically comfortable in my body. When my body feels good, I have more energy and focus for the daily activities that I want and need to do. For me, that's a good reason to keep going.
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