The party tricks that your body can get up to…
Here’s a good one for you.
When it comes to pain and discomfort in your physical body, sometimes the problem is not the problem.
Oh how I love to see the look on a clients face when they are describing how their lower back pain is really affecting them day to day, and that even bending over to try and put shoes on is problematic. My client is thinking ‘It’s my lower back’, I say out loud ‘We need to get fired into your hamstrings’.
This short blog post has been inspired by a lovely client who came to see me last week in a fair amount of discomfort, particularly with his feet and he was quite sure he had plantar fasciitis. Now there’s no getting away from it, his feet were painful, but my gut feeling was that other muscles were joining in. What happens when one muscle gets naffed off is, it just calls all its friends to join in, and pretty soon you have gang warfare in whatever area you are experiencing pain in.
To cut a long story short, once we (because its a power couple thing - you and your massage therapist) had treated the whole leg and not just the feet, the difference was astounding, and more importantly, he felt more confident to get back out onto the golf course at the weekend. As a massage therapist, it’s really important to me that I help people continue to keep doing what they enjoy. Whenever I see the word ‘golf’ on a consultation form I pretty much know that its going to be followed by ‘So there’s a competition this weekend and I’m having trouble with XYZ’
My client had also been referrred to me by another existing client, and let me tell you, when anyone gets referred, I am very aware that there is a lot more than my reputation at stake!
The important thing to take from this blog is: whatever your age is, you are too important/young/busy to put up with being in pain and discomfort, especially if it is stopping you doing what you enjoy.
Let an expert like me get a look at whats going on, and if I can help I will, and if we need to put you further up the food chain in a treatment loop then I will give you my best advice, and give you practical steps on how to manage pain.
FYI: The best way to MANAGE plantar fasciitis is actually to sit and roll and tennis ball (be nice to yourself - start with something that has a bit of ‘give’), and sit and roll it under you feet for a few minutes every day. If I ask you to do something every day, the chances are you will remember about 3 or 4 times a week. That is 3 or 4 more than doing nothing!
Just bear in mind what I wrote earlier. Sometimes the problem is not the problem.