There is no better Cure than PREVENTION!! |
A wonderful adage that fits almost any situation, but here I am talking about injury prevention and maintenance work.
Injury prevention happens when we keep our body loose, stretched and able to respond to pressure and load. That turn and twist, that deep bend, that heavy lift, that inadvertent lunge to stop yourself or another from falling, that slip on the ice, or that fall. These types of movements, and many others, often find our body reacting by spasming, by hurting, by blowing out a joint, by strains and sprains. The reason that regular bodywork will help to prevent these sudden and painful injuries is because when our tissue has enough length in it, it is able to meet the demands of sudden situations and even everyday loads. We keep our tissues long and lengthened by stretching, getting exercise, by getting all types of bodywork aimed at eliminating the stress that accumulate in our muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves, causing them to contract. When the proper relaxation factor is present in our body, these contractions can be automatically eliminated, but when stressors pile up and continue, as is the way of our current society, then those contracting tissues never have the chance to relax and the next big demand causes too much contraction and it snaps. The rest of the story we all know: months of rehab, physio, pain, sleeplessness, pharmaceuticals, time off work and other good stuff. The road back is always long and painful, while the road of prevention and maintenance is usually pleasant and uneventful. The reason we don't do our prevention or maintenance is because we are all concerned only with cause and effect. If it hurts, I seek attention or help. If it does not, why ever should I bother? When we understand the reason and benefit of regular prevention and maintenance, then we will be more likely to participate in it. Seasonal changes bring different body loads and we need to be prepared. Remember last winter when you slipped, fell, shoveled too much? Yep, you got it - if you do some of the regular preventive bodywork, you body is able to respond more easily to these sudden loads and not give you a painful story to try and correct after the fact. How about looking at if from a another angle: if you do prevention or maintenance every 2 weeks, for example, for an entire year, that equals 26 treatments. Wait for an injury and you end up going 2-3 x per week for several weeks, or a month, then scale back to weekly for another month or two. And that is is you are making progress. Week 1: 3x Week 2: 2x Week 3: 2x Week 4-8: 1x =5 Week 9-12: every 2nd week = 2 Total so far: 15 sessions How often have you relapsed? Done something too soon or too much and had to start again = more sessions! How much pain are in? How much inconvenience are you suffering? How many pain meds do you need to take? How difficult is it to move now? How many of your favorite activities are now on hold? So, if we do our prevention and maintenance, it really is a win/win. The treatments are pleasant. We are not in pain. It becomes a special relaxation present to ourselves. There are not multiple intervention sessions to try to fit into busy schedules. |