I had a new member sign up recently.
Nothing new or groundbreaking there….
But this dude got in touch by email and detailed out a very interesting and concerning injury history. Not only that, there was an equally detailed and concerning history of the lack of results the conventional medical and physiotherapy treatments have had.
Now, before we go any further….
There is a trend amongst the people in the circles I operate to speak out against and be derogative on our medical community.
I am not one of them. Ok, I do give out sometimes, but I do have the utmost respect for them.
We ALL have limitations. And I think we expect too much from the medical folk sometimes, and possibly they expect too much of themselves. We NEED their deep and specialised learning. We also need to know that specialised means narrow focus, and the stuff that lies outside that focus, they may be as ignorant about as the next person. In fact, I’d argue that the more laser like the focus, the deeper the knowledge within that light, and the greater the lack of knowledge outside it.
Think on this the next time you give out to any expert for not knowing something.
But back to my client.
After an assessment, I gave him homework recommendations and created a training program for him to follow when he came into me two times per week.
He has now completed 4 training sessions. And has been faithfully doing his homework.
His report: After session 1 – He was in bits, felt like the session had targeted in on all his problem areas. After session 2 – Felt much smoother in every movement, worked hard but felt way loser, more mobile. After session 3 – the next day felt a weird tightness build, similar to a normal flare up of his symptoms, but also different. This was followed by an almighty crack in his vertebrae and instant relief of symptoms. Later that day he was asked if he he’d been going to the gym because he looked great!
Session 4, well lets see when he comes in next week.
A few thing stand out here.
1 – three sessions does not change a physique to a noticeable degree, no matter what an internet guru will tell you. So what changed?
If I were to guess, I’d say that the change was mostly due to a toning down of muscular tension and improvement in posture.
His muscle relaxed possibly due to a lower perceived threat. His posture improved because it was no longer under high muscular tension. All this because of the sudden reduction in symptoms and a clear improvement in joint mobility in the vertebra, an are we had flagged as restricted.
His performance in his last (fourth) session was streets ahead of all previous sessions. Which is nice.
So where am I going with this?
Am I going to now try to sell you something?
Ok, if you insist, book in for your assessment here: http://wg-fit.com/wp/postural-assessment/
But really what I’m getting at is that all the MRI scans and X-Rays, all the medical tests and a great many assessment protocols have one thing in common.
That’s me, checkout the clavicle on the left of the image (it’s my right)
The patient is static.
Passive.
But how do we live?
Active, moving.
Consider a chain, like the chain on your bike. If one link seizes, does that chain run smoothly? Can you cycle that bike efficiently?
The answer is clearly no. If that link is positioned on the straight part of the chain while you take a photo and send it to your mechanic buddy, it’d look normal. But as soon as he saw the pedals turn to move the chain, he’d spot it straight away and know what to do.
This is why assessments need to include movement.
This is why physical injury responds so well to movement (outside of the acute stuff like breaks, dislocations, tears etc)
Moving assessments take time though, hence why I allow 90-120 minutes per appointment. Good luck getting that sort of time with a flat out medical professional, they’re understaffed and under funded.
To wrap up:
Give the medical folk a break, maybe their doing their best but you fall outside of their expertise.
Be like my guy, seek out someone who deals with movement
Again, like my guy, give feedback, I can’t tell you how important good feedback is, after all it’s you in that body, not me, only you know how it feels!
And that’s all for today.
Chat later
Dave Hedges
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