Fixing Chronic Back Pain

Ouch. Anyone who has suffered from back pain will know the miseries of a sore back. Every movement is uncomfortable...  you try to redeem yourself with a cup of tea, and just lifting the kettle can be enough to trigger the pain or a nasty twinge. What on earth is going on? Back pain is THE largest reported reason for workplace absence in the UK and US...  there is clearly a lack of appropriate care to address back pain before it becomes a serious debilitating problem. Here are my three steps of advice which could help to get you on the road to recovery!

Step One: Understand back pain as part of a bigger picture

In understanding and nurturing the health of our back, we must take a holistic approach. This means having an appreciation of ourselves as a complete whole, not a sum of mechanical parts working independently of each other. Stress anywhere in the body will affect your whole. Backs are a beautiful but complex structure of support and movement for the body. If you've had a back pain for longer than 21 days and unsure about when it really began then it is a chronic issue that most likely developed as the result of cumulative small traumas/stresses, sustained over time. the locum of pain is not always the cause of the problem. Inadequate posture can be to blame, as can certain repeated activities on muscle that is too weak to support your movement. Chronic muscular pain can be seen as an imbalance that has developed by putting stress on certain joints and gradually pulling yourself out of healthy alignment.

Step Two: Take responsibility for it

Become your own detective and take a critical look at your life. It is time to develop an awareness of your tendencies on a day to day basis. Is something in your life out of balance? Keep positive - know that it is never too late to make significant improvements by tweaking the way that you support yourself. 

You are the expert! Begin by asking yourself these questions. 

• What does my posture and the way I move say about me? 
• Do I feel as flexible as I would like to be?
• Can I freely move my head, shoulders, arms, hips and legs?
• Do I tend to favour one side of my body? (like carrying a bag on one shoulder / a child on one hip / or lean on one leg whilst standing?)
• Does my diet provide the essential nutrients needed for restoration and repair?
• Do I allow myself adequate rest and relaxation needed for restoration and repair?
• Do I get enough quality sleep?
• How is my emotional life? Do I feel there is enough support around me?
• When does the pain come on? Is it when I am stressed or tired?
• Is there a nearby holistic therapist or physiotherapist that could help?

Step Three: Take Action

Pain is an important message that something needs to change. It is a call to action.

• Find a suitable bodyworker/massage therapist. Bodywork can be very effective pain relief, by soothing nerves, loosening connective tissue, taking pressure off of irritated nerves and joints, and also providing relaxation to calm the mind. This release can dramatically improve the integrity of your body's natural movement and improve your self awareness. As there are a myriad of therapy styles and approaches out there - you will need to ask around for recommendations, and trust your instinct. Most importantly, find a therapist that you get on with and feel comfortable with. Then make a regular commitment to treating yourself. At the very least once a month is a good tonic.
• Make a daily commitment to healthy, conscious movement - Try Yoga, Pilates, Martial Arts. Consider having one to one tuition/guidance with an instructor (many will come to your home), to work at your own pace and provide extra consideration to your body type. Or if time and resources are limited - use YouTube! Be careful, breathe, and go at your own pace. Learn to enjoy your body - when you have pain-free time, use it well. Doing a little every day is the way - not just one hour once a week. This will make the next three actions all the easier.

• Build balance. A body which can balance well is more able to deal with instabilities. Developing balance will provide graceful support. Stand on one leg whilst on the phone and whilst brushing teeth. Do this yoga tree pose as often as you can. It will get easier with practice

• Build strength. A strong body is more able to support its own weight. Strengthening the core muscles will take pressure of the back. If you are overweight, consider how this may be affecting the load and burden on your back. 
• Build flexibility. A flexible body is more able to bounce back and has a wider range of movement. Take the time to gently stretch out several times a day - particularly after sleep, and before and after work. 

• Relax. Stress makes all pain worse. There is sometimes a link between feeling unsupported and having back pain. Did you know that emotional state can change your posture and movement? We can all picture what happens to the body when one is down or depressed. Stand tall with head held high. Allow yourself time to take care of your own needs. Treat yourself to long hot baths, and ample time for relaxation.

Wishing you health and happiness! 

Phoebe

Mellow Massage Clinics Cornwall - 07971300535 www.phoebemaria.co.uk

The Beauty of Barefoot

A blind belief in trainers

There are lots of things that I never questioned growing up. Among these things were the practicality of trainers for running. We wear shoes to protect our feet from the ground, keep them warm and dry and supported. Granted, there is an important health and safety aspect to this... no-one wants to step on glass or dog doo whilst going for a run. But I bet they don't fancy long term complex joint pain either. Any runners in the house? There is growing concern from certain Doctors, podiatrists, physiologists and psychologists about our over reliance on the training shoe, and how this could be having a negative impact on health.

Media marketing and social norms will lead us to believe that cushioning the sole will support the body. On the contrary, I propose that if we - from the outset - went about our daily activities with as little foot support as possible, we would be much less susceptible to the incidence of injury. Ankle sprains, muscular strains, knee problems, hip pain, and lower back pain, are all very common sporting injuries, particularly among runners.

Evolution didn't have shoes in mind

Cushioned trainers literally trick the brain into thinking that one is landing into soft comfort. There is a tendency for the trainer-clad runner to land flat into the heel and there is a subsequent shock wave that reverberates through the body. Our weakest points are our joints, and these are the spots which are susceptible to injury. Injuries are most often the result of micro-traumas, the effects of which will accumulate over time. By the time that an individual feels pain, the damage is done, and care must be taken to re-strengthen and heal.

A comfy shoe feels great if it's got a bounce. I'll give you that. But we are missing out on a wealth of information that our feet can tell us about the ground. Have you ever run barefoot? You will find that the gait of your run is completely different. You become far more tentative with where and how your foot lands. The toe goes down first, rather than thumping down on the heel. This completely changes the resulting impact on the rest of the body.

I met a very health conscious chap who had been struggling for years with the painful condition plantar fasciitis. After many attempts to treat this with a variety of stretches, types of instep, and visits to the Doctor, he was near his wits end, when eventually had some advice which worked. He learnt of a shoe called 'vivo-barefoot', which is designed with as little support and sole as possible. After a couple of days exercising in these flat shoes and going barefoot as often as possible, he had a complete turn around of this condition. 

Why are sporting people disproportionately affected by plantar fasciitis, and knee, hip, and back problems? Chronic physical problems usually develop from sustained dysfunction or micro injuries over a long period of time. Training shoes throw off the natural balance of the body, which leads to cumulative problems later down the line.

If you need further convincing, here are some additional health benefits of kicking those shoes off:

• Stimulate your reflex points -  The soles of our feet connect to the entire body via meridians. Chinese medicine states that stimulation of the feet will assist healthy energy flow in the body, for both relaxation and longevity. 
• Protect your physiology - Improve the strength, flexibility and mobility of your feet. Allowing the feet and toes room to spread and roll aids your natural balance and protects the whole body from the harming effects of cramped conditions and shoes which inhibit your foot space.
• Get grounded - We need contact with outside earth, water, or sand to literally Earth ourselves - and to gain the Earth's healing electrons. A balanced electric charge to the body protects the body from disease and inflammation. Constantly wearing rubber shoes and staying indoors is a big problem for the health of humanity. 
• Experience the added depth of sensation - Dance, martial arts, gymnastics, climbing, yoga... just a few things that seem to work so much better without shoes. The ground beneath us provides a wealth of information that helps to instruct balance, coordination and sophisticated movement

My heart admires others who have chosen to go shoe-less, for whatever reason. There seems to be a hint of earthy rebellion to it... which is odd, considering how natural it really is. My partner and I recently walked barefoot for ten miles on the Cornish coastal footpath. Despite some perplexed looks, we felt great for it. Liberate yourself from the norm! I encourage everyone to go barefoot as often as possible. Why do you think the beach feels so good? Even just walking barefoot about a lawn more often could have untold health benefits. Try for yourself and see. Your body will thank you for it.

Do you live in Cornwall? Phoebe offers Sports Massage and Yoga Tuition from two lovely clinics near Truro. 07971300535

Is Sports Massage Effective?

Mind and Matter

Massage directly engages both mind and body, affecting an individual’s performance and injury prevention on both a physical and psychological level. Performance, healing and injury prevention are indisputably dependent on both physical and psychological factors for any athlete. Yet the psychological aspect of treatment is often overlooked. 

Regularity and Trust

Many research papers that set out for empirical evidence for massage, neglect important factors. Challenging to quantify and measure, these include; the quality of therapist-client relationship/rapport, accuracy of the consultation process, the client’s exposure to treatments, regularity/frequency of treatments, and the suitability of techniques used with respect of the client’s unique situation, aims and goals. 

Credibility of Sports Massage

We know that there is merit - massage has been in use to assist athletes since antiquity. In the West today sports massage continues to grow in popularity, particularly among the sporting elite. Physiotherapists and osteopaths use massage and physical manipulation as one of their main modalities of both analysis and treatment. However - the importance of a healthy therapist-client relationship cannot be underestimated - as this will affect the outcome of treatments potentially more than the techniques used.

Regular treatments with a trusted sports massage therapist has been shown to assist the client in:

• developing body awareness - crucial for any sports person to understand their physical challenges
• aiding relaxation - time out to unwind, necessary for the body's healing and mending
• healing malfunctioning tissues of the body - improving ease of movement and reducing pain

Muscle and connective tissue can become shortened pathologically

This is often a response to stress - a protective mechanism that unfortunately leads to pain and dysfunction, inhibiting the process of proper healing, recovery, and subsequent performance. Excessive contracting / hardening / thickening of these tissues due to stress or injury has an inhibitory effect of the ease of the organism as a whole. A person’s ease of movement is easily compromised by such developments and massage is an intervention for release. 

As Clay & Pounds describe in their book Basic Clinical Massage Therapy (2003):

“Although the therapist’s sense of release in soft tissue is a subjectively experienced phenomenon that is difficult to describe, it is difficult to miss when you do feel it, and it is a very gratifying feeling for therapist and client alike”.

Soft Tissues of the Body Respond to Touch 

With skill and care, this response can be one of healing. Many athletes find Sports Massage Therapy indispensable for their training and performance, but most asked place importance on finding the ‘right’ therapist.

Many current studies in Sports Massage Therapy lack validity due to their methodology. Sports Massage Therapy is more than the sum of its mechanical parts. Future research must strive to take into account the dynamic, holistic nature of healing. Anyone interested in exploring the benefits of sports massage therapy would do well to try a variety of therapists before settling with one with whom they feel most comfortable.










Copyright Phoebe Riordan - Massage Therapist Cornwall, UK Phoebe runs a lively massage therapy business in Cornwall. For more info go to www.phoebemaria.com