Nah, it's Not Pain, it's Just Tension
I was reminded today of how our body tries to tell us something, usually through sensations. Many times we don’t recognize that it’s crying out for some assistance, and many times we try to logically deduce what’s causing a problem or imbalance, when the imbalance is a little more complicated than we think.
Let’s talk about pain, for instance. Say you have shoulder pain or tightness that comes and goes. You assume the pain is caused by your shoulder (because that’s the location of your pain). However, your shoulder is connected to your arm and to your neck, which is part of your spine that’s connected to your hips then to your legs, and so on.. we can play this game all day.
Your Arm Bone’s Connected to Your… Foot Bone! Our body is made up of a vast pulley system of fascia and muscle, so when one area is tight from say overuse with poor posture, another area will have to compensate- this is usually the area we experience pain. So you could potentially have a hip imbalance that caused your shoulder pain.
I’ve trained in myofascial techniques to improve posture and tight, held areas… and in my experience treating shoulder pain, I’ve been able to decrease or relieve that pain by working on areas like the neck. If I only worked on the shoulder and did not uncover the root imbalance, it wouldn’t matter how hard I worked on the shoulder, the pain would come back in a day or two.
This is why you might have been to a massage therapist over and over again, felt relief for a couple days but then always, the pain returns. It can take a number of sessions to fully relieve pain, but it took a number of years developing that pain. Think back- there were probably some precursors (tension, tightness, intermittent pain) that were the body’s way of saying “Hey! Pay attention! You need to do something about this before it gets worse.” Unfortunately, most of the population tries to ignore it, ices it, takes advil, and believes it’s resolved because the pain went away.
Practicing Root-Release Therapy (specialized massage therapy) in Salt Lake City, I have come across and helped many clients who were part of this population. Even if you don’t live in the Salt Lake area, I’d love to talk and shed some light on what kind of massage therapist or bodyworker you should look for or what types of self care practices you can do to help relieve your pain. I’m always happy to spread some knowledge, and if I can help you over the phone, I will! Call 801.906.3222
Good point! Thank you!Please give me more info on this!