Day 75 - Pain, Stress, and Malaise? No, Thanks, I'll Pass...

Tonight we studied how pain, stress, and malaise can affect a person and what a Massage Therapist can do to help - or what NOT to do to try to help. It seems like common sense stuff. One thing that it seemed all of the class found unusual was that everybody has the same pain threshhold, but environment, upbringing, basic history, and the like is what actually affects people's tolerance for pain. That took a moment to sink in for everybody, I think.
We also talked about how malaise (depression) can be a downward cycle. For instance, if you become injured, you have to wait to heal, so you don't do what you used to do, so you become depressed. Once you're depressed, then your body becomes stressed and more pain happens, causing less ability to do the things done previously. I think this last year has been my malaise cycle, of which I think I've been slowly coming out. While my mood has certainly lightened, I'm trying to figure out where my physical limits or non-limits are, especially since I haven't been very active. It's hard to be active when I'm either sitting at work, the car, class, or laying on the table. I don't have time for much else, but this week I have gotten up early twice and done a 15 minute walking program with OnDemand exercise.tv. At least it's something.
And of course, we did more practicing on bodywork. Oh, the burden to be practiced on...

Day 26 - Pull the Trigger

Do you have problems with your sciatic nerve? Do you have shooting pain sometimes or pretty much all the time? I learned tonight that sometimes these issues are actually with dense muscle fibers that need to be worked out and they're called "trigger points." In learning about trigger points, we'll be learning how to alleviate the pain associated with them.
Just as a note, too. They hurt. When they're getting worked on, it will hurt. One of the indications that we're hitting the trigger point is called a "jump sign." That's when the client jumps as you touch the trigger point.
We learned lots more vocabulary and concepts. More flashcards.
I also learned that one of my classmates says he can read minds.

Day 9 - Structurally Speaking

Day 9 was actually Day 1 of learning about Structural Bodywork - how to move the muscles closer to the Structural Objective. It's slow work and can be painful, but the benefits outweigh all that. We learned some words that I have not committed to memory yet, so I will make flashcards tonight before class and re-read the section of the book that we covered.
I found myself just being like a sponge, soaking it all in, wanting to learn more right then, but we had to switch gears from the lecture part of the class.
We actually got to do some bodywork! We worked on what we had been learning: Structural bodywork - the slow and sometimes painful stuff. My partner for the evening admitted to having a lower pain threshhold, so I held back from what I know I could do to move those muscles. I even felt her muscles pushing back at me when it was too much for her! I even had to have a little towel to wipe the sweat from my brow.
Then, it was my turn on the table. Apparently, I have a higher tolerance for pain, as I didn't get much past a six on the pain scale of one to ten. But, oh - it did feel good - in that painful yet relaxing way. By the time I got home, I was ready for some major sleep!
The A/C in the house has been not working, and we have just had a heat spell. Without A/C, I didn't sleep well the night before, but some wonderful friends from church let us borrow some fans to keep the house cool. Between the fans and the bodywork I received, I was out like a light.

Day 5 - Form & FUNction

Several years back, my father, my sister, and I drove to Oklahoma for my aunt's funeral. We made the 1,200 mile trip in about 28 hours. We drove straight through, after renting a car - a Nissan Maxima. Upon our arrival, we dropped Dad off at his sister's house, where he would be staying, and my sister and I checked into our hotel. After getting our bags settled in the room, I noticed my lower back was KILLING me and I could barely move. I figured that between a strain on my back several months before and the long drive and the stress of getting everything together for the last-minute trip, I had pretty well wrecked my lower back. I used a topical cream that soaks into the muscles to help ease the pain, but nothing truly soothed the pain fully except time and trying to relax as much as possible during this whirlwind of a trip.
I had a revelation about that experience in class last night, which may take some explanation to understand it.
In Day 5 of the class, we covered "Form and Function" as well as being introduced to the Shoulder Girdle. Well, in the Form and Function section, we learned that 1) all parts of the body are connected and 2) how we use our bodies in our day to day lives affects the ability to achieve the Structural Objective - which is the goal of all the bones stacked in alignment.
We discussed how carrying a heavy purse on one side constantly can make the shoulder dip to one side, carrying a small child on the hip can make the hip tilt to one side, or being constantly on a computer all day can make the shoulders rotate toward the front of the body, creating a hunched posture. And get this - driving for long periods can create hunched shoulders or lower back pain!
The lower back pain may come from a muscle called the psoas muscle, and it goes around from the derriere around the hip and connects up front, around the groin. Well, how does that affect driving? Well, it's also the muscle that makes the leg move up and down when you're in a sitting position...like when you are using your foot to press on the gas or brake pedals. *Ding!* The light went on in my head and I understood why I had all that lower back pain after that long marathon drive to Oklahoma!
Wow!
Ok...it may not be big news to you, but it helped me realize that I need to be more aware of my posture and how I function...at least a few minutes a day and maybe I can reverse some of the really bad habits I've gotten into - slouching, hunching over the computer, and how I carry my purse.
In the next part of the class, we looked at the Shoulder Girdle, what parts it's comprised of, and how to work toward the Structural Objective for it. We learned the re-patterning exercises for it, which we worked on with a partner.
I'm almost getting a work-out during the part of the class where we work on the re-patterning techniques.
You know...almost.