Ann couldn’t turn her head without stirring up pain from an old gymnastic injury. Steve’s leg muscles had atrophied from his many foot injuries. JoAnn’s hands cramped so badly at night the pain would wake her up. Cooper was headed for Carpal Tunnel surgery, but wondered if there was a non-surgical answer.
It can get very confusing and exhausting searching for what healing modality will work for you. After trying many different modalities such as chiropractic, massage, and physical therapy, the people above turned to a new therapy called Ortho-Bionomyâ. This therapy gets its strength and effectiveness from working with the body versus against it.
For example - do you remember being told as a kid to put your shoulders back? I would always put mine back until the coast was clear and then relax again. Some muscles are actually exacerbated by stretching like this or they just don’t respond. Using Ortho-Bionomy self-care techniques for slumped shoulders, you would relax one of your shoulders – say the left one. Then with your right hand, reach over and pull your left shoulder in – exaggerating the offending hunch – then add and hold a gentle, inward compression for about 20 seconds. This helps to release the stress and tension in the muscles so they’ll be able to relax, letting our shoulder slide back farther, closer to where it should hang. Then you could work the other shoulder in the same way. It’s not a one-time cure, but it is amazing what you can accomplish when you work with the body, not against it.
The kind of compression used in this example is effective without being painful. It actually feels good. Its compression is from both ends of the muscle in toward the middle, rather than deep into the belly of the muscle, which can be painful and can, again, exacerbate the problem. Knowing the principles of Ortho-Bionomy, we can make the difference in our lives that practices such as just putting our shoulders back fail to do. For instance, used gently, it can help our kids release the tension built up in their shoulders and back from their backpacks.
Ann, the gymnastic, was pain free after 2 sessions. Steve, with atrophied leg muscles, started regaining use of those muscles after 4 visits. In 6 sessions the pain and cramping was gone in JoAnn’s knotted hands. Cooper got his wish. His Carpal Tunnel Syndrome was gone and he was out gardening, pain free, after 3 sessions.
So, if you’re thinking of throwing in the towel, believing you have to learn to live with pain, try keeping an open mind and you too, may find your answer.
