We see it everywhere in our culture - everyone wants the quick fix - Got a virus? Give me an antibiotic!! Got back pain? Let's fix it with surgery!! Overweight?
Just do the latest diet for a week!! I saw it advertised on TV, so it must be right. The government protects us from false advertising!!
Dream on.
If you look at these "quick fixes", you find there are major long-term problems with all of them. And they really don't even work in the short term. We buy into the promises - and
hopefully live to regret it. We only really learn from the experiences if we quit chasing the next promise and truly look at ourselves to find out what, if any, the results were from
our last "quick fix".
There is a better way, but it involves taking the path that doesn't promise the quick fix. And it actually usually ends up taking less time, energy, and money and having better
long-term AND short-term results.
Let me give an example: Suppose a woman has neck pain as a result of a car accident 5 years ago. It is getting worse. The pain is spreading. Pain pills deaden the pain, but also
deaden her life - she feels that she isn't able to enjoy herself. A surgeon might suggest fusing her spine together to relieve the pain. If she wishes, she can have the surgery within
a week. The promise is that her long-term pain will be gone then. But it doesn't quite happen that way. If she has the surgery, she first has to recover from the trauma to her body.
Next, she has to have physical therapy to recover even to the level of functioning she was at before the surgery. The natural flexibility of her spine is permanently gone. She will always
have scar tissue. And recent studies show that surgery just to relieve chronic pain generally just creates more pain, along with reduced function. I have a suggestion - try non-invasive
therapies BEFORE opting for surgery. There are quite a few that have helped other people - acupuncture, chiropractors, massage, etc. Remember also that all doctors and therapists are human
too - the difficulty is finding both the proper modality AND the proper practitioner for your needs.
I'm a Massage Therapist. I became one because I have a talent for reducing pain through massage. Referring to the example, I have had good results with people both after surgery AND
before they have had surgery.
Before surgery, I would work to release muscles injured in the car accident. These muscles are probably tightened, increasing pressure on the spine and causing pinched nerves. Without
this release, other muscles will tighten to try to compensate for the injury. More stress. Local muscular overloads become common. Pain gets worse. Releasing the damage in the muscles
allows them to return to normal function without pain.
After surgery, the original muscle injury is still there - the surgery just tries to reduce its effects on pinched nerves. There is also the damage caused by the surgery. I would work to
clear the original injury and restore function reduced by the surgery.
Sometimes, surgery is the only viable course - to repair major physical damage caused by accidents, for example. Massage still has a place in recovery. Almost invariably, there is also
damage to muscles. Even after the muscle heals, it still can have deep injuries called "Trigger Points" that weaken the muscle and cause pain. Doing physical therapy to strengthen a muscle
with a Trigger Point is counter-productive until the Trigger Point is released, and can cause excessive pain and frustration both on the part of the Physical Therapist AND Client.
Properly done, massage to release Trigger Points has the following characteristics:
Chronic pain can also be due to excessive stress in your life. Massage can help with this, but it may be necessary to deal with emotional sources of your stress as well for full recovery.
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