Masso-kinesitherapy
One more reason not to cancel your prevention appointment!
Often, people start to consult (whether it is in masso, physio, osteo, etc) when they have a screaming problem, usually accompanied by real pain. However, the presence of pain is not necessary to make an appointment! Even in the absence of pain, your body probably has some dormant issues that can be addressed when you are not yet in pain. This article presents one more reason not to cancel your prevention appointment!
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Taking responsibility for yourself
The clients who take the most responsibility for their health are a good example for us all.
They believe that most things that happen to them happen for reasons that are within their control (except for a few examples).
So, they don't look for ways to blame others, and they look at what they can do to improve their condition.
During prevention treatments, we often hear them say that it is good for them to "take time for themselves".
Often more mature and with employment, parenting and sometimes even family responsibilities to their aging elders, treatment allows them to pause their daily juggling of decisions.
It is a much more personal time than watching television, for example, because in the latter activity, we only pause our situation to look at situations external and not personal to ourselves.
An underlying and rarely expressed meaning of "taking time for myself" might be "allows me to reconnect with my body."
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Becoming familiar and reconnecting with your body
In today's society, the importance of the body and how to care for it beyond aesthetic purposes is far from the top of the societal priority list.
Prolonged work positions, extensive screen exposure and disappearing physical activities are all very detrimental to our bodies that never evolved to function this way.
Fortunately, a shift for the better has begun lately with yoga, physical activity for pleasure, the popularization of meditation or even new food options (gluten-free, organic, vegan, etc...).
Through all these changes, a common denominator appears: the familiarization and connection with one's body.
We are inclined to recognize what works for us, our strengths and the barriers that can make life more difficult and that we could do without.
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Anatomical awareness through physical activity
Beyond the concepts of strengths and weaknesses of our body that can be related to endurance or flexibility, we can become aware of them on a structural and anatomical level.
This makes it easier to identify worrisome changes that may occur over the course of a lifetime.
Some physical activity promotion programs for children have understood this advantage and teach young people with utilitarian nuances.
E.R.I.C. (early recognition is critical), for example, is an organization that teaches ultimate Frisbee to America's youth with an emphasis on body awareness to better recognize the warning signs of cancer and incipient tumors before they grow.
This is yet another addition to the growing list of physical activity findings.
Although this program is geared towards youth, we can all learn from it, as we are all children and novices in terms of body awareness until we are introduced to it.
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Massage therapy and the quest for identity
Also, while receiving massage therapy treatment is not exactly like doing physical activity, as a client you will be called upon to become familiar with your body and your therapist will serve as a guide and helper in your process (not to mention an extra pair of hands and eyes!).
Some more philosophical people might even extrapolate from the increased connection with your body and postulate that you are actively fighting the societal alienation to which you are exposed.
Alienation is defined as "the situation of someone who is deprived of that which constitutes their essential being, their reason for being, for living".
By being forced to do a purely computerized job, a job they don't even appreciate, to be led by a prime minister or president they didn't vote for and even to buy things they don't really need under the pretext that it was on super sale, the majority of society sooner or later finds itself alienated, and this, at different levels.
It's that feeling of not knowing what defines you or why you do what you do.
Your body, on the other hand, represents a point of identity with distinct boundaries that can become an inkling of your individuality if you take the time to become familiar with it.
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Conclusion
In a world of ideas that accelerates exponentially each year, the relative simplicity of the physical plane of our being reassures and refocuses many.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that if an appointment has been made in advance with your therapist and you are pain free the day before your treatment, there is a world of reasons to keep your appointment.
The ultimate goal of any care is a pain-free life, so the absence of pain should tell you that your therapist is a good influence on your body.
Also, taking time for yourself away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life will allow you to reconnect with your body.
Eventually, it will help you to identify different body changes that may or may not be worrisome as they occur.
You might even respond to some identity crisis in the event that it arises.
In the end, it is not just a pain-free life that you are chasing, but also a pain-free one.
The psychological benefits of manual therapy are still little understood, but their existence is undeniable, and step by step we discover them through the expression of our bodies.
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Izaak Lavarenne, Physiotherapist NDG
izaak.lavarenne@cliniquealtermed.com
Sources: 1. Larousse. Definitions : alienation - Larousse French dictionary. Retrieved January 01, 2018, from http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/ali%C3%A9nation/2256
2. WHO WE ARE. (n.d.). Retrieved January 01, 2018, from http://earlyrecognitioniscritical.org/