If you have ever been a client at EPT, you know we treat the
person as a whole. Although you may come
in with elbow pain, we may spend time focusing on how you are habitually
standing or how you swing your arms when you walk. We know how these everyday repetitive motions
can cause stress on the body. This class
touched on and expanded upon these concepts.
One major principle in the osteopathic philosophy is that the
body is a dynamic unit of function. When
we are speaking of the body, we are not just talking about the physical dimension,
but the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.
In the class, we spoke many times of the
Total Body Lesion, which is defined as the
sum of dysfunctions of mind, body, and spirit at any given moment in time. This means that what is making your body hurt is not only the latest ache or pain, but an accumulation of
things over time. That series of ankle
sprains during high school soccer, the C-section or hernia repair, those two
fender benders, and the stress of starting a new job all have contributed to
what you are feeling today. The pain of
these smaller injuries usually quickly fades without need for treatment; at the
most, maybe with the aid of a little Advil, ice, and rest. Although the muscles and ligaments have
healed, we are blissfully unaware of the residual muscle, joint, and fascial
tension that remains.
When you come to
PT, you might identify the “final straw” as that bout of shoveling in sub-zero
temps (thanks Vermont!), but your body has endured all of the previous traumas
and these things must be considered. When
we evaluate you, we won’t just look at your back, but at your entire body. After evaluating, we then can perform
Total Body Balancing, which may mean we
are working up at your shoulder, even though you came in with back pain.
On the next post, we look forward to sharing about one component of Total Body Balancing - fascial release!
