Getting out of Pain is only Half the Battle

A large percentage of clients we work with come to us in chronic pain.  Their lives have become very limited and very unenjoyable due to chronic pain.  When asked what their goals are for undertaking the Posture Alignment Program they say, not surprisingly say, "to get out of pain."  

This is understandable to say the least.  But many times clients don't understand that getting out of pain is only half the battle and just a part of the process.  

Getting to a place of enormous pain in most cases takes place over time, a long period of time.  Think of the timeline of when your pain started and then what events started years before that.  Was there a car accident, a sports related accident, years of playing one-sided sports or doing one-sided activity, sitting at a desk for 30 years, any physical injury or surgery.  This is a short list of the things that set up compensations in the body where you stopped using a body part for a period of time and overused another body part.  Therein begins the problem, years and years ago.  That is the beginning of the time line and by the time there is actual pain that can not be ignored, it is late in the timeline.  Pain is the end of the process since the problem is at it's most severe state.  

Spondylolisthesis, Stenosis, Herniations, torn Meniscus/Cartilage/Tendons etc. etc. etc. are not created in the body quickly.  These problems are the result of friction and wear and tear in the body from long standing muscle imbalances, faulty muscle engagement, and poor biomechanics.  

Pain is the end point in this process.  Pain from Spondylolisthesis, Stenosis, Arthritis, and most all other diagnoses or surgeries or problems as explained above, is the final stage of a multistage process of physical degradation.  This degradation is caused mostly from environmental circumstances that set up muscle inactivity and weakness or hyper tension which make muscle pairs  become imbalanced.  The mechanics of how muscles engage,  which ones are getting recruited the way they should and when they should, is compromised. Strengthening activities do little good to correct the imbalances without specific biomechanics retraining.  

At The Posture Clinic we are working first and foremost to get clients out of pain as soon as possible.  But the process really does not end there.  You see there was a long history of physical issues and injuries and environmental circumstances building up and piling up before the client gets to the point of pain or extreme pain.  Therefore all those prior muscle and joint imbalances and dysfunctions need to be resolved or improved.  This is where clients drop out of the process because they think since the pain is gone they are home free.  Not so.

Most clients are not home free because there is more work to be done to get the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, pelvis and spine functioning fully and CORRECTLY again.  We are happy clients jump for joy when they are out of pain; we're joyfully jumping right along side of them.  

The analogy that paints a good picture is this: if your house is on fire you want to put out the fire.  But after the fire is out you have to rebuild the house- the whole house not just the kitchen or den.  You gotta rebuild the whole house.

Call us at 772-559-1532 to discuss your individual situation.  We're trained in biomechanics and can show you where you've developed dysfunctional muscle and joint function and alignment.  

---