You Know It’s Good For You

This time of year we have a recipe that comes out at home which we simply call ‘The Mixture’. It consists of crushed garlic bulbs (as many as you like), the juice of half a lemon, a dollop of good honey, all topped up with warm water. It has to mature over a couple of hours and then it’s ready to combat the coughs, colds, and snots.  This is essential weaponry against the lurgy, especially in a household that has kids all too keen to share their secretions. It tastes horrible but as it passes over the tongue and down the back of the throat you just know it’s good for you.

That’s sometimes what bodywork, including osteopathy, is like. When an experienced therapist hits one of those bits that’s really sore you know that it hurts but you also just know it’s good for you.  Those fingers and thumbs can become like guided missiles searching through the knots and tensions tracking down trigger points, tender points, problem spots.

That’s not to say that osteopathy should be painful.  I struggle with the idea of a ‘good pain’. If you’re on the receiving end of a treatment and you’re in pain I would say that the pain is telling you they should stop. There’s a difference between pain and discomfort, although when a therapists hits one of those good spots it can be a bit of a fine line. However, if I sense a patient is tensing up beneath my fingers I know I’ve crossed the line in to pain and I need to take the pressure off.

Most of the soft tissue work I do on patients is aimed at creating space around an area and encouraging the body to release or let go of whatever it is that’s being naturally protected. Pain or injury naturally makes us tense up to protect the area that has been damaged. When it’s appropriate to do so, releasing that protective spasm and tightness will aid recovery. However, inflicting more pain is not the way forward. Working just deep enough to encourage the tissues to release and let go is the aim.

Of course if tissues are encouraged to release and we create space it also means that everything that passes through those tissues will be less compressed. Now here’s how osteopathy can actually be seen to back up the work of ‘The Mixture’ mentioned above. If your head is full of mucous, be it a bad cold or an attack of sinusitis, having an osteopath work on your neck and upper back will effectively open up all the drainage pathways to allow for some of the sticky gunk to get away from the head.

Winter is a time of coughs and colds, it’s the time to brew up a batch of ‘The Mixture’ and it’s the time to visit an osteopath.  You’ll just know it’s good for you!