There’s nothing I like more than a “knotty problem”. Something that’s been there for while, won’t go away, keeps coming back to bother it’s poor “owner”, perhaps to the point that it’s stopping them from doing what they really want to do.
Let’s take James (name changed for privacy reasons) who recently came to me with a problem in his right arm and shoulder after a rugby injury 8 months ago. Someone kneed him forcibly in the armpit in a ruck and since then he had lost a lot of power in his right arm, could no longer do chin ups (he used to be able to do 4 lots of 8 ) and was getting a lot of tingling into his fingers and felt his grip has less power than it used to have. He was quite distressed at the prospect of having to give up his rugby career in his mid twenties. He had had some treatment from the club physiotherapist but no real change in his symptom pattern.
In osteopathy we are trained to reason back to cause, so my job was work out what was stopping him getting better and help his body to find its way back to normal. We looked at how his shoulder blade now seemed to be very stuck onto his back and inhibiting the movement in his shoulder; how the muscle balance in his arm was disrupted and the bone out of position; how the his ribcage was a different shape on the right and the left; and that he was still carrying the trauma from the injury in his tissues.
Osteopathy allows us to allow bodies to rebalance themselves by helping to release shock, support the bones back into better alignment, and improve blood supply to the tissues , which helps healing. I used some soft tissue massage, some articulation of his shoulder, and some cranial technique to release the shock and help the bones align. After 2 treatments James could manage 4 chin ups again, his grip had improved and the tingling had subsided in his hand. He was able to do press ups and felt a lot better. Now he is looking at getting his training going over the summer to get ready for the new rugby season in the Autumn.
If you would like to talk to me about how osteopathy might help you, please get in touch on 020 7993 8116 ; I’ll look forward to hearing from you.