How to tell you are in good hands
Today finally I took the time to go get a body treatment.
Not some hokus pokus I am a tantra master and will undo your energetical blockages with the use of my intuition type of thing.
No no.
I visited the best therapist I have had the bless to receive from since very many years.
In this world we live in, where to become a Yoga Teacher you pay and study three weeks and, just add a couple of more anatomy classes and tadà, you are also a physical therapist (LOL), it became harder and harder to filter between a scam that is after money and glory, and someone that really has the knowledge and lives it and shares it knowledgeably.
Since my injury on the neck last year, which happened in part also due to the carelessness of an ‘osteopath’, I am very careful with who touches my body.
You need to understand that we are energy, but before that, before we talk of spirit and consciousness, we are BODY. A body where our soul rests into for this life.
A very important vessel!
And this same body, funnily enough, is a MECHANIC SYSTEM, just like a car or a motorbike, just a tiny bit more dramatic, that is why we speak of BIOMECHANICS when we observe the incredible happenings of muscles moving around an axes, and the leverage that a tendon applies on a bone.
It is physics, pushing and pulling and a cause and an effect while we move or get adjusted.
So when you lay under the hands of someone that pushes and pulls your skeletal system at random, someone that maybe tries to pop your vertebrae just to give a sweet sound, manipulating you into believing they know what they are doing cause cracking bones is so cool, you need to be aware that the body will react to manipulation, and if the person that is doing the treatment does not know what they are playing with, you risk more damage.
After someone tried to crack my neck, I had to stop training for 6 entire weeks last year while wearing a neck collar!
With my body being my working tool, can you imagine what a trauma that was for me?
Other times I have felt so mishandled in the hands of therapists that were objectifying me while making me stand utterly naked in front of them (it was men, sorry to say ma friends) that I came out with more tension than beginning.
This knowledge, I am very sorry to share with you, is not gained through basic physical anatomy and some slides on a projector.
It is years of deep studies and tons of experience.
How you gather the experience? By studying biomechanics, assessment, pathology and, of course, anatomy. By learning about techniques. It’s books and books and videos and more videos you must integrate.
My personal training was three and a half years as a Physio, with on site training next to professionals in clinics and hospitals, plus so many added on massage techniques, Yoga trainings and even more books I have read to top up and also just out of curiosity. Just to give you an idea of the depth one should undergo when deciding to work as rehabilitative therapist, that is, someone that dedicates to bring PHYSICAL BALANCE back to the PHYSICAL VESSEL.
All the rest, is good if you miss relaxation or bliss or touch or both.
If you have physical issues, like proper physical issues, such as little range of motion, chronic pain somewhere, to recover after a fracture, and so on, seek the help of someone that has done at least a couple of years of proper training.
It is the case where a certification really makes the difference (not an online or three weeks long one tho).
Today for the first time in months and after this incredible session, my body feels free.
Doctors were speaking of anti inflammatory medications and eventually cortison for my hip pain, predicting arthrosis and of course one day hip replacement!, instead, I have gotten a 2 hours magic and yet scientific physical treatment that worked on the harmony between my most inner muscles of spine and pelvis, and I can now proceed with my life until my next session soon.
I’ve created a slide for you to guide you on how to tell a good physical therapist from a scam (cause yes, certifications hanged on the wall can be fake, what a world!).
ANAMNESIS:
They ask for your medical history, in this case: any accidents? Surgeries? Metal implants?
PERMISSION:
They explain that the best way to proceed is for you to be without pants and shirt; if you are a woman, they will suggest you wearing a bra
BODY ASSESSMENT:
-they stare at you down to up, up to down, learning about your unconscious movements while concentrating on gathering physical cues of your body (position of the hands, which side is more used, way of tilting the head, and so on)
-they let you stand and observe your posture from front, behind and side (spine curves, bending of knees, rotations of the legs and so on)
-they make you walk and observe your walking pattern (where is there tension, how is the weight distribution while walking, and so on)
-they touch your body to make measurements of the positions of your bones (position of the pelvis or of shoulder blades)
PHYSICAL TESTING:
Usually done on a chair or on a therapy table, they palpate the muscles, the bones, the skin, soft and connective tissues; move some limbs passively or ask you to move them
DIAGNOSIS AND COMMUNICATION:
They take time to make a diagnosis, you see them thinking, moving around you, then they talk you through their ideas, maybe they ask some more questions and proceed in telling you what they are doing all along
TREATMENT FOCUS & CUSTOMIZED SESSION:
They would usually focus on one or maximum two body parts for each session (pelvis area / neck area /feet and knees); if someone is going foot to head in one session chances are they are just going through a pre-fixated, usual order and not a customised therapy
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF THE PATIENT:
They do techniques that are often not relaxing, meaning you are not laying down to rest in peace, you are, instead, actively part of the treatment either by movement, breath or contraction of the affected structures
ATTENTIVENESS:
-they don’t throw diagnosis at random, they express what they think when they are sure of what they are saying, they don’t say sensational sentences that make you feel either scared or ignorant
-they make sure you understand what is happening, they talk your language and explain and ask for permission to do what they will do before doing it
-they ask often if you are comfortable with what is happening and the treatment they are doing
PLANNING:
-One session most probably won’t be enough. Who tells you they have magic hands, usually doesn’t.
A real physical therapist has a plan for at least a couple of following sessions.
With all the love,
The Alchemy of Fire
