Light at the end of the Tunnel

I hit my low point after pulling my hamstring at the gym.  I was still seeing my Chiropractor at that point, but knew I wasn’t really progressing.  I felt kind of hopeless.  The adjustments, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, and hot/cold packs weren’t doing much more for me than a hot soak in the tub and sports creams that I could do at home.   

I remembered I had met a Myofascial Release Therapist at a gym a while back and still had his card.  I knew MFR was different than anything else I had done in the past. Having done PT in with mixed results, Massage, and Chiropractic, I decided I needed to try something different.  I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t really getting better with what I was doing; I was actually getting worse.  It took about 3 sessions before I could finally sleep comfortably on my back again.  My pain wasn’t gone, but my symptoms were changing, things were shifting.  It took several months of working on my scar tissue, correcting my unbalanced pelvis, opening up fascial restrictions that had developed over time.  It was the combination of skilled myofascial therapy sessions and doing my own self-care stretches that gave me my life back. I was able to stretch myself out of pain most days, and see my therapist periodically for tune ups. The more I took care of myself, the better I felt. The more I could do.

MFR Self-care has become a way of life for me.  Rarely do I take a pain med or use sports creams, no injections, etc, just a little MFR every day.  Yes, I do a little every day, some days, I do more. I get treated about once a month to keep my body healthy as I do a lot of physical work with my body every day. 

There is so much we can do for ourselves; we just aren’t taught how.  We are not taught as patients, and even as health care professionals, we are taught very little about self-care.  Our bodies are so adaptable until we ignore it too long and start having issues.  We’ve been sold on the world of quick fix medications or surgeries, when most of the time, it is probably not necessary. I am on a mission to help bring awareness to people, to educate them, to give them hope, give them control of their health when traditional healthcare has often times failed them, and likely wasn’t needed anyway.  To address their aches and pains conservatively through corrective myofascial therapy and self-care.

I hope my story sheds some insight on why I am so passionate about what I do and why I do it.