'A Double Standard' by Dennis Gibbons LMT
Follow-Up Visits and Adjustment Periods
After I work on my patients, I usually tell them it will be a day or two before they feel relief. I then commonly suggest they make a follow-up appointment, usually 7 to 10 days after the initial visit.
Most people don’t like either of these statements.
When a patient has surgery, it can take weeks or even months before the change takes effect.
Medication comes with the instructions, “be patient as this medicine will take a couple of days to start working.” And of course, we know we have to finish all medication even if we feel better. We believe those statements because a physician or health care provider has made them.
It has been my experience, whether I have seen a medical, osteopathic, or chiropractic physician, that follow-up visits are always mandated. Follow-up visits ensure that whatever problem the first appointment addressed is healing. More often than not the patient finds this normal, but when an alternative medicine professional suggests it, there is doubt.
My question to you, my patients, is why? When the alternative medicine professional states change will be forthcoming, but not immediately, why is there doubt?
In my 25 years of practicing Massage Therapy, most notably Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, I have recommended at least one follow-up visit many times. At 8 patients a day, 5 days a week, I make the recommendation almost 2000 times per year!
In any type of “healing” session, conventional or alternative, timing is very important. It takes the human body time to adjust to the changes that are made. In my practice, at the first visit I take a history, and then balance the Tensegrity of the body as much as possible initially. This balancing allows the brain to reset the anomalies found during the session and places the body into, as closely as possible, a normal postural positioning. Sometimes, with long-standing injuries or habits, it will take multiple appointments to balance the body.
My suggestion is, after proper alignment has been achieved, a follow-up appointment is set in the near future, normally 7 to 10 days from the initial visit. That time period has been developed through years of treating individuals, as it normally takes 48 to 72 hours for the initial therapy to settle in. The four to six days after the “settle in time” will start to show what aberrant movement patterns could be the underlying cause of the problem. That is the reason behind the 7 to 10 day follow-up recommendation. Seven to ten days after a visit is the optimum time to re-assess the original problem and to further appraise the anomalies to postural tension. In other words, to figure out what is happening out in the world that causes you further pain!
When developing Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, and part of the philosophy became that over-treatment is as detrimental as under-treatment. If the body is not given a fair chance to find its own balance, to recover on its own, a more complex compensation pattern develops. As I often inform my clientele, the muscles will respond rather rapidly, it is the brain and glandular system that need to be nurtured and given time to re-balance them.
Whether it is Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, Fundamental Movement Pilates℠, or any other treatment plan, conventional or alternative, there needs to be a time set aside between treatments for the overall body and brain to recover. If the brain has been working hard to compensate for some internal pain, there needs to be a recovery period during which it can reset itself, so to speak.
Your brain creates a compensation pattern to help thwart the discomfort in your body. This patterning does two things. First, it creates new movement patterns to offset the imbalances the pain causes. Second, the brain resets the neuromuscular connections to accommodate these imbalances. When proper re-connection is made through Muscle-Release Therapy, MRTh@, what happens at the subconscious level is the following:
· The brain senses the security of the new movement pattern achieved by MRTh, and allows the ligaments to reposition the joints, which sends a sensory neuron back to the brain.
· This sensory neuron is interpreted by the brain, which sends a motor neuron to allow the muscle tissue to determine the amount of dynamics needed to reproduce proper balance. As this process takes place the endocrine system, primarily the hypothalamus gland, helps the brain recreate proper skeletal balance.
As change is made through Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® the body re-creates proper movement patterns; the follow up visits help in making sure this is truly the case. Also the follow up visits allow the practitioner to see what habitual movements need to be addressed. All this doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
It is this process that the body, which includes the brain and glandular system, needs to experience to find its place of comfort. This postural change will need the proper time to penetrate, and this places a drain on the whole body and its systems. That is why an adjustment period is necessary, and why 7 to 10 days is the appropriate next appointment in most cases.
So the next time an alternative health care practitioner suggests you schedule a follow-up appointment; it is not just a method to get you back, but an honest attempt to ensure that you fully recover. Trust your practitioner, and make the follow-up appointment as suggested. The follow-up visit can also “fine tune” the previous adjustments made, which promotes an overall healthier environment for your body.
Yours in wellness,
Dennis
After I work on my patients, I usually tell them it will be a day or two before they feel relief. I then commonly suggest they make a follow-up appointment, usually 7 to 10 days after the initial visit.
Most people don’t like either of these statements.
When a patient has surgery, it can take weeks or even months before the change takes effect.
Medication comes with the instructions, “be patient as this medicine will take a couple of days to start working.” And of course, we know we have to finish all medication even if we feel better. We believe those statements because a physician or health care provider has made them.
It has been my experience, whether I have seen a medical, osteopathic, or chiropractic physician, that follow-up visits are always mandated. Follow-up visits ensure that whatever problem the first appointment addressed is healing. More often than not the patient finds this normal, but when an alternative medicine professional suggests it, there is doubt.
My question to you, my patients, is why? When the alternative medicine professional states change will be forthcoming, but not immediately, why is there doubt?
In my 25 years of practicing Massage Therapy, most notably Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, I have recommended at least one follow-up visit many times. At 8 patients a day, 5 days a week, I make the recommendation almost 2000 times per year!
In any type of “healing” session, conventional or alternative, timing is very important. It takes the human body time to adjust to the changes that are made. In my practice, at the first visit I take a history, and then balance the Tensegrity of the body as much as possible initially. This balancing allows the brain to reset the anomalies found during the session and places the body into, as closely as possible, a normal postural positioning. Sometimes, with long-standing injuries or habits, it will take multiple appointments to balance the body.
My suggestion is, after proper alignment has been achieved, a follow-up appointment is set in the near future, normally 7 to 10 days from the initial visit. That time period has been developed through years of treating individuals, as it normally takes 48 to 72 hours for the initial therapy to settle in. The four to six days after the “settle in time” will start to show what aberrant movement patterns could be the underlying cause of the problem. That is the reason behind the 7 to 10 day follow-up recommendation. Seven to ten days after a visit is the optimum time to re-assess the original problem and to further appraise the anomalies to postural tension. In other words, to figure out what is happening out in the world that causes you further pain!
When developing Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, and part of the philosophy became that over-treatment is as detrimental as under-treatment. If the body is not given a fair chance to find its own balance, to recover on its own, a more complex compensation pattern develops. As I often inform my clientele, the muscles will respond rather rapidly, it is the brain and glandular system that need to be nurtured and given time to re-balance them.
Whether it is Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, Fundamental Movement Pilates℠, or any other treatment plan, conventional or alternative, there needs to be a time set aside between treatments for the overall body and brain to recover. If the brain has been working hard to compensate for some internal pain, there needs to be a recovery period during which it can reset itself, so to speak.
Your brain creates a compensation pattern to help thwart the discomfort in your body. This patterning does two things. First, it creates new movement patterns to offset the imbalances the pain causes. Second, the brain resets the neuromuscular connections to accommodate these imbalances. When proper re-connection is made through Muscle-Release Therapy, MRTh@, what happens at the subconscious level is the following:
· The brain senses the security of the new movement pattern achieved by MRTh, and allows the ligaments to reposition the joints, which sends a sensory neuron back to the brain.
· This sensory neuron is interpreted by the brain, which sends a motor neuron to allow the muscle tissue to determine the amount of dynamics needed to reproduce proper balance. As this process takes place the endocrine system, primarily the hypothalamus gland, helps the brain recreate proper skeletal balance.
As change is made through Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® the body re-creates proper movement patterns; the follow up visits help in making sure this is truly the case. Also the follow up visits allow the practitioner to see what habitual movements need to be addressed. All this doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
It is this process that the body, which includes the brain and glandular system, needs to experience to find its place of comfort. This postural change will need the proper time to penetrate, and this places a drain on the whole body and its systems. That is why an adjustment period is necessary, and why 7 to 10 days is the appropriate next appointment in most cases.
So the next time an alternative health care practitioner suggests you schedule a follow-up appointment; it is not just a method to get you back, but an honest attempt to ensure that you fully recover. Trust your practitioner, and make the follow-up appointment as suggested. The follow-up visit can also “fine tune” the previous adjustments made, which promotes an overall healthier environment for your body.
Yours in wellness,
Dennis
