Your Wellness Journey©
Dennis Gibbons, LMT
Journey – to travel from one place to another
Wellness –the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal
Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® - a neurological release of soft and connective tissue
Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ - a series of controlled movements on Pilates equipment that will re-pattern the brain to ensure proper use of the soft and connective tissue systems of the body in our day to day activities.
As summer time approaches families are planning their annual summer vacation. What this means is that they will MapQuest their routes to where they plan on going; look up attractions when they reach their destination; and anticipate the cost. This is how most of us plan our travels for our personal gratification. How do we plan our journey to living a healthy and comfortable lifestyle?
At Chagrin Valley Wellness Center our expert therapists, instructors and staff will help you plan your journey and guide you step by step through the route needed by you to enjoy your chosen lifestyle. In the 23 years I have been a massage therapist that is probably the most popular question I have been asked, “What do I need to do to maintain how I feel right now?”
Individuals come to our Center because of some woe that they suffer from. It could be neck, back, arm, shoulder, hip, and leg or foot problems. Others suffer from headaches, TMJD symptoms, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Carpal Tunnel Symptoms, numbness and tingling in the extremities, and the list goes on. The majority of these dilemmas do not just appear, they too have experienced a journey of their own. What Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ do is address these problems in very similar ways. How does this happen and how will it benefit me? What type of investment do I need to make in all of this?
To better help understand Your Wellness Journey© it is important to understand the journey that helped create the symptoms you experience. The symptoms you are experiencing or have experienced in the past are warning signs of issues that your brain and body are attempting to deal with. In many cases the problem started a long time before the symptoms surfaced, it could have been caused by birth stress. As Emilie Conrad wrote in her book “Life on Land, the Story of Continuum” there are many forms of birth trauma that the human body can endure. This could mean an interrupted birth (mom’s legs closed waiting on the doctor), forceps, breach delivery, induced labor, or external factors such as violence, war, drugs, mom’s illness or an accident. When asked this question many individuals do not remember any such trauma but that too is one of the assessments we make when evaluating you. This often is not one of the primary assessments but when a specific release technique does not occur the therapist will evaluate this for you. (HINT: While lying on your back do you have an arch near your lower ribs?) Did you fall of your bike? Were you in some type of accident? There are many forms of trauma that a human body endures, and oftentimes ignored because it ‘felt’ better in a couple of days. What really takes place?
Once the body experiences trauma it immediately moves into a compensation or counterbalancing pattern. Once this pattern is established by the body an adaptation process begins. What happens here is that the original compensation becomes a secondary site for trauma and the chain continues. The original trauma site is often forgotten and because of the many layers of adaptation is often overlooked. Movement patterns are altered to accommodate these layers and overstress the muscles that the body is now using to move. The brain receives a message to perform a specific movement and then determines how to complete the command. The improper use of the muscles creates micro traumas in which there need to be counterbalancing in order for the body to stay centered. It is these adaptations that normally create the journey down the path to discomfort and pain.
Your Wellness Journey© reverses these patterns of discomfort through a series of treatments that begin with returning your posture to a friendly and neutral position. This is accomplished when the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® develops a relationship with your brain. As oddly as that sounds that is how the sequence takes place, first the therapist develops a personal relationship by taking your case history. On the case history you have given the reason for your visit and have included some pertinent information about your medical history. The practitioner takes this information, along with some interview questions to help develop a mental picture of your ailment. With an understanding knowledge of Fundamental Movement the practitioner begins to unravel the superficial layers. This is accomplished when the therapist accesses your posture through its neurological system and determines the position of the soft and connective tissue. This position is where the tissue stopped moving, many times to prevent further or more severe injury, and by facilitating the proprioceptive nerve endings is able to re-posture that disorganized tissue and bring about a pattern of normalcy. This return to normalcy is accomplished by what physiologically is called the Reflex Arc. Information is sent by way of the nerve endings to the brain and this information is translated and returned to the specific tissues being treated, this is the relationship with the brain mentioned previously. This course of action is continued throughout the entire body to bring about a neutral posture for ease of movement.
This ease of movement is what the therapist is going to be able to accomplish with the first session. Your Wellness Journey© continues from that point on, as in your subsequent visits the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® delves deeper in the compensation patterns that the body has embraced. In some cases the client will feel better and does not feel the “need” to continue the journey. What your therapist will be able to explain to you is the why’s and wherefore’s of the need to continue. As mentioned the journey to discomfort could have started at birth or in our youth and has continued to where you were the day you felt the need to come in. In the 23 years I have been practicing I have found this to be the norm, not the exception.
How often do I need to come back? That is a question that is sometimes difficult to answer and what I have found to be the best way of determining that is not at the first visit but at the follow up appointment. That appointment should be made in the first seven to ten days following your initial session. The reason for this is that it will take the body approximately 72 hours to adjust to its new posture, and a few more days to change wrong movement patterns that had developed. It is not only the distortion to the posture that is being changed but how the movement patterns had been altered by that distortion. At the second appointment the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, who also has been educated in Fundamental Movement Pilates℠, will be able to better determine your progress and needs.
I felt better that day, but started to notice a return to my old habits and of course my discomfort. This is the type of information the therapist needs to help determine the next step of your journey together. Oftentimes our old movement patterns are so strong that they will re-create the problem, but more often than not it will not have changed your initial visit corrections but will expose the deeper levels that need to be addressed. This will re-enforce the need to help you create a new path on Your Wellness Journey© and that is to re-pattern the brains movement configuration that it developed to allow you to move comfortably within the trauma and compensation patterns that developed. The practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and instructor of Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ will be able to instruct you on the future roads you need to travel. Many times in the past people have been disappointed because they felt better but the problem seemed to return and they thought once again that their attempt to get well failed. What really happened is the brain needed to be re-patterned to allow the body to heal.
There are many more instances that could be discussed here, but we encourage each and everyone to come and have another session. If it is your first time or you know of someone who you feel could benefit from this therapy, call and schedule your free initial consultation. If you have been a client of Chagrin Valley Wellness Center in the past and have a question, please feel free to contact any of the Wellness experts and they will be glad to answer your questions.
Please call and find out about our new Wellness packages when you are booking your next appointment.
Thank you and have a great month!
Peace and Blessings,
Dennis
Wellness –the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal
Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® - a neurological release of soft and connective tissue
Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ - a series of controlled movements on Pilates equipment that will re-pattern the brain to ensure proper use of the soft and connective tissue systems of the body in our day to day activities.
As summer time approaches families are planning their annual summer vacation. What this means is that they will MapQuest their routes to where they plan on going; look up attractions when they reach their destination; and anticipate the cost. This is how most of us plan our travels for our personal gratification. How do we plan our journey to living a healthy and comfortable lifestyle?
At Chagrin Valley Wellness Center our expert therapists, instructors and staff will help you plan your journey and guide you step by step through the route needed by you to enjoy your chosen lifestyle. In the 23 years I have been a massage therapist that is probably the most popular question I have been asked, “What do I need to do to maintain how I feel right now?”
Individuals come to our Center because of some woe that they suffer from. It could be neck, back, arm, shoulder, hip, and leg or foot problems. Others suffer from headaches, TMJD symptoms, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Carpal Tunnel Symptoms, numbness and tingling in the extremities, and the list goes on. The majority of these dilemmas do not just appear, they too have experienced a journey of their own. What Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ do is address these problems in very similar ways. How does this happen and how will it benefit me? What type of investment do I need to make in all of this?
To better help understand Your Wellness Journey© it is important to understand the journey that helped create the symptoms you experience. The symptoms you are experiencing or have experienced in the past are warning signs of issues that your brain and body are attempting to deal with. In many cases the problem started a long time before the symptoms surfaced, it could have been caused by birth stress. As Emilie Conrad wrote in her book “Life on Land, the Story of Continuum” there are many forms of birth trauma that the human body can endure. This could mean an interrupted birth (mom’s legs closed waiting on the doctor), forceps, breach delivery, induced labor, or external factors such as violence, war, drugs, mom’s illness or an accident. When asked this question many individuals do not remember any such trauma but that too is one of the assessments we make when evaluating you. This often is not one of the primary assessments but when a specific release technique does not occur the therapist will evaluate this for you. (HINT: While lying on your back do you have an arch near your lower ribs?) Did you fall of your bike? Were you in some type of accident? There are many forms of trauma that a human body endures, and oftentimes ignored because it ‘felt’ better in a couple of days. What really takes place?
Once the body experiences trauma it immediately moves into a compensation or counterbalancing pattern. Once this pattern is established by the body an adaptation process begins. What happens here is that the original compensation becomes a secondary site for trauma and the chain continues. The original trauma site is often forgotten and because of the many layers of adaptation is often overlooked. Movement patterns are altered to accommodate these layers and overstress the muscles that the body is now using to move. The brain receives a message to perform a specific movement and then determines how to complete the command. The improper use of the muscles creates micro traumas in which there need to be counterbalancing in order for the body to stay centered. It is these adaptations that normally create the journey down the path to discomfort and pain.
Your Wellness Journey© reverses these patterns of discomfort through a series of treatments that begin with returning your posture to a friendly and neutral position. This is accomplished when the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® develops a relationship with your brain. As oddly as that sounds that is how the sequence takes place, first the therapist develops a personal relationship by taking your case history. On the case history you have given the reason for your visit and have included some pertinent information about your medical history. The practitioner takes this information, along with some interview questions to help develop a mental picture of your ailment. With an understanding knowledge of Fundamental Movement the practitioner begins to unravel the superficial layers. This is accomplished when the therapist accesses your posture through its neurological system and determines the position of the soft and connective tissue. This position is where the tissue stopped moving, many times to prevent further or more severe injury, and by facilitating the proprioceptive nerve endings is able to re-posture that disorganized tissue and bring about a pattern of normalcy. This return to normalcy is accomplished by what physiologically is called the Reflex Arc. Information is sent by way of the nerve endings to the brain and this information is translated and returned to the specific tissues being treated, this is the relationship with the brain mentioned previously. This course of action is continued throughout the entire body to bring about a neutral posture for ease of movement.
This ease of movement is what the therapist is going to be able to accomplish with the first session. Your Wellness Journey© continues from that point on, as in your subsequent visits the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® delves deeper in the compensation patterns that the body has embraced. In some cases the client will feel better and does not feel the “need” to continue the journey. What your therapist will be able to explain to you is the why’s and wherefore’s of the need to continue. As mentioned the journey to discomfort could have started at birth or in our youth and has continued to where you were the day you felt the need to come in. In the 23 years I have been practicing I have found this to be the norm, not the exception.
How often do I need to come back? That is a question that is sometimes difficult to answer and what I have found to be the best way of determining that is not at the first visit but at the follow up appointment. That appointment should be made in the first seven to ten days following your initial session. The reason for this is that it will take the body approximately 72 hours to adjust to its new posture, and a few more days to change wrong movement patterns that had developed. It is not only the distortion to the posture that is being changed but how the movement patterns had been altered by that distortion. At the second appointment the practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, who also has been educated in Fundamental Movement Pilates℠, will be able to better determine your progress and needs.
I felt better that day, but started to notice a return to my old habits and of course my discomfort. This is the type of information the therapist needs to help determine the next step of your journey together. Oftentimes our old movement patterns are so strong that they will re-create the problem, but more often than not it will not have changed your initial visit corrections but will expose the deeper levels that need to be addressed. This will re-enforce the need to help you create a new path on Your Wellness Journey© and that is to re-pattern the brains movement configuration that it developed to allow you to move comfortably within the trauma and compensation patterns that developed. The practitioner of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and instructor of Fundamental Movement Pilates℠ will be able to instruct you on the future roads you need to travel. Many times in the past people have been disappointed because they felt better but the problem seemed to return and they thought once again that their attempt to get well failed. What really happened is the brain needed to be re-patterned to allow the body to heal.
There are many more instances that could be discussed here, but we encourage each and everyone to come and have another session. If it is your first time or you know of someone who you feel could benefit from this therapy, call and schedule your free initial consultation. If you have been a client of Chagrin Valley Wellness Center in the past and have a question, please feel free to contact any of the Wellness experts and they will be glad to answer your questions.
Please call and find out about our new Wellness packages when you are booking your next appointment.
Thank you and have a great month!
Peace and Blessings,
Dennis