I was reading this morning about the BBC’s report that “half of women and 43% of men are now regularly taking prescription drugs, accordingly to the comprehensive Health Survey for England”. This equates to a cost in excess of £15bn per year to the NHS and some of these drugs it was reported don’t even touch the pain that they were prescribed for in the first place.
Shocked by these figures? I thought I would be, but to be honest I’m not surprised at all, as a high majority of the clients that I see with pain conditions come to me as last resort. First port of call is their GP, who may have prescribed painkillers or steroid injections, then referred them to a physio, an osteopath or a chiropractor and then finally they come to me. No pressure then – but that’s not the point here, the point is “you don’t need to live in pain” and you don’t always need to live on prescription painkiller for it, especially when some don’t work or the body builds a tolerance to them and stronger doses are needed.
Pain is our most sophisticated protective mechanism and it keeps us alive, so it is a good thing, however it can stop us in our tracks and reduce our quality of life, which is not so good, especially at this time of year.
Whilst I believe that medical professionals are all doing their best and sometimes working to capacity to help, they don’t necessarily always look at the whole picture and purely focus on the symptoms, not the cause or the overall lifestyle and welling of a person.
Clinical massage, however, takes on a holistic approach. It looks at your whole life, as pain, especially when you get into the complexities of chronic pain (pain experienced in excess of just 12 weeks!) cannot usually be pinned down to a specific incident. In fact, the biggest question that client’s want answering is “why am I in pain?” The area of the pain is not always the culprit either, it could be referred pain, for example pain felt in the lower back could be referred from the gluteal muscles, erector spinae, iliopsoas, rectus abdominis, or even the soleus in the lower leg!! Then add into the mix lifestyle, profession, diet, stressors, exercise ……
As we are all individuals and each person is affected differently by their pain condition each Clinical Massage is bespoke and tailored to your specific needs. Listening, observation and palpation techniques are combined to relieve myofascial restrictions, trigger points, pain and stress. A fusion of techniques are used including postural and orthopaedic assessment, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, soft tissue release, stretching, injury prevention and rehabilitation. Exercises are also provided to enhance your treatment and speed up your recovery process.
The whole person is treated, not the systems – you are put back in control of your own recovery.
Conditions Clinical Massage can help with:
Pain and disfunction
Non-specific low back pain
Disc pathologies
Postural problems
Shoulder pain and injury
Neck pain and injury
Hip pain and injury
Knee pain and injury
Stress and anxiety
Depression
Headaches and migraines
TMJ, face and jaw pain