“Help!  I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

That was me just a little over a year ago. I was the typical story: I stood up, slightly turned to reach for a towel and “pop”! That’s all she wrote. Seconds later I had excruciating pain that took my breath away and put me into a state of shock. I not only hurt like hell, but the pain immediately created a sense of fear that ran deep into the depths of my soul. Was this it? Had I just lost my independence? Was I forever going to be disabled?

Intuitively I knew I needed to lay flat on the floor and bend my knees to elevate the pressure in my low back, so down I went. As a clinician I knew what it meant to have a level of pain that bad; I knew deep down I was eventually going to need to get medical help. But I’m stubborn, so asking for that medical help didn’t come easy. (You know, that very faulty mentality of ‘doctor heal thyself’?  Switch out doctor insert therapist and that would be me.) As I lay there, utilizing many of my therapeutic tools I started to feel the pain subside and the vertebra go back into place. Or so I thought.

As I prepared myself to sit up it became painfully obvious I was going nowhere. I was like a turtle lying on its back. I just couldn’t move. My arms and legs flailed about but my body wouldn’t budge. The fear really started to kick in then. Was I going to be unable to walk? Would they find me on the floor 3 days later starving, dehydrated and at heaven’s gate? Clearly my inner drama queen had taken control; especially since my husband was home and would eventually find me on his way to the refrigerator.

Luckily I am fine now.  Mostly due to the fact that I had a very gifted therapist and that she too was trained in the techniques of Myofascial Release.

Things I learned from my experience:

  1. I feel sorry for turtles.
  2. I am very grateful that it happened because it changed my life for the better. There is nothing like a forced opportunity to look at how I had been neglecting my overall  health and well being.
  3. It reminded me of the power of my work. There is nothing like being a patient when you are a healer to make you realize the value of what you do for a living.
  4. It gave me a very deep, true appreciation for my connective tissue system. I can honestly say, I truly understand what it is and how it works better than I ever did before.
  5. It reminded me of the power of Myofascial Release and how it not only addresses your physical body, but how it is so deeply linked to your emotional and spiritual self as well.

Here is a little information for you about Fascia, or connective tissue:

Fascia is a tissue system of the body to which relatively little attention has been given in the past. We are just now starting to really appreciate its power and give it the attention it deserves in the healing process.

Fascia is composed of two types of fibers:

  1. Collagenous fibers which are very tough and have little stretch ability;
  2. Elastic fibers which are stretchable. From the functional point of view, this fascial system can be viewed as a continuous laminated sheet of connective tissue that extends without interruption from the top of the head to the tip of the toes. It surrounds and invades every tissue and organ of the body, including nerves, vessels, muscle and bone. It is woven throughout our bodies like a cobweb, connecting everything together.

When this system is stressed, either through injury or illness, it begins to tighten and compress causing restrictions in the flexibility of the fibers. In fact, these fibers compress at a rate of approximately 2000 pounds per square inch.  As one area is torqued and compressed, it begins to pull and torque the cobweb of fascia running throughout our body. So often what may begin in one area of the body will often result in causing multiple aches and pains in other areas of the body.

My hope for you is that you don’t have to wait until you are looking like a turtle stranded on its back before you get some help. Whether you are in severe, moderate or mild discomfort I would love to talk to you about how this technique may help you. It is also works wonderfully as a preventative measure to ensure your body stays flexible and balanced.

Give me a call~ Let’s chat.

In Good Health,

Maggie