When was the last time you were sick? When you realized it, do you remember what your first thought was? Did you think “oh no!! Not now! I don’t have time for this!” or “Not again!–are you kidding me!?” Did you run to the pharmacy to get the strongest thing that could get you better as fast as possible in an effort to free yourself from the curse?
Consider this: what if being sick wasn’t a punishment? What if instead we looked at it and wondered “what did I do to get in the way of my inherent capacity to heal?” This is one of the principles of Osteopathy: its founder (A.T. Still, D.O.) believed that the body has its own pharmacy built in, to meet the needs of the human body’s health. In the medical community, there is a system term called “homeostasis”, meaning that the body is able to maintain its entire internal environment at optimal levels, at all times. This means that we can preventatively support our immune system to try to avoid getting sick, or we can use those same tools to get better faster. How? Let’s simplify things and see how our lifestyle influences out immunity…
Our immunity is influenced by:
- Energy Levels: Are you getting enough sleep? Do you feel rested in the morning? Do you have activities that you feel rested after? How much energy did you spend today? How are you planning on recharging your batteries?
- Stress/Being Busy: Physically and mentally, this is draining for your body, more than running a marathon! How often during your day do you do and think, “Do one thing at a time”?
- Happiness: When was the last time you had fun? What I mean is: look at most kids or animals: when they feel joyful, it’s plainly obvious and everyone knows it–and it can come from the smallest things! Doing things that make you happy can go a long way to helping you fill up your “energy tank”.
- Gut Health: I’ll let Stephanie, our Naturopath, explain this one with the awesome article that she wrote!
Now, how can a hands-on Osteopathic treatment help you? We can work on restoring optimal functions in your body by freeing its structure. Think about how the bones are connected to connective tissues, which connect to the lymph nodes and blood vessels. Here’s an example:
The other day, a 26 year old came for a treatment because she had reoccurring throat infections throughout her whole life. This led to her decision to get a different kind of help, other than the regular drugs. We worked on re-balancing her whole body. While doing this, it was noticeable that the connective tissues separating her lungs (which connect upwards to her throat and airway) were restricted in their mobility. We worked on restoring their mobility from her chest to her neck, all the way to their upper attachment on her skull. This is very rare, but she had never had an Osteopathic treatment before, and it was never discovered that this is what was bothering her body all along!
What about the pretty picture?–what about that perfect life I painted before? As for right now, it seems that stress and busyness had nothing to do with it. Well, as it turns out, she has been a busy athlete her whole life, then became a hard-working accountant, and has lately been struggling with difficulties within her family life.
We are all humans: we tend to do too much, think too much, and live a fast paced life. All of this affects our health. Just noticing it and, without judging ourselves, changing some things can go a long way toward keeping ourselves healthy.