Consider the body as a whole, many different working parts moving together to achieve some task. For easy math sake (you know I married a rocket scientist so I wouldn’t have to do math homework) lets say that you have ten parts that must work together to move you. Now lets tighten up one of those parts (that old hamstring strain you had last year when you tried to run the 10K without training). Now nine parts have been taking the load for ten for the last several months and there is a fair amount of compensation going on in your body to account for the “lost” part.
Fast forward a few more months (or year) to when your right shoulder and neck start to ache and then you get this pain coming down into your upper arm sometimes if you sit behind the computer too long. You think that you are working too many hours (probably true) and that the neck and shoulder just need to have a good rub down, so you go have a great massage to work out the kinks. Only two days later, the kinks are still there…and you can’t figure out why they won’t go away.
Ever hear the little song that goes something like “The thigh bone’s connected to the shoulder bone?” Well it is true. You have a connective tissue system inside of you called fascia (the sc is pronounced sh) that is a full body, head to toe, system. If you ever went to see the Bodies exhibit and remember how the arteries looked like the shape of a person when everything else was taken away? This is how the fascia would look too, but there would be even less open spaces in between. This system is an amazing fluid system that carries energy, light and information to every cell of your body. The system has been over looked in most anatomy books. At least the ones I read in physical therapy school.
So back to the nine parts that are left doing the work for ten. If your therapist (massage, physical, acupuncturist, body worker) does a fantastic job on the right neck and shoulder, but does not get to the old hamstring injury and release any myofascial restrictions that are left from that part of your body, then the body will continue to compensate for this “lost” part, and something else will start to hurt. Where it hurts (the right neck and shoulder) is not the problem. The core issue is the old restriction in your system that is tightening and binding down the fascia which because of its whole body connections is pulling or tugging or compressing other areas.
Moral of the story: Work with someone who treats your whole self! Your healing will be deeper, more comprehensive, and will last way longer. You might even have some aches and pains go away that you never thought would be possible…
