Healthy Living – a set of choices

Do we have power and responsibility over our health?

The most recent studies in the area tell us yes. From family doctors (Dr. Mark Hyman), neurologists (Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. David Perlmutter), nutritionists, psychologists and psychiatrists (Dr. Augusto Cury), naturopaths, among many other professionals (Dr. Joe Dispenza) in the area of health sciences. All of them, each in their own way, seek to inform and teach us that our health, whether physical or mental, largely depends on our daily choices.

Science tells us that cold is just the absence of heat, darkness is the absence of light. So can we define illness as the absence of health (and not health as the absence of illness!)? Since heat and light are the norm, health should also be the norm. Why do some people reach their 70s and 80s without taking medication and in good health, regardless of whether society calls them “old”, and others don’t?

I have treated men and women aged 87, 88 and even some over 90 years old. The oldest person I ever had the opportunity to treat, who had never been to physiotherapy and who told me that he was rarely sick or had pain, was 82 years old… and he went to physiotherapy because at that age he fell and broke his wrist, and needed treatment.

Despite this example, we all know people who are always complaining about pain, some of whom we can guess the pain they feel because it is reflected in their face and body, others not so much. We all know people who would just like someone to give them an idea of how to treat themselves because they are tired of suffering. I believe that we can reach 70 or 80 years of age and live without pain, live healthy. And I believe it because I’ve seen it!

To some extent, our health depends on our commitment to it, on how much we really want to be healthy, and on making daily choices that allow us to feel and live in a holistically healthy way. It is known that there are genetic changes that predispose us to certain diseases, but it is also known that our choices (the environment we live in, stress, diet, toxins and exercise) have an influence on our health and genetic expression.

One of the fundamental principles of naturopathy (Logan and Selhub, 2012) is: Vis Medicatrix Naturae, which means the healing force of nature. This means that your body is the true therapist, it has innate self-healing capabilities, what the therapist (physiotherapist or other) can do is facilitate this natural process, through traditional or alternative resources. From the point of view of integrative/holistic treatment, the person will become ill again if the underlying causes of this illness are not addressed.

It is not me or another professional who will take away your pain, who will make your complaints disappear. And you. Yes, that’s right… the therapist just helps you. Each of us is responsible for our health. Let’s be realistic… It honestly doesn’t make sense to think that you’re going to physiotherapy to treat your shoulder and neck pain and then a few hours later you’re stressed out in front of the computer, irritated because the provider didn’t respond to you, or because you feel overwhelmed with work, ordering a pizza, sandwich or other fast food to eat between one phone call and the next, not allowing yourself time to take care of yourself.

With this new awareness, you can start taking better care of yourself today, making healthier choices for yourself. To this end, I leave you with two suggestions based on the authors mentioned above.

Suggested readings for self-knowledge:

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The benefits and importance of Physiotherapy

Is physiotherapy only for when we have pain?

Sometimes it is thought that a shoulder problem is exclusively related to changes in the joints, muscles, tendons and/or ligaments in that shoulder; or that a problem in the left knee originates in the joints, muscles, tendons or ligaments of that knee, and so on. Despite this fact, nowadays, we know that this is not exactly how it works.

Physiotherapy increasingly advocates a more comprehensive view of the human being, based on biomechanical principles, anatomophysiology, and relationships with other areas of knowledge (naturopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, among others) .

When you see a physiotherapist to treat an inflammation of the shoulder tendons (commonly referred to as “tendinitis”), you may discover that the problem is not the tendons in front of the shoulder, but rather the shoulder blade and shoulder muscles. a dorsal spine that is too rigid or has limited movement, with “tendinitis” being a consequence. Or even that your shoulder pain actually originates in the cervical spine.

When you feel pain in your back and seek help, your treatment may include correcting a dysfunction in your foot or learning to stretch some muscles in your lower limbs. One of the methods that can be used for this purpose is Global Postural Reeducation created by Philippe Souchard, French physiotherapist, or his method with self-postures, the Stretching Global Activo.

Gray Cook, one of today’s greatest thinkers on topics like training and physical rehabilitation, defends a logic called “joint by joint approach”, that is, a joint by joint approach. This means that there are joints that are more prone to instability and that, for this reason, benefit from stability and motor control training; but there are also joints that are more prone to stiffness and, as such, that benefit more from mobility and flexibility training.

physiotherapy exercise

Now let’s look at some examples of this type of clinical reasoning:

Raquel (fictitious name) arrives at the office with complaints of pain in the hip and lower back region, which has been evolving for a few months, and reports increased difficulties in performing squats beyond 90º, for pain in the groin area.

The clinical history seeks to understand whether there have been injuries or complaints associated with this same joint, but questions are also asked regarding pain, injuries or discomforts associated with other regions of the body.

In Raquel’s case, there was previous trauma (grade II sprain – topic for another post shortly) associated with a sprain in the ankle joint – more than 2 years ago, with restricted mobility in dorsal flexion (the ankle bent less than the other).

In this Gray Cook logic, through dynamic assessment (with squat tests, squats with hands above the head and lunge) we were able to analyze movement restrictions, which were seen in the ankles, hips and dorsal spine.

In addition to dynamic tests, specific tests are also carried out for the affected regions and based on these restrictions, the treatment plan is defined based on manual therapies, mobilizations and therapeutic exercise.

Today, Raquel continues with her treatment plan and makes regular visits to her physiotherapist with the aim of enhancing her health and well-being, and at the same time preventing new complaints by readapting her training plan.

If she has been injured and is thinking about returning to training, or if you have doubts about what she can do to resume training, speak to your physiotherapist. One of the added values of teamwork is precisely the communication between professionals, in this case between physiotherapists and personal trainers. When recovering from injuries, this transition phase between treatment in the clinic and readaptation to movement and exercise is crucial. To help you resume training, count on the help of our Personal Trainers.

Sara Costa.

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