Tendinitis,
Bursitis and Bowenwork
As
we start into the warmer months we rush to increase our exercise and
healthy activity. Unfortunately, however enthusiastic we are, we may
be trying to build our exercise and activity level too quickly, as if
we were trying to go 60 miles per hour immediately from a dead stop.
The
result is often mild to severe joint and muscle pain. While some
soreness can be a natural product of exercise, when we have pain that
doesn’t respond quickly and easily we pay a call on our physician.
The physician may say that we have a case of Tendonitis or Bursitis,
depending on whether the area affected is between a muscle and a
joint or directly at a joint. The most common recommendation will be
rest, ice and anti-inflammatory medication, together with the
suggestion that “it should clear right up”. We dutifully begin
our rest and ice applications, pick up and begin to take our meds and
wait for the pain to decrease.
The
story can be picked up a few days later, with no change in our pain
level, except for increased stomach upset from the medication. We ask
our physician what else to do and are told there is nothing else to
be done, either “it will improve” or “it is just a part of
growing older”. This is not what we wanted to hear, or keep
feeling. Where is our healing capacity? Where is our resilience? Are
we becoming decrepit?
Of
course we are not falling apart even though we have begun to think
so. It may be that we have been given a series of what can be called
“arms-length” diagnoses. “Arms-length” meaning the physician
is keeping us at a safe distance when they have no concrete answer to
our problem. This isn’t to criticize the doctor; rather it is just
an example of a profession-wide gap in training on musculo-skeletal
and soft tissue issues. Physicians don’t have tools in their
toolkits to address these issues, so they may resort to the
arms-length suggestions to pacify their patients.
If
we use a system like Bowenwork or Voila that was designed to address
structural imbalances and soft-tissue problems, we immediately have
the tools in our toolkit that can provide solutions that are fast,
safe and effective. Bowenwork or Voila can take the “heat” right
out of a joint or muscle. What may seem to be tendonitis may be a
muscle imbalance on either side of a joint or an over-contracting
muscle, in either case they can help. What looks like bursitis may be
a misalignment of the joint surfaces, which they can help, and
without any joint manipulation, or “cracking”. If it is truly
tendonitis or bursitis, there are specific protocols for each issue
in either the Bowenwork or Voila toolkit.
So
if we are looking to start correctly and to keep going with our
exercise resolutions, Bowenwork can be central in insuring that.
Bowenwork can also be great as a tune-up to keep us humming along
well after we have gotten fully into our warm weather activities.
