Went for my second treatment yesterday...
The last time I went was in mid November last year. That was my first time to experience a physiotherapy treatment.
My therapist focused on my pelvis and my rib cage.
As some people may know, with age, the pelvis bone starts to widen, especially with women (due to hormones). When this happens, the internal organs start to drop within the body and then your muscles start to shift in different directions. This causes a stiff lower back and stiff shoulders, poor blood circulation, and strained body posture. So all in all, your entire body starts to become strained.
In my case, I also have difficulties breathing and this is caused by me not knowing how to breathe using my diaphragm properly. I currently use only my lungs to bring air into my body. This puts a lot of pressure on my lungs and I must expand them more than normal. As a result, my rib cage has expanded and moved upwards to accommodate the expansion. The diaphragm is located below the lungs and rib cage so if I can use them properly, the rib cage will lower to its normal position and I'll have less pressure on my lungs and have less breathing panic attacks.
So after the first treatment, I learned to do two things.
The first is a slow and easy exercise I can do lying on my back. All I have to do is lie down on my back, bend my knees with both my feet on the floor about shoulder width apart, then tilt both knees to one side and then to the other side. This helps my hips gradually go back to its normal position. I do this exercise day and night for about a minute only. That's all.
The second thing I do is a massage of the area just under the arm pit on the side of my chest. This loosens the muscles here so that I can breathe better and also make the circulation better in this area.
As a result of this exercise and massage, I've been able to loose some bloating and burn some fat. I have definitely lost an inch around my waste and hips and my bra size has gone down!! Now I can fit into a pair of pants I used to be able to wear about 3 years ago!! My winter coat is loose around the chest and waist area too!!
This time, my therapist focused on my legs and lower back. Was it every painful!! I can't recall how many times I yelped and literally screamed!! Apparently, all my muscles are twisted towards the front and center of my body when normally they are all on the back of the body. Plus they are so stretched or very tightly retracted which is causing the dis-alignments.
So, she worked on loosening the muscles and trying to shift them back to the original position. Crazy pain!!
But there are ways to ease the pain while shifting the muscles. It's quite amazing and the logic behind it is very interesting. The human body is quite extraordinary!!
After that grueling experience, she worked on my neck. Apparently, I have a hyper extended back (imagine a severely curved "S") so there has always been a bulge at the base of my neck. This also impairs my breathing, especially when I sleep. She is now working on that to lessen the extension. This can only work if my lower back is better which is supported by my pelvis and leg muscles...
Yes, it's all connected!!
It was a two hour treatment and it was grueling!! I couldn't believe how tired I was afterwards!! I really didn't want to do anything that evening!! But, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to "cook" so I made some croquettes again for my lunch box. I think all the cooking and lunch boxes has also helped in me loosing some weight. I definitely have to keep this up too!!
My next treatment is on February 24th so that'll be my next update too.
Wish me luck!!
