August 21, 2010

Hello,

Here are some new articles available on my sites:

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Essential Oil Chemotypes and Honoring Your Life's Purpose are new posts on my aromatherapy blog.

Enjoy the newsletter, and let me know if there are topics you want me to cover in future issues.

Carol

Somatic Education As a Way to End Pain, Speed Recovery, and Reduce Injuries

Everyone's initial reaction to insult and injury is the same: we tighten up. Some of us, however, release that reaction quickly; others of us retain it -- and suffer the effects mis-labeled as aging or injury. This tightening-up reaction is the secret origin of the loss of agility and the lengthening of recovery time that accompany aging and that bring many athletes' sports careers to a premature close.

What these effects have in common are habituated muscular tension, restricted movement, and chronic muscle fatigue.

What makes these effects mysterious is that people commonly think that if "nothing was broken," the injury wasn't serious; they ignore pain and changes of movement. Thus, people don't connect their injuries (and the neuromuscular protective reflexes triggered by injuries and stress) to gradual and cumulative functional changes in performance.

These functional changes persist because brain-conditioning doesn't diminish with age; as a form of learning, brain conditioning (residual "muscle memory" of injuries) tends to accumulate in reflexive muscular tension patterns. Injuries don't heal because they are not injuries; they are habituated reflex patterns that often outlive therapy or surgeries.

When muscles go into reflexive contraction from injuries, they generate metabolic waste products (lactic acid and others) on an ongoing basis, slowing recovery. Reflexive muscular contraction often becomes habituated. Habituated muscular contraction blocks circulation, slowing tissue regeneration. Habituated muscular muscular contractions lengthen recovery times.

So, to recover from athletic exertion and injuries, two things are necessary: to erase the conditioning affecting our brain and muscular system and to reclaim control of our own bodies. Nearly anyone can make these changes, once they are shown how.

Prevention

As part of a general, pre-warmup conditioning regimen, somatic exercises are functional exercises that improve movement and recovery time. Patterned movement maneuvers refresh bodily-awareness and improve muscular responsiveness and coordination. Athletes can enhance their performance and reduce the likelihood of future injury.

Brain conditioning is a large part of aging. That is a large part of why pain and stiffness persists and gets worse, whatever part genetics may play. With somatic education, older athletes can improve their mobility, balance and recovery times to younger standards. Improvements consistent with age-reversals of ten to twenty years are common.

Somatic education helps prevent sport- and overuse-injuries, reduces post-surgical pain, and speeds recovery. To clear up multiple old injures, clients typically need four to eight sessions of clinical somatic education for a definitive outcome. After that, new injuries can be cleared up more quickly and self-maintenance (somatic exercises) can reduce the likelihood of future injury.

Back pain? Click here.

About the Author

Lawrence Gold is a long-time practitioner of clinical (Hanna method) somatic education who has presented at the New Mexico Council on Aging conference (2003) and at Esalen Institute (as part of the training team for The Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training). His articles have appeared in the American Journal of Pain Management (January, 1996, Vol. 6, no. 1, pg. 30) and The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients (November, 1994, #136, pg. 1186). His Web site is Somatics on the Web.

Editor's Note:
For a free downloadable somatics lesson, go to the site of Certified Hanna Somatic Educator Ed Barrera. Ed also offers online workshops. I've taken a couple - they are a great way to get your somatic exercises without having to leave home.

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The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only. Consult a professional healthcare practitioner as appropriate.

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