Backs

I had a ring from Genevieve this morning. Could she come a day earlier than planned?

‘’Of course,’’ I told her.

It turns out she has hurt her back. All my kids have had massages over the years, but I think I have only worked on Genevieve once. She is an incredibly fit young woman; she swims, dives, runs and works out, keeping her muscles strong and body in good shape, hence she has not felt the need for body work.

I often had clients with sore backs during my time as a therapist. If they sought my advice before a treatment, I would tell them that they may need to see someone else, such as a chiropractor or osteopath as well, but my work wouldn’t be wasted, as loosening the muscles was the number one priority. It is no use just putting a vertebra back into place if the surrounding muscles are tight. The same situation will only happen again as it is usually the tight muscles that have caused the problem in the first place.

Often sore backs are preceded by a definite movement, such as lifting or twisting or bending too far forward while lifting. And sometimes there is no obvious cause. These are usually muscle-only injuries.

But there is also another factor. Invariably, when questioning my clients about their sore backs, I would ask if there had been anything negative going on in their lives before the injury. The answer was usually yes. Stress plays a major role in this type of injury, in fact, I would go as far to say stress plays a major role in all illnesses. When we are happy and healthy, we don’t get sick nearly as often as when we are stressed, say by a financial or relationship problem. Why do some people in an office escape the flu, while others are off for weeks?

In Genevieve’s case, she has just spent the weekend camping and probably slept on a makeshift stretcher or the ground. That was another cause of back problems in the clients that I would see, especially so up here, as this is a holiday destination.

Genevieve has just texted me to say she is leaving town now. No doubt we will find her cause, and as I am working on her, I will ask her, ‘’Is there anything negative that has been going on for you?’’