© Chris Formaz
Where does this tension in the neck and shoulders come from? There are even spasms sometimes and it hurts, says Bastien. When it’s all tense there, then my back hurts, it goes down and when I turn over in bed, it wakes me up…. It’s painful, he continues. I can’t stay seated for long at work, everything tenses up and I have to get up, breathe, move. — Does that sound familiar?
Muscle stiffness is created by tensions that accumulate in the body and which, one could say, by becoming chronic, shrinks and closes the body. This is why an individual’s posture changes. We all notice that with age, the body tends to hunch forward, in some people more than others.
This is avoidable. Muscle stiffness leads to a loss of joint range of motion and a whole host of other chain reactions. It’s no surprise to feel bad about yourself, without necessarily understanding why.
A majority of people experience back pain regularly or periodically without having serious pathologies. The start of back pain is often simple observations: fatigue, lack of exercise, bad posture, habits or attitudes, injuries, traumas, but also an accumulation of emotions or annoyances in everyday difficulties, professional life, family life, emotional life, existential worries, traumas… sometimes very old. These life situations create tensions and memories that become engrained in the muscles, and if no solution is put in place, chronicity sets in and the body becomes rigid. The muscles change consistency and lose their elasticity.
Under the effect of various massages and manual techniques, which have unfortunately been very poorly considered for decades, these contractions, these tensions release little by little, layer by layer. Breathing becomes slower and calmer. The lower back, which was not touching the massage table, finally touches or moves closer to the table, the entire back relaxes. Sometimes tremors appear (self-regulation of the autonomic nervous system), sweating may also occur, which detoxifies. A few tears may also flow. Energy circulates better.
If the subject has been suffering for a long time and the tensions are encapsulated, several sessions will be necessary. After this work, it is advisable to have a massage once a month or every two months so that the beneficial muscle relaxation lasts and the muscles get used to relaxing more and more automatically and over a longer period, because awareness leads to more prevention, to detecting the body’s signs more quickly. The subject will therefore develop a new perception of each onset of tension and will be able to make connections with what he is experiencing.
Considering these manual techniques and therapeutic massages before cramming yourself with medication or moving on to more invasive procedures means listening to your body and adapting to the best of your ability, making adjustments. In many cases, this avoids disappointment. It’s important to remember that medications don’t cure things. They are sometimes necessary to reduce inflammation and reduce pain. Use them for a short period of time while you’re thinking about how to heal.
Why massage? Manual techniques? Reflexology? Informational medicine?
Because you can’t be disappointed by these approaches. They are the most adapted to your body and all the structures that compose it, in interaction with all its systems and functions. What you experience and your environment also have a great importance and influence.
Human beings need human contact so much today, and if technology is of great help to us, it never replaces this exceptional touch and this kind of care.
To fully understand how much our muscles are our strength, it is essential to understand that when stiffness is there, when the muscles are tense and the person no longer differentiates between tense and relaxed (fibromyalgia, for example), this musculature exerts such a pull on our bones, that they become deformed in the long term and our body tries to maintain its vertical and good posture by compensations and all the strategies it has. After a constant struggle, it can no longer rectify and dysfunctions appear.
If you are suffering in your body, in your mind, in your life, think about therapists who practice massage and other manual techniques and brief therapies. And if you feel that you have no feeling with a therapist, change until you feel comfortable, until you feel that with him or her, you will be able to free yourself from these tensions that poison, that intoxicate, that shrink… The treatment is subtle, it immediately puts you back in connection with your body. As soon as a treatment is well conducted, it is impossible not to feel a breakthrough, a return to forgotten sensations, a thought that you have for too long neglected your body… Certainly, when there is an accumulation of tensions, at the beginning, the treatment can be a little painful and it is the duty of the therapist or masseuse to find the path that will soothe the mind while loosening the body. Subtle maneuver.
