The Secret Weapon to Ease Chronic Pain
Want to know my secret to easing chronic pain? It’s this: a simple, 4” inflatable ball. It is the tool I recommend most often to release those tight, tense areas of the body. The real secret isn’t the ball itself, though. It’s what you DO when you’re using the ball that makes all the difference in the world. As a holistic physical therapist, I give a small inflatable ball to every one of my patients day one when I see them. We’ve just finished with a through assessment of the strain patterns in their body and gentle hands-on Myofascial Release to address the tight, painful and tense areas. All this is accompanied by educating my new patient on what I see and feel in their body and why I’m doing what I’m doing. While the ball is a tool to take care
Birth Trauma: How to Identify and Heal
Previously, I have shared my journey towards identifying birth trauma and the start of healing. If you missed it, check out my blog post here. Today, I will summarize what classifies as birth flow disruptions and signs of lingering birth trauma. Disruptions in the Birth Flow can happen with any of these scenarios: Cesarean Birth Birth where mom wasn’t able to do what she wanted Epidural or Medications Medical interventions such as Vacuum or Forceps Delivery Transfer to Hospital Internal Checks Medical Issues with Baby and/or Mom Right After Birth Incidents where Baby and Mom are Separated Telltale Signs of Lingering Birth Trauma: Body or Pelvic Disconnect Altered Body or Pelvic Sensations Not Taking Care of Yourself Avoiding Sexual Intimacy Anxiety Attacks Poor Eye Contact Inattentive to Baby Depressed or Major Mood Swings Distracted or Spacey Not Feeling in the Present Moment
Nine Years Later: Discovering I Had Birth Trauma
Let’s talk about Birth Trauma. I think this discussion is really important. There are a lot of women walking around with the effects of birth trauma that don’t even know it. I’ll bet they’re just barely getting by because of what trauma does to your body, your mind, and your spirit. I was one of those women. Barely getting by and trying my hardest to keep it together. I’m lucky I kept searching until I found the answers and the help that I needed. It wasn’t until I was doing my course work to become a Certified Birth Healing Specialist with the Institute for Birth Healing under the instruction of Lynn Schulte, PT, that I came to the FULL realization that I had suffered trauma when giving birth to my second daughter. That was 10 years ago. I know. It seems a
Oola® La: Your Best Year Yet
Are you ready to create your Best Year Yet? Well, I’m here to help you do it! First up is starting with a vision and goals. What is it you want to change, create or improve in your life? You’ll need a vision so you can create the road map to get there! I suggest starting with a brainstorming or day-dreaming session. It’s simple. Just sit and give yourself some quiet time where you will be uninterrupted. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes then picture where you want to be, what you want to accomplish, or a feeling you want to create in your life. Imagine as many details as you can. If you want a little help with this process, I recommend trying Guided Meditation. My favorites are available for free on YouTube such as The Honest Guys. They have ones
Tips for Traveling When in Pain
It’s that time of year when you may be gearing up to spend the holidays with family and friends. But what do you do if you’re in pain, either from a chronic condition or recently injured, and you need to travel? Two things come to mind when I think about traveling for the holidays. One is getting to and from your destination, which may involve a long car drive, airplane travel or other public transportation. The other thing is what to consider when you arrive, since you may be staying with family, friends, or even in a hotel or rental home. At the holidays, we pack up our car to head back to the Midwest to visit family. It’s a 15 hour drive to Iowa from our home in Colorado, and we usually make the trek in one day. I have
A Healer’s Guide to Letting Go
I was talking with a healer friend of mine this morning about all juicy things related to healing, which means inevitably we talked about our own stuff. If you aren’t aware, a healer doesn’t actually heal you; they are simply someone to guide you so that you can heal yourself. In my experience that can only happen if the “healer” has done their own work. The inner journey isn’t the most important journey
Learn To Love Yourself Enough
Love yourself enough to self-treat everyday. As a physical therapist trained in the John F Barnes Myofascial Release Approach, I encourage my patients to self-treat everyday. What do I mean by self-treat? I mean taking the time out of everyday to take care of you. We’ve all heard “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. I get that you’re a busy mom and your co-workers are relying on you to get shit done day in and day out. You’re running your kids from here to there after school and there’s yet another dinner eaten in the car or while sitting on the bleachers during practice or games. You pack lunches and snacks and sign papers and manage to see that your kids get their homework done. You volunteer like you’re expected to. I also get that you’re a busy dad. You bring
Help, I Just Peed Myself!
Are you a mom who’s experienced the dreadful peeing accident during a workout? When simply coughing or sneezing? Or have you ever had a sudden loss of urine when trying to get to the restroom in time? I remember the first time this happened to me, shortly after giving birth to my first daughter more than 13 years ago. I was ashamed that I couldn’t even stop the flow of urine and peed my pants, right inside my home. My husband was sympathetic but I was so ashamed, and even worse, I was worried that it would happen again. What if it happened when I was out getting groceries or at a friend’s house? I started packing a change of clothes for baby AND ME inside the diaper bag. Things improved as my postpartum body healed, but the incontinence lingered long after