Postural Alignment Therapy relieves chronic musculoskeletal pain by bringing wonky bodies back into correct musculoskeletal alignment.
Humans have a set, specific functional design (see below) - load joints should be parallel and symmetrical from the horizontal and vertical view. Rarely nowadays do people live the lives they are designed for (moving gently all day, everyday in a wide variety of ways) and therefore, our musculoskeletal system does not receive the movement it needs to maintain our muscles at the correct length and strength. Muscles at the correct length and strength hold our joints in the correct place.
Joints start to slip out of place when muscles lose their strength/become too tight and this leads to unnatural, uneven wear and tear into our bones, tendons, cartilage, joints etc. This causes pain.
It is NOT normal to feel pain and it shouldn’t be an accepted part of aging. People should not push through pain but equally they should not stop moving all together, they simply need to move their body in a different way.
Postural Alignment Therapy teaches people how to move their body out of pain by waking up the muscles that aren’t functioning correctly.
Often, the painful symptoms that cause someone grief, are located in a different place to the root cause of the pain - eg. knee pain may be caused by the hips muscles being weak. Ergo, there is little point focusing on the knee for long term pain relief.
Postural Alignment Therapy identifies the root causes of pain, does not focus on the symptomatic areas and this helps people in the long term. After a few sessions with me (maximum of 8 is the aim), you shouldn’t have to ever see me ever again!
This is done through a series of gentle, ‘hands off’, bespoke exercises (like Pilates) which work to fire up muscles which have gone to sleep and quieten those which work too hard through compensatory movements. When the correct length/tension relationship between muscles is re-established, balance is restored, joints fall back into place and pain is relieved.
It really is that simple!
The only rule is that my clients MUST take responsibility for their own health and rehabilitation.
I equip my clients with the knowledge of their true causes of pain and give them a way out (through the exercises) but the more they do their exercises on their own in-between sessions, the more pain free they will become. I am not a miracle worker; I am a guide/coach. I am not ‘doing’ anything to you.
If you are not willing to put in time to do your exercises 4 + times a week, you probably won’t see the results and success you or I hope for. (I can adjust the length of your routine depending on how much time you say you can spare!)
Your body is constantly reacting to the demand and load you put on it. You cannot get yourself out of pain and then expect the pain never to return again, if you do not change some of your habits and start moving your body in the way that it needs on a regular basis.
The inconvenient truth is that a healthy body is one that is constantly worked on. You wouldn’t brush your teeth once and never expect to have to do it again. You wouldn’t go to the gym once and expect to lose loads of weight and never put it back on again.
You cannot do Postural Alignment Therapy once and expect a) all your pain to go away b) to never have to move again, after the pain has gone.
Please contact me if you have any questions about PAT and the conditions it can hope to treat. You would be amazed at how many conditions are caused by some muscles not working properly and bringing other parts out of kilt.
