I hope this finds you warm and safe wherever you are. I know, life is a lot lately. 💓
Personally, I was buoyed by a fun session I just gave a friend (I know, I’m weird and find my work fun). I thought I’d share it with you so you can understand the broad yet individualized approach I take in my healing work.
My friend Jenny came to me for bad knee pain that came on suddenly last month. She had just started PT and was feeling worse. And she was also feeling pain in the bottom of the foot.
Now, I don’t treat just the knees, I consider the whole body-mind-spirit complex and discern what it might need.
This session, however, happened to pull heavily from my decade of doing acupuncture in a sports medicine clinic.
After scanning for many possible culprits here is what her unique body-mind wanted as some first steps to support her healing:Â
1. Wear more supportive shoes. Even at home. You have very high arches and they need more support than the flat shoes you always wear can give you. Without support the feet are strained and misalignment with the rest of your musculoskeletal system (i.e., knees) happens. Wear your running or walking shoes more instead. Or you can start with some inexpensive arch supports in your flat shoes and your house shoes. You may need to slowly increase the amount of time you can wear these, as you will be retraining your muscles.
2. Reduce your Diet Coke intake! Or even better, stop completely. Nutrasweet (aspartame) has been found to increase inflammation.
3. Take your joint support supplement (she always forgets to take it) Or even better, switch from your Kirkland brand to Thorne Joint Support Nutrient Formula. Keep it by your toothbrush so you remember to take it twice a day.
4. Topical pain relief can be helpful. Zheng Gu Shui is a good one. It’s a 500+ year old Chinese analgesic linament. You can get it from Amazon.
5. Take some Electrolytes every day or so. You’re not drinking enough water and are mildly dehydrated. Your joints don’t love this.
6. Temporarily reduce your exercise/yoga/hiking, etc. Then slowly add one exercise at a time back in and see how your knees feel.
7. Do gentle foam rolling on your legs (quads and IT bands specifically).
8. Consider Drainage Activator from Cellcore for helping your lymphatics body-wide (and your knees), reducing inflammation and swelling. KL Support also tested very well (Kidney/Liver Support from Cellcore) to help with detoxifying.
9. Lower levels of estrogen in post-menopausal women are implicated in joint pain. Boost your liver health to improve your hormones – KL Support mentioned above will help with this (she cannot take HRT)
10. Since this pain started a couple weeks after you turned 50, consider the psycho-emotional connections and take time to journal on the issues you mentioned that are worrying you as you get older; what is preventing you from moving forward in your life when you are uncertain what lies ahead?
———————————-
This was just her first session. I like to do as much as possible to address a person’s symptoms as soon as possible and then also go deeper to start addressing the root causes. Things will change and so will my findings and recommendations at her next session. But the best results come from giving her specifically what her body asks for, not just cookie-cutter protocols.
This is similar to what you can expect in a session with me. Your results may vary! Everyone’s session is unique to them. If you could use some support for anything you’re going through, I invite you to work with me. Together we’ll identify the best next steps to reduce your symptoms and start going deeper to unravel your root causes.
Keep up the good work,
Colleen
Speak Your Mind