How the pandemic is putting a spotlight on hidden sources of physical pain
The pandemic has been a real pain. It’s affected our health in multiple ways and caused or exacerbated all sorts of physical pain and discomfort – in the neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees and more.
Poor posture plays a role in the pain and misalignment that so many are experiencing. How many of us have spent hours slouched at our desks or on the couch while working from home? But poor posture may not be the source of your discomfort. If you’re suddenly experiencing aches and pains and you don’t know why, there may be several lesser known, more deeply rooted issues now coming to the surface.
Physical pain and misalignment can be caused by
- Former injuries, which can impact your body long after medical intervention. These may be traumatic injuries from falls, accidents or sports. Or more subtle and easily-overlooked lesser injuries, like scars from injury or a surgical procedure, to which your body has gradually adapted over years.
- Lack of muscle strength, particularly in the spinal muscles, core and lower back muscles.
- Jaw strain/injury. The temporomandibular joint is known as the master joint of the body. Its dysfunction can throw your entire spine into adaptive misalignment.
Your pain is a signal that something in your body needs addressing. What happens when you ignore physical pain? By not finding and treating underlying sources of pain, your overall state of discomfort, frustration and fatigue may increase. It can impact your day-to-day life and reduce your mobility and motivation to move for physical and mental wellbeing.
In the long-term, chronic pain can have a deeper, psychological impact. It can impact your mental health, relationships with others, performance and productivity at work and in life, and more. As you find it increasingly difficult to maintain an appropriate level of fitness, you may be at higher risk of physical injury from minor causes, such as getting out of bed or walking, which can be deeply upsetting.
Over time, chronic issues may arise, like fluctuations in blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels, and sleeping problems.
Seeking timely support can improve your quality of life and protect against more debilitating health challenges.
How an osteopath diagnoses and treats pain
Whether it’s postural issues as a consequence of working from home or a deep rooted, hidden cause impacting your physical wellbeing, osteopathy is trusted by everyday people to elite sports professionals to alleviate pain and realign the body.
But first, what is osteopathy? Osteopathy is a manual medicine that takes your entire body into account. Taking an integrated approach to healing, IMI’s osteopaths consider your current concerns, history of injuries, and medical conditions. We also recognise the impact of physical, mental and/or emotional trauma that may have long-lasting impact on your body structures.
We don’t just ask “Where do you hurt?” and treat the painful part; we find and address the root cause for sustainable healing.
With all the information available, your osteopath can create a fully-personalised comprehensive treatment plan to address your health concern, and balance your musculoskeletal, cranial, cardiovascular, digestive and urogenital systems. Your treatment plan may include manual techniques like joint mobilization, soft tissue release and trigger point therapy, and cranial and visceral manipulations to alleviate pain and tension in affected muscles, joints and organs.
Does osteopathy actually work?
In the hands of a skilled osteopath, osteopathy – a manual therapy created by renowned American medical practitioner and surgeon Dr Andrew Taylor Still – is scientifically and clinically proven to help in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders.
Research shows the benefits of osteopathy in treating a wide range of people from premature infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to adults with headaches, back pain and more. In fact, a recent comprehensive analysis of nine studies conducted between 2013 and 2020 with 55 primary trials involving 3740 participants shows promising evidence that osteopathy helps in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, such as back pain in pregnant and postpartum women, and acute and chronic non-specific low back pain.
In clinic, clients experiencing pain during the pandemic for reasons they can’t explain have been relieved to discover the underlying cause and receive appropriate treatment.
Take Susan, for example. Susan is a 35-year-old athletic mother with a young daughter. Her posture was unaffected by working from home as her job kept her on-the-go. But, with her daughter learning online and her husband working from home, she was feeling stressed. With the gyms closed, she was less active than usual, despite maintaining a yoga practice at home. When Susan was finally able to return to the gym, she suffered mid-back pain. Rest, massages and stretches did nothing to alleviate her pain.
An osteopathic assessment revealed that an injury in her left hip from her teenage years was the underlying source of pain. Susan’s usual exercise routine was keeping her muscles and joints mobile and functional enough to compensate for her old injury. But, with her physical activity reduced during the pandemic, her left hip area had become stiffer and less mobile. Her return to sports induced a strain of three muscles in the left hip area, which in turn caused a restriction in her mid-back.
As we were dealing with an old injury, Susan’s recovery plan included five treatments to harmonize hip recovery with the rotational amplitude of the thoracic spine. We used joint mobilization, trigger points and fascia therapy. We also recommended appropriate stretches and supplementation to address the affected area and, once the hip area was better, functional exercises and stretches to help her back mobility.
Osteopathy – a complementary approach
Pain can be complex. You may require the healing hands of osteopathy alone, or the care of complementary practitioners – medical doctors, naturopaths, psychotherapists, acupuncturists and more, too. When necessary and only with your agreement, we can call on multiple practitioners all under one roof at IMI to support your healing.
Greg, a 40-year-old father-of-three, benefitted from a collaborative treatment plan. Unfazed by the fifth wave, he embraced working from home and kept up with his weekly HIIT training online. He felt relaxed and was drinking a little more alcohol than usual. But when Hong Kong reopened and he resumed playing golf, he felt a sharp pain in his right side rib cage. During his osteopathic assessment, he found deep breathing painful.
We referred him to a medical doctor to rule out a rib fracture, establish whether or not to do an x-ray, and determine the relevance of a liver function test in case of any visceral cause to the right side ribcage. The medical diagnosis confirmed Greg was not suffering from a fracture; instead, he had a liver issue triggered by drinking alcohol – a condition IMI’s naturopaths are experienced at helping clients with.
With Greg’s agreement, we referred him to a naturopath who prescribed herbals to improve his liver, while we focussed on his restricted ribs and intercostal muscles, and the back and shoulder muscles involved in the golf swing motion. We also recommended lifestyle changes and at-home practices such as alternatives to alcohol consumption, stretches for ribcage, breathing exercises, and stretches for golf. Greg saw significant results after one month of combined osteopathy and naturopathy support.
If the pandemic is causing you pain, let us help you. Perhaps you know the cause; perhaps you don’t. Whatever is preventing you from living a pain-free, fully functional life, our osteopathic team is committed to partnering with you to discover and treat your true source of pain for long-term wellbeing.
疫情為你帶來痛楚嗎？
疫情引發的隱藏身體痛楚
新冠病毒除了影響我們的免疫力外，還以多種方式影響我們的健康，導致各種身體疼痛和不適加劇。疫情期間許多人在家工作，不少人都會躺在沙發上不知不覺地工作幾小時。姿勢不良導致身體移位或疼痛出現。如果你突然感到疼痛但不知原因，那麼可能不只是姿勢不良的問題，而是身體開始對你發出警告。
身體疼痛和移位可能是由以下原因引起的:
- 一些大大小小的舊有損傷。大的如車禍而造成的鞭傷，運動傷害造成的腦震盪，或骨折; 小的如一般受傷或手術留下的疤痕，治療複原後都可能還會影響你的身體。
- 缺乏肌肉，特別是脊柱肌肉、核心肌肉和下背部肌肉。
- 頜骨（TMJ）拉傷或受傷。顳下頜關節是身體的主關節。它的功能紊亂會令整個脊柱移位。
疼痛是一個信號，如果忽視這些信號，便可能會增加身體不適、沮喪和疲勞。從而影響您的日常生活，並降低您的身心健康和活動能力。慢性疼痛會令人難以保持適當的健康水平，可能連下床走路的小小動作都會感到困難。長此下去，除了影響心理健康、人際關係、工作和生活表現外，可能還會導致慢性疾病出現，如血壓波動、膽固醇水平過高和失眠等。及早尋求健康支援可以提高您的生活質量，還可以預防慢性疾病出現。
整骨治療師如何診斷和治療疼痛
無論是在家工作導致的姿勢問題，還是身體根深蒂固的隱性原因，都可以透過整骨療法減輕疼痛并重新調整身體。整骨療法是一種溫和的治療手法，不借助任何藥物，針對調整和強化身體，包括關節、肌肉和脊椎的整體結構。透過綜合治療方法，IMI的整骨治療師會先對你進行諮詢，了解你的當前問題、病歷和醫療情况。一些身體、精神或情感創傷，亦可能會對身體結構產生長期的影響。
整骨治療師不只會治療疼痛的部分，還會找出根本問題並進行治療。他們會透過個人化的手法治療，如關節調整、軟組織釋放和觸發點療法，以及顱骨和內臟操作，以減輕受影響的肌肉、關節和器官的疼痛和緊張。從而解決你的健康問題，並平衡你的肌肉骨骼、顱骨、心血管、消化和泌尿生殖系統。
整骨療法真的有效嗎？
整骨療法是由美國著名醫學及外科醫生Dr Andrew Taylor Still所創立的治療手法，得到科學和臨床證明有助於治療肌肉骨骼疾病。研究顯示，整骨療法可以治療廣泛的身體問題。從早產重症嬰兒到患有偏頭痛、背痛等的成年人都有幫助。在2013年至2020年期間進行的9項綜合研究，涉及55項主要試驗和3740名參與者，顯示整骨療法對於治療肌肉骨骼疾病，如孕婦和產後婦女的背部疼痛，以及急性和慢性非特異性腰痛等都有都有明顯的效果。
疫情期間，IMI 已經幫助了很多客人根治了他們的疼痛問題。
以Susan為例。她是一個35歲的運動型母親，有一個年幼女兒。因為她的工作讓她保持忙碌，在家工作對於她的身體姿勢沒有太大影響。但由於女兒需要網上學習加上丈夫也在家工作，令她感到很大壓力。隨著健身房關閉，即使她在家保持瑜伽練習，她的活動量較平時少。當她回到健身房時，她感到背部疼痛不已。休息、按摩和拉伸都無法緩解痛楚。
經過整骨治療師評估後，發現她的疼痛根本原因是來自十幾歲時的左髖關節骨折。平時的運動習慣使她的肌肉和關節有足夠的活動能力去應付她的骨折舊患。但是，疫情令她活動減少，導致左髖關節部位變得僵硬，活動能力下降。當她恢復運動後，左臀部的三塊肌肉拉傷，導致中背部受到壓力。
由於要處理的是舊傷，Susan的康復計劃包括五個治療方法，以協調髖關節的恢復和胸椎的旋轉幅度。我們運用了調整關節、觸發點和筋膜療法。除此之外，還建議配合適當的伸展和服用營養補充品，去幫助恢復受影響的部位，當髖關節部位好轉，就進行功能鍛煉和伸展，以幫助恢復她的背部活動能力。整骨療法是一種互補的方法。慢性疼痛可以很複雜。您可能只需要簡單的整骨治療，或者配合不同自然療法醫師的護理。
Greg是一位40歲有三個孩子的爸爸，是接受綜合治療的受益者。疫情中，他選擇了在家工作，並堅持每週進行HIIT訓練。由於感到生活比較放鬆，他比平時多喝了一點酒。但當疫情放緩，他開始重新打高爾夫球時，他感到右側肋骨有劇烈的疼痛。在骨科評估中，他還發現有深呼吸困難的情況出現。我們立即把他轉介到另一位醫生，替他做X光檢查以排除肋骨骨折的可能性，並進行肝功能測試。醫生診斷Greg沒有骨折；但診斷他患有酒精性脂肪肝。
經Greg同意後，我們介紹了一位自然療法師給他，並處方了改善肝臟的草本藥，同時我們重點關注他的肋骨、肋間肌以及背部和肩部肌肉。還建議他改變生活方式和在家進行練習，如酒精替代品、肋骨的拉伸、呼吸練習和伸展動作。在整骨療法和自然療法的聯合支持下，Greg在一個月後看到了明顯的效果。
如果疫情為你帶來疼痛問題，請與我們聯絡。我們的骨科團隊會致力幫助你找出疼痛來源並進行根治。
