Vicky is a client who has been coming to our clinic since last year. She was experiencing constant debilitating pain that took many forms.
Diagnosed with fibromyalgia (which is characterised by chronic physical pain, heightened sensitivity, sleep difficulty), she had regular migraines, arthritis, eye problems (for which she uses eye drops and glasses), plantar faciitis and flat feet. Vicky and our therapists had lots of work to do together.
Vicky’s daily habits had taken the toll on her posture causing her upper back to hunch forward meaning the weight of her head put extreme pressure on the spine and supportive muscles.
This postural problem named Kyphosis / upper cross syndrome also puts pressure of the lungs making it hard for the respiratory system to work efficiently. All of this pain piled on top of emotional stress made living fully extremely difficult.
1 and 1/2 years on , Vicky is blessed to be surrounded by outside support.
She is currently doing hydro therapy 1 x per week, seeing a Chyroprachtor 1 x per fortnight, seeing us at Advance Myotheraphy 1 x per week for a treatment and 1-2 x per week for strength / yoga based classes.
Vicky now uses thermotherapy (heat pack) when experiencing headaches, follows a flexible exercise program with poses and movements specifically recommended for her by our class facilitators.
She is working with different breathing techniques to deepening/slow her breathe and manage pain, she is using a foam roller / spiky ball for trigger point / myofacial release and in her yoga based classes is working on eye exercises for eye hydration and strengthening of near and far focusing muscles in the hope of being unreliant on glasses and eye drops.
With the meditation practice in our yoga classes with Hannah, Vicky is becoming more present, working through stress healthily, connecting into her body and allowing / honouring her pain and the messages it shows her.
Soon Vicky will also start to have support from our functional nutritionist and strength class facilitator Jess to work on introducing an ant-inflammatory diet which is one of the best ways of dealing with fibromyalgia.
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Currently our Myotherapist who’s been working with Vicky, has given her a few specific exercises to reverse her bad posture and encourage the good, such as: 3 types of stretches:
- Upper trapiezius Bi lateral side pull to target the stretch of the upper trapiezuis muscle.
- Levator scapulae stretch to stretch out the muscle once again.
- Chest to wall stretch to revers the bad posture and to open up the chest/shoulder region – having the arm on the wall on a 45 degree angle to stretch out the fascia and fibres of the chest, flexors of the forearms, bicep and anterior superficial line.
Also a postural improvement exercise to reverse the bad posture to, place a rolled up towel vertically and for Vicky to lye on it vertically along the spine for a minute or two. All exercises and stretches go for at least 60 seconds.
Along with the treatment Alexi has been focusing on releasing tension, pain and overall making Vicky live pain free.Her Posture is improving and we’re getting good results with Vicky!
Vicky recognises that her journey of healing is a long and slow, but deeply empowering process. With our guidance she is becoming in charge of her own well being and making choices every moment that reflect self care – what we are most passionate about.
At the clinic we are all excited, but not surprised, to see her posture improving, her pain lessening and her basket of tools for pain management overflowing.