The information surrounding the Covid-19 virus continues to evolve and confuse.This unique 'chaotic situation' encourages a look inward at our immune system.My intention is to contribute a bit of positive clarity to the conversation.Though not a Dr, I do have some thoughts to share. |
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prior to pausing my therapy practice and class schedule in March the topic of compromised immune systems was becoming a growing concern I created this webpage to offer a bit of homegrown clarity to the discussion of that concern the following information is influenced by my 40 plus years of studying practicing and teaching corrective massage. part of the inspiration for doing this comes from observing a sense of helplessness as one of the unbalanced emotions surrounding covid-19 helplessness is an emotion I really don't care for serves no one and in my world can be reduced when we empower ourselves with knowledge with that in mind I have produced a video that illustrates a unique viewpoint that provides a simple remedial movement for do-it-yourselfers to proactively support their immune system the original intention was to support my friends clients and students through these troubled times once I was in the creative process I realized they might share this with someone who didn't know me or my work that realization inspired me to go into teaching mode. concerning our Early education regarding the human body I occasionally have wondered where would we all be if PE class included information similar what I'm offering here the following is my attempt to illustrate why I think this therapeutic remedial movement has value and may help support and strengthen lymphatic and immune systems my reasoning and opinion include the following one a healthy and balanced digestive system is an essential component in a healthy lymphatic system too a healthy and balanced lymphatic system is an essential component in a healthy immune system three a healthy immune system is simply essential for all three required consistent movement patterns that are influenced by the regional muscular state of balance five when you encourage balance within your core musculature you are indirectly supporting your immune system and six a balanced core is fundamentally essential. this amazingly efficient effective and simple core remedial movement has been an essential component within my massage therapy practice for over 40 years the intentions and benefits include reducing a variety of muscular tensions that can indirectly restrict the ability of the immune system to do its job this unique approach to manual therapy is grounded in centuries old therapeutic traditions that recognize the following principles one the human body continually strives to repair itself and maintain ease by utilizing its own built-in abilities to when in a state of disease it is presumed this natural ability has been compromised through this behind the scenes process is greatly influenced by the body state of muscular balance and ease within its core region for our body has over 600 muscles that influence pretty much every process and movement within our body five by reducing the muscular tensions that hold the body out of balance and encouraging its core towards a state of balanced ease the body can get back to fixing and maintaining itself and six oftentimes improving balance within any part of the body produces significant benefits throughout the body for the most favorable results when practicing this remedial movement I suggest that enhancing knowledge awareness and understanding will enable educated and responsible choices being as this is presented as a self-help guideand you were the one making your personal choices we are all better served as informed participants I trust we can agree that the immune lymphatic muscular and nervous systems are beautifully complicated I also believe that most of us take them for granted until they are out of balance what follows are brief and simplified overviews of several of those essential functions that participate within our immune system this knowledge can help to make this remedial movement more practical and official and productive my intention here is to simplify into an understandable form some of their characteristics and inner relationships it's worth noting that my insights and perceptions in terms of everything continue to evolve. Follow along as I connect some dots let's begin with core balance the term core gets bandied about a bit and is often used within discussions concerning strength health movement and exercise it refers to your abdominal and thoracic region from your hips up to your shoulders when considering this remedial movement I include what can often and easily be overlooked the visceral muscles your organs it serves us to recognize and respect that your body requires your visceral muscles to be continually moving they all have natural movement patterns that are an essential component in overall health and core balance an example of an imbalance within visceral movement patterns would be constipation in this situation the word balance is a bit trickier to define it can be characterized as a state of rest where responsive tensions are at a minimum in all directions for our purposes balances a bit more complicated as it is considerably influenced by our central nervous systems continuously adapting relationship with gravity consider we are all born with two built-in automatic fears that influence us throughout our entire lives the fear of falling and the fear of sudden loud sounds these two fears stand ready to trigger instantaneous physical responses the one pertinent to this discussion is falling rather than looking at this through a lens of fear I suggest we can all be better served by recognizing and respecting this physical response as a natural response that includes an instantaneous protective reaction this protective reaction is tied to our central nervous systems cost of monitoring of our physical relationship with gravity also known as equilibrium. when our built-in protective mechanism thinks we are falling it immediately initiates protective counterbalancing via muscular tension and movement those protective muscular tensions can remain long after the initial event and this is important are rarely in a state of balance those lingering unbalanced tensions can make your central nervous system think you are always off balance and falling these ingredients can combine to continuously trigger your automatic built-in reaction muscle tension this continuous background tension can indirectly compromise distract and diminish your body's self-healing and maintenance processes which could include your immune system. I think we can all agree that balance is important for example should muscles remain tensed up following trauma on your right side this could create what is often called a short leg situation for instance I have seen demonstrations where students spend a few minutes standing with ones you off they quickly feel tilting and tension in this scenario your central nervous system interprets this tilted tension as you falling and your body will continually activate muscle tension and it's confused effort to reestablish equilibrium this perceived falling all the time can generate a degree of perpetual muscle tension this constant background tension can lead to physical adaptations problems and pain as the body works overtime and it's attempt to protect you it believes you are always falling three side notes one the background tension often goes unnoticed we humans are very good at adapting and compensating to I wonder if this perpetual tension formula is a component in low grade chronic inflammation and three I have witnessed this short leg situation brought on as a result of muscular balance one commonly suggested temporary solution is to insert a lift in the shoe on a short side yoga can also be helpful and the remedial movement that follows satisfies a number of my requirements that include ease of use efficiency and effectiveness these are no substitutes for a live appointment with your physician or a therapist that knows what they're doing in our present circumstances this remedial movement comes in a close third consider our bodies protective reaction to falling is intended as a temporary response after it turns on that protective muscular tension it can be slow to calm it down leaving you stuck in this protective tension this can create continuous background stresses that can physically interfere with portions of yourself healing processes this remedial movement helps reduce those stresses by encouraging muscular balance throughout your core of balance core can function with less background interference and that can enable your lymphatic Digestive and immune systems to do their job without that resistance. The primary function of the lymphatic system is to transport lymphatic fluid are lymphatic fluid interfaces with our interstitial fluid the fluid that saturates cells throughout our body The interchange and relationship between lymphatic and interstitial fluid is a bit complex for clarity when I mention either fluid I am referring to them both these essential fluids are multitaskers while delivering nutrition to cells they also clean and rinse those same cells of toxins waste and other unwanted materials while our heart serves as the pump to move our blood our lymphatic system utilizes muscular contractions throughout our body for movement the act of breathing is the primary pump that continually moves these fluids and is one of our fundamental core movements this pumping type movement can be compared to squeezing and rinsing out of sponge we expand and track our chest and fluid moves our lungs process the moisture in the air breathing helps pump that fluid onward when breathing is sluggish one of the results can be congestion our visceral muscles internal organs play a primary role in recycling refreshing and maintaining the health and integrity of our body's fluids all of our fluids eventually pass through here and those visceral muscles also require movement to process those fluids when our digestive muscles are sluggish one of the indications can be constipation this transportation system includes delivery routes throughout a network of adaptable moving pathways that travel around and through tissues and organs these fluids contribute to the saturation and maintenance of every cell in our body every cell emphatic fluid also delivers infection-fighting white blood cells those white blood cells contribute to the primary function of our immune system which is to fight off and protect us from viruses infections and foreign Invaders this can explain how our lymphatic system plays an essential role in the function of our immune system they work together to protect us when we support our lymphatic system we also support our immune system. Consider the following our body is 60 to 70% fluid stagnant is not healthy those fluids move the adaptable inner passageways that require muscular contractions to keep that fluid moving healthy and able to do its job stagnant is not healthy our body has trillions of cells and each and every one of those cells requires moisture flow for nutrient delivery and moisture flow for waste removal stagnant is not healthy our lymphatic system plays a significant role in maintaining that continuous and essential delivery and cleanup process for each and every one of those cells stagnant is not healthy at this point I imagine you're beginning to understand how I formed my opinion and point of view that promoting our bodies fluid flow has benefits and can be achieved by reducing core muscular tension. before moving on to the remedial movement a brief synopsis serves to simplify clarifying and focus one our body is continuously working on maintaining balance and ease too our core musculature plays a primary role in that ongoing balancing process three are digestive lymphatic and immune systems have an essential relationship with our core muscular balance and four when our core musculature is in a state of balanced ease our entire body benefits so let's connect the dots we can take an active role in our muscular balance and thus we can take an active role in supporting our immune system to his worth noting I started using this remedial movement over 40 years ago as part of my approach to reducing back tension as you may have noticed throughout these videos my understanding and appreciation for all the small benefits that grow into significant benefits continue to broaden and evolve for example constipation is an indication of visceral movement restrictions and can be a contributing factor in back pain so encouraging visceral movement can be an important component in reducing back problems I suggest you not allow this remedial movement simplicity to fool you into believing not much is occurring consider there are numerous ongoing processes within your body you are paying attention to until there is an imbalance. the intentions of this remedial movement are to encourage balance and flexibility within your core musculature Begin by bringing your knees up towards your chest note the resistive tension in your abdominal area that tension can evolve from that position allow your hips and legs to slowly roll over towards the floor your opposite arm may be pulled up off the floor that's fine this is where you meet and begin to reduce your tensions and the benefits start to flow allow your shoulder and arm to relax down towards the floor no hurry exhale and relax listen to your tension exhale and relax feel that tension releasing exhale and relax that arm and shoulder down towards the floor pay attention you might notice more tension release while you are exhaling thus you can amplify your tension release by prolonging your exhale exhale and relax even if you do not feel much resistive tension know that this position creates gentle pressure which encourages lymphatic fluid movement your positional muscle contractions can be compared to ringing out a towel while you are relaxing out your tensions you are also boosting your flow of interstitial and lymphatic fluid this remedial movement can reduce tension from your lower back up into your shoulders also known as your core note where you meet and feel your resistance this will evolve this remedial balancing movement is designed and intended to be performed for both sides the following is an alternative Begin by lying on your side with your knees up which forms the fetal neutral position one of the reasons this is called the neutral position is it opens up the facet joints so that the vertebrae are less involved and the movement can focus on the muscles slowly bring your shoulder and arm up and over relax and breathe into that position for a minimum of 30 seconds exhale and relax exhale and relax the most efficient and beneficial usage of my remedial movement has proven to be performing them several times a day scattered throughout your day making them part of your day in my opinion they all qualify as healthy habits and repetitive de-stressers repetitive de-stressers what a great idea.