Physical Therapy – What to do to Get the Most from Your PT Session
We go to physical therapy because we want to get to the other side – of whatever the situation is.
Maybe you’ve been in an accident.
Maybe you just realized that your neck won’t move right.
Maybe you just finally looked in the mirror and your left shoulder and your right shoulder don’t match – at all.
Whatever the reason, physical therapy takes a commitment. It means going to two appointments weekly with homework between the sessions.
Some people go to their physical therapy sessions and do their homework and things seem to just go right.
I’ve gone to physical therapy sessions several different times in my life. Each experience impacted my life differently.
In my 40’s, I went to physical therapy, and followed the series of PT sessions up with a fitness club membership which helped me immensely. The physical therapy sessions followed by the regular fitness sessions changed my life for the better. The impact of these physical therapy sessions lasted the better part of a decade.
A couple of decades later, my physical therapy experience was just as positive but the therapy was completely different. I spent a lot of time on the table receiving heat treatments. My back and shoulders loved this attention and appreciated the healing applications I received twice weekly.
Now, with different needs, my current physical therapy experience is different yet again. My body does not want to move so fast. Healing is not so easy this time. I leave each session feeling fatigue and pain. My body needs to rest and restore. It needs attention beyond what is happening at the physical therapist’s office.
It took two sessions for me to realize what was happening. What did I do? I ran for the Reiki therapy!
I’m sharing this with everyone because I’m seeing other people coming away from the physical therapy session who need restorative healing. Some people get this information quickly. Others need a little nudge.
What I’m finding is that the physical therapy session is not completed without a Reiki session to follow up.
Actually, other modalities work well also. Reflexology certainly offers the deep calming needed to end a session totally.
But, really, it doesn’t matter whether you schedule Reiki or Reflexology or massage or ………… Many modalities available will work.
The important thing to know is that when we get physical therapy, the work takes your body “so far”. To get your money’s worth in healing, schedule the Reiki session on the same day if you possibly can – certainly within 36 hours.
Schedule these bodywork sessions think of them as part of your life. They stimulate your body’s own healing processes.
When you combine Reiki or Reflexology or whatever modality works best for you, you will receive more healing for your health care dollars.
If regular Reiki sessions turn out to be a challenge, take some classes and learn to give sessions. That way you can exchange sessions with others.
Ask a friend to join you in a learning adventure. The two of you can learn together and exchange sessions. This is self-care, an important activity which we all need to include in our daily lives.
Thanks for reading this blog post! New articles have been posted for 10 years. This blog was created to be a conduit for your own healing.
With blogs, books, classes, and sessions, I am not here to change your story. Instead, I am here to be a conduit for your own healing.
Thanks for reading this article. Please share it with friends and relatives. Forward this post to your preferred social media network.
For more info, my books are located on www.thurmangreco.com. They are all available in both ebook and paperbook form. So far, “A Healer’s Handbook” has gone out to readers in over three dozen countries.
You can also discover more information when you explore previous posts on this blog. Posts focusing on reflexology or Reiki therapy are on both the blog and on YOUTUBE.
My Latest Information! – “A Healer’s Tarot Memoir” has just gone to the publisher!
Stress Busting Starts Here!
Let’s face this right now. Diets are stressful.
So is everything else when you’re dieting.
Even before you settle on the diet you’re going to adopt, find your stress busters. .
The bottom line is this: choose activities to do when you feel stressed. You don’t want to eat to combat stress.
Choose your healthy coping mechanism from dancing, gardening, journaling, meditating, puzzles, reading, singing, volunteering.
If you are a member of the right gym, you’ll be able to take advantage of stress busting activities offered. These may include yoga, zumba, spinning, and dozens of other activities.
Cultivate simple things you can do at home and at work to lift your spirits. These can include midday walks and playing relaxing music.
The idea is to have activities which don’t include munching on nuts and candies.
Walking 10,000 steps daily is a good stress reducing goal.
A weekly bodywork session can only be good for you and your diet success. Of course, I recommend reflexology, reiki therapy, or mindfulness meditation.
Your options are in the hundreds. Choose the most relaxing options for you and your lifestyle.
Two effective stress-reducing habits which can help you include keeping an appointment calendar and an ongoing to-do list.
Life is filled with small stressors which can be avoided with a calendar and a list.
For example, with a to-do list at the grocery store, you won’t leave out a key ingredient for a meal. This seems like a small enough thing but if you’re stressed already, that missing item can be the one that complicates your life.
A calendar will make sure you don’t miss an appointment. Your life can be streamlined and easier if you use it to help you shop, keep up with friends and relatives, make appointments.
In reality, you’ll lose less time because you forgot something or someone.
When you include a gym membership in the mix with the calendar and the to-do list, you’ll be much more organized. You’ll be more physically fit. Your new diet will be an easier experience.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please refer it to your preferred social media network.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thurman Greco
thurmangreco@gmail.com
Anxiety Attacks – a Spiritual Event
Spiritually, an anxiety attack happens when fear takes over the situation. Fear is a huge spiritual issue which can overcome your ability to cope. You feel you are worthless, helpless, and cannot trust life. You feel stuck and limited in life but don’t want to make changes. Stress can be a factor. Fear looms large.
Anxiety attacks usually begin suddenly and peak within a few minutes. Symptoms include a rapid heart rate, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, hyperventilation, chills, and a sense of impending doom.
For starters, anxiety attacks require professional help. If you visit a Chiropractor, massage therapist, psychotherapist, yoga teacher, schedule your sessions within twenty-four hours to forty-eight hours for maximum benefit of both.
The synchronicity of your sessions (which should include Reiki, chakra healing, and reflexology) will boost the benefits of these modalities. Your sessions will calm some side effects of drugs taken during treatment.
Do you take prescriptive drugs, herbs, or other medications for a medical condition? Make sure everyone on your medical team knows about all drugs, herbs, oils and other medications you take. Ask your bodyworkers to work body systems that apply to your medications, drugs, and herbs.
Bodywork sessions during treatment can balance your chakras, encourage homeostasis, ground your systems, and support your healing process.
SUGGESTED HEALING SYSTEMS
Conventional medicine, Traditional Chinese medicine, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Herbalism.
Anxiety attacks are a valid reason to seek medical help. They are hard to manage without professional help but they may worsen without treatment. The main treatments include psychotherapy and medications.
Although many things contribute to anxiety attacks, one which is important overall is nutrition. A qualified nutritionist can support your path toward a stress-free environment because what you eat or don’t eat directly affects your day-to-day health.
CHAKRA:
Anxiety attacks are a seventh chakra imbalance.
REFLEXOLOGY SYSTEMS TO WORK: endocrine system, digestive system, nervous system, liver, and solar plexus.
Work all systems which apply to any other health issues you experience.
ESSENTIAL OILS:
frankincense, lavender, orange, Roman chamomile, rose, ylang ylang
THINGS TO DO
Learn a breathing technique to ground yourself in your body. Learn stress management techniques to calm yourself and overcome the stress you experience.
QUESTIONS TO ASK:
Why do I feel so powerless? Why is fear interfering with my daily life?
Thank you for reading this blog post. Please forward it to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
heart with wings
When Healing Occurs
Healing is physical, symbolic, mythical, energetic and spiritual.
All at the same time.
The most obvious healing level is the physical one. This is where your body fights a disease or issue by overcoming symptoms, boosting your body systems, changing your DNA.
Chiropractors heal on the physical level when they make adjustments. Physical therapists work on the physical level when they move muscles on your body. Physicians work on the physical level when they set bones.
MYTHICAL HEALING
Mythical healing occurs at the soul level and is perceived through dreams and ceremony. Mythical level events inform reality and can include dream interpretation.
SYMBOLIC HEALING
When a client comes to me with pain, I engage that person in a dialogue which is symbolic healing in action. I ask a few questions:
How long have you had this pain?
Is it constant or intermittent?
What are your pain’s size and shape?
What color is your pain?
What does it look like?
What does it sound like?
What does this pain feel like?
What is its smell?
What makes it better and what makes it worse?
What other symptoms go with this pain?
When did it begin?
Where does it hurt?
Once you have identified your pain’s sound, I invite you to make a chant using this sound.
Symbolic healing works through your words. Talking about a health issue promotes healing. Talking with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist is symbolic healing. Speaking with a physical therapist about your shoulder pain is symbolic.
Guided meditation is symbolic healing.
ENERGETIC HEALING
Energetic healing uses no words. Examples of energetic healing include massage, reflexology, Reiki therapy, Chakra healing, and other types of bodywork.
BLENDING
Chiropractors, Physical therapists, and Physicians work on the symbolic level when they consult with patients verbally. Describing your heathl issues with a physician is symbolic healing.
Thank you for reading this article. Please refer it to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
10 Things You Can do to Live a Longer Life
When you establish everyday habits with a goal toward a longer life, you’ll know you are doing your best to get the most out of each and every day. Seeking a longer life is a serious quest because you have to decide not only how long you want to live but also what you plan to do with all those years you plan to have.
SUNSHINE HELPS YOU
Get out into the sun for a few minutes every day. Ten to 15 minutes of sun daily will help you store the “sunshine vitamin” which will help your body use the calcium necessary to stay healthy for a longer life and avoid osteoporosis.
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed at what is now Saint Augustine, Florida, in search of the fountain of youth. He found it there. And, it still exists. Branches of the fountain of youth can be found today in your neighborhood. They are found on the sidewalk where you walk as you exercise. They are also found in the fitness center in your community.
Exercise is a premiere activity for a longer life. It doesn’t matter much what exercise plan you have. Running? Weight lifting? Self Defense? Yoga? Whatever you choose, you need to like it enough to do it several times a week. For me, regular exercise is the Fountain of Youth in action!
STAY CONNECTED
Be a part of your community. The most important thing is that you develop strong social ties. You can get active in a church or synagogue. Or join a book club. Donate time at a library or food pantry. Collect stamps. Whatever you do, choose something you’ll enjoy and show up regularly. Your blood pressure will go down. Your immune system will improve. Your heart will work better. You will have yourself on a path to a longer life.
DRINK TEA
Take time each day to enjoy a cup of tea or a glass of iced tea. Relax, and refresh.
While you enjoy your tea, know that it will boost your immune system because tea is rich in antioxidants which fight cholesterol and cancer. Tea loves to fight free radicals. W hen you drink more tea, you’ll be drinking fewer soda drinks which don’t have the antioxidants and can’t fight diseases like cancer and cholesterol.
GET RID OF PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS.
Stress is not a problem in and of itself. Stress is a word describing how you respond to an event causing mental tension and worry. I do not know anyone whose life is not filled with stress. Stress affects your health when it weakens the immune system and contributes to disease.
I’ve written much about stress in my book “Healer’s Handbook” and in other articles in this blog.
Reiki therapy and reflexology are good anti-stress activities.
Exercise, meditation, a positive mental attitude work to support your ability to shed stress.
DEVELOP YOUR STRENGTH
There are many, many kinds of exercise. Choose one that works for your body and your lifestyle. But, whichever one you choose, include strength training. Strength training is every bit as important as cardiovascular workouts because the strength we develop and maintain in our back, core muscles and legs is what is going to keep us upright as we age and live longer. Strength training keeps the spine straight. Strength training prevents falls. Check with your healthcare provider when you begin a strength training fitness program.
My physical therapist, Carolyn Abedor, teaches a weekly yoga class which she calls “Posture”. I attend this class every week and depend on it to help straighten my spine, my core muscles and my legs.
CHOLESTEROL
Do you know your scores? It’s a good idea to learn, if you don’t. Once you know your cholesterol scores, you’ll be more interested in things you can do to make your self healthier for the long haul.
VOLUNTEER
Statistics show us that people who volunteer live longer than those who don’t. Do you have time in your life to give of yourself? If so, choose an activity which puts you in direct contact with people at least an hour every week.
This task is probably mandatory if you are seriously interested in longevity.
GIVE UP A FEW THINGS
Multitasking creates unnecessary stress and the efficiency gains you experience aren’t that much of a plus in your life. This becomes real when you find yourself caught in a trap of serving demanding people and situations which steal your energy.
Your spirit will tell you when it’s time to reduce your To-Do list and learn to say “no” to demanding people. Simplifying your life can become a spiritual process.
HALT HYPERTENSION
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the most common cardiovascular disease in America. There are three things to know about hypertension:
For the most part, hypertension is preventable with proper diet and lifestyle.
Many people suffer with hypertension and don’t even know it.
Hypertension leads to kidney failure, damaged eyesight, cognitive impairment, and other situations.
There are four things you can do about hypertension:
Cut down on salt.
Lose excess weight.
Keep moving.
Pitch the cigarettes.
DODGE DIABETES
Diabetes is a disease which, in many cases, can be prevented and controlled. Like hypertension, diabetes is a silent disease for many people.
And, if you are interested in living a longer life, you need to respect it because diabetes can trim 10 years off your life expectancy.
If you think you have diabetes, or if you have diabetes, get yourself on the correct eating plan, get active, and do the things your healthcare provider tells you to do.
Thank you for reading this article! Please share it with your favorite social media network.
Hopefully you found some things which will benefit your search for a longer, healthier life. More tips will follow soon!
Thanks again.
Thurman Greco
