Sarah lives on the South Coast with her family. She is a busy holistic practitioner specialising in the relief of stress and the balancing of energies to promote good health and remove pain. Sarah has been privileged to learn from healers all over the world and uses some of their tried and trusted techniques in her treatments. As part of her work Sarah runs back care workshops which give participants the knowledge needed to re-align their bodies and become pain free.
Back Pain
Have you ever woken up with a sore lower back or a tight neck which is painful for a while until you get moving? Perhaps it doesn't ease up even then? If so, I know how you feel, how debilitating pain is and how it drains your energy.
Six years ago, I was involved in a car accident. My car was written off and I suffered whiplash injuries.
I was referred to various medical "specialists" in the London area and even Harley Street, who told me that what I was experiencing in terms of pelvic mis-alignment wasn't possible - I was amazed!
Moreover, none of them seemed to be able to offer me any help with the pain I was in from my lower back and between my shoulder blades. Also, my neck was very stiff, leading to headaches and migraine attacks. They could only offer anti-inflammatory and painkillers of increasing strength, all of which had nasty side effects. It was very disappointing.
I received chiropractic and osteopathic treatments from various practitioners, only to find that they'd "click" and "crunch" me into some sort of alignment which was most uncomfortable and would never last long, sometimes only as far as their car park! Also, I was appalled at how much money all of this was costing me. The only type of treatment that seemed to help was from a wonderful lady practicing the McTimoney technique (a more gentle method of chiropractic work.) However, even this only fixed me in the short term.
I had to find a way to help myself
Having been a holistic health therapist for nearly a decade at that point, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I worked with a man who'd lived with a tribe of North American Indians for four years and I asked him how they re-aligned pelvises and corrected themselves osteopathically. After all, they have shamans and medicine healers, but they don't have chiropractors!
He showed me some of their techniques and from then, my back pain went away completely. ‘Grateful' wasn't the word. Without any exaggeration, this information changed my life. I am now able to realign my entire back whenever it is necessary and haven't had cause to visit a chiropractor or an osteopath for many years!
I have continued to gather a variety of techniques, exercises and movements from many indigenous cultures and have been lucky enough to be able to teach others how to do the same.
Most people suffer with back misalignment at some stage in their lives. I know that we need osteopathic/chiropractic practitioners, but I think it's nice to know how to help ourselves before having to resort to outside help. It's certainly saved me a small fortune!
Progressive GPs are employing healers
Historically we turn to doctors to "fix" us. However, doctors only have so many tools at their disposal and due to time constraints, they have a very short period to spend with each patient. Some of them have even forgotten why they wanted to be a doctor in the first place...especially in Harley Street (in my own experience anyway) and have no time to be healers.
It has now come to pass that some progressive GPs are employing spiritual healers in their practices. They have found that "patients just seem to get better!" They cannot explain why, just that it is a fact. This is also true of London Health Authorities, and Guy's Hospital. Finally, the holistic approach to healing - advocated by great men of learning, such as Hippocrates and Plato - is heading for a renaissance. ‘Thank goodness for that' is my response! We cannot expect our overworked doctors to "fix" us any longer. We need to take responsibility for ourselves and our bodies and to enter into the healing process in a different way.
Why people don't heal
We are often misinformed about our potential to heal, as the doctors are only working within the guidelines that they know. We cannot blame them for this, obviously this is all they can do.
People are often told that they have one leg longer than the other. In my experience they then believe that they are born that way and will always have problems. If this is our belief, then it will be our experience. It is often compounded by more medical treatment. Podiatrists even make inserts for one shoe to help "correct" this effect. In my experience this is a rare condition and it is more usual that the pelvis is mis-aligned and can easily be adjusted by the person, often within minutes! It seems miraculous that we can spend days, weeks, months, sometimes years, spent in pain and discomfort and yet it can suddenly just disappear. The amount of carefully made shoe inserts that I have seen thrown out by their relieved owners is amazing.
I once treated a ten year old girl who had been diagnosed with a "hypoflexive sacroiliac joint" at the age of seven. She had been taken to the doctor with back pain after falling off a bike and with this diagnosis she and her mother were advised that she would always have back problems! She did indeed suffer for the next few years until she turned up on my couch. I showed her the techniques to realign her sacroiliac joint and from that day on she has never had any problems at all. She is now nearly fourteen and has helped me demonstrate these techniques at workshops, sharing her story with others.
This is only one of hundreds of cases that I have experienced that have had wonderful, seemingly miraculous results.
Back pain - a huge problem in the UK
Back pain is a prevalent problem in the UK and a common reason for sick leave, costing the country millions each year. In my professional experience, 80% of the population are, as I write, walking around with a pelvic tilt, torsion or twist. Sometimes we don't even feel it, unless or until it touches a nerve, often the sciatic nerve that runs through your gluteal (buttock ) and down the back of the leg to the foot. It is important to note that any mis-alignment here will always affect your neck in some way; if the bottom of a structure tilts then the upper part is affected. The next place to compensate for mis-alignment is the mid-thoracic area (between the shoulder blades). So pain in lower back/legs,between shoulder blades,tingling fingers when you wake up,and stiffness/pain in the neck are all symptoms of a misalignment . Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Five hot tips to help you with back pain
If you suffer from back pain, you may find the following tips helpful:
Never cross your legs when sitting.
Take 5 minutes each morning to lie on the floor with your feet flat and knees pointing up to the ceiling. Rock knees from side to side slowly, at first together and then individually.
While you are lying on the floor, lift your feet up, put a hand on each bent knee and make slow tiny circles with your knees together...increasing to larger ones, then decreasing to tiny movements again. Rock very gently from side to side slowly.
Eat a healthy diet and take a good quality liquid vitamin & mineral supplement plus 1000mg Vitamin C daily.
Drink 1-2 litres of water daily.(De-hydration can cause pelvic misaligment as the tendons tend to shrink and shorten).
How balanced is your life? Are you as healthy as you'd like to be?
I've finally discovered that health is a fine balance of many things; fun, work, play, exercise, relaxation, stress, water and nutrition....not necessarily in that order! I love watching the relief on people's faces when they find pain relief and balance. It's like a great weight lifting off them and they feel back in control. I feel lucky to have such a wonderful job, and I gathered all this knowledge because of my car accident!
