By Jay Weitzner, MS, MATs, RTS
Think of a bed. Instead, think of two beds. Side by side. Both have mattresses and box springs. One bed has a mattress with lots of springs with plenty good bounce and give to them. The other has many springs that don’t work – they’ve become unresponsive over time. Simple question – after days then months then years of jumping on the beds, which bed will be in better shape? Obvious answer, right? The one with the healthy mattress. And why? Also obvious – because the springs absorb the forces being put on the bed and the healthy mattress has more functioning springs. And not only does the healthy bed offer more comfy-ness, but it’s also going to have a longer life span.
If we examine the beat up bed we may see that the frame is getting bent (we could say it has bad bed posture). We might also find the material of the mattress comprised and sagging (if we x-rayed the bed we might find little tears). As time goes on, the remaining springs that work may become unresponsive as well due to them having to absorb the forces that the non-working springs can’t (like compensating for the ones that don’t work).
Now, say you want to fix that bed. How about the following approach? We take the beat up bed and stitch the material back together where it was ripping. Then we push the bent frame back to straight and wrap it with some strong tape.
After all that the bed may actually feel a little better for a while. You might even get it to last a little longer. You see though, all that stuff we fixed – those things were the repercussions, the results, the effects of the forces not being absorbed by springs. We so often look at the damage, or repercussions and mistake them for the causes. It sounds silly doesn’t it? We blame the damage for cause of the damage. If this were your body it would the same as getting a diagnosis of tendonitis and treating the tendonitis. That’s like saying the tendonitis caused the tendonitis and by doing something to tendonitis everything will be fixed. Maybe it’s time we try to figure out why you got the tendonitis in the first place. Your joint pain is not the cause of your joint pain. Your sciatica isn’t causing your sciatica. Your tight muscles, fasciitis, rotator cuff problems, arthritis, limited mobility, back, knee and hip pain, just to name a few, aren’t causing themselves. Treating them may (or may not) make you feel temporarily better. It’s time to figure out what’s behind them all.
And while bodies are different than beds – the point remains clear – address what is causing the symptoms. Your body can’t heal or recover from the problem if the cause is never addressed. Treating symptoms will only get you so far.
So how are our bodies like those beds? Where springs absorb forces in beds, muscles are the shock absorbers of the body. When the springs didn’t handle the forces everything else got beat up. When your muscles don’t work, they can’t absorb forces and other tissues get beat up. With MAT, we find your springs that aren’t working and we make them work again. Not only that, we also strategically treat them so it takes more and more to make them stop working again. We aim to make them truly better than they were before.
What’s making YOUR springs not work? Which of your springs don’t work? What parts of you are getting beat up? Where do you feel your symptoms? Are you ready to get your springs working again?
To see MAT in the media: http://www.symmetryprecisionfitness.com/media-and-articles/
To see past MAT H&W articles:
http://www.symmetryprecisionfitness.com/category/health-wellness-magazine/
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Jay@NoFadsAllFitness.com
NoFadsAllFitness.com