Have you ever had your WHOLE body evaluated by a medical professional? Maybe, but probably not. Most practitioners look at your specific ailment that you went to them for. Makes sense, right? Well, not entirely.
Our magnificent bodies are interconnected parts that orchestrate together so that we can fully function. Each part is completely dependent on another to be at our best. Sure, we can cheat. We can compensate and simply rely on something else to do the job for us. We are amazingly efficient and adaptable. However, this usually does catch up to us.
So, when you go ask for help because your knee hurts, shouldn’t the professional you are seeking care from inquire about your foot, your hip and gosh darn, what’s been going on in your head? Well, there are tons of details in every part of our body and our medical world does an incredible job learning about each and every one of them. People specialize in certain parts to get very good at each part. This is incredibly helpful. However, many cases do not require that level of expertise.
What about those of us who just feel discomfort from our daily activities but didn’t necessarily injure ourselves? These pains often come and go but are incredibly annoying. Who helps us? We are frequently told that maybe we just strained something or that if we give it time, it will go away with plenty of rest. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to rest. I want to know what is wrong and how can I fix it.
These type of “injuries” are often caused by micro trauma over time. They don’t necessarily show up in an obvious way that would warrant a specific diagnosis. Our bodies are trying to tell us something. We are “off” or imbalanced in some way. We just feel like we can’t perform as well.
The only way to figure this out is to get your entire musculoskeletal system evaluated in a functional way. Who does this? Well…PHYSICAL THERAPISTS are AWESOME at that! Once we figure out your imbalances, we can then put a treatment plan in place that helps to correct this and get you performing like you know you can!
One of my PT mentors terms this “Performance Therapy” and describes the basics of how we do this in the following video:
You NEED to have your WHOLE body looked at from this global yet specific perspective. This is especially true IF:
You know you don’t feel quite right or that something is off
You know you don’t have a major injury but are afraid it could turn into something worse
Your performance is starting to slide
Come see me, Dr. Elizabeth Wergin, at Juniper Physical Therapy! I’d be happy to check your WHOLE self out and get you back to feeling like a kid again!