Network Healing Centre
October 2008 Newsletter
(613) 725-0988
info@networkhealingcentre.com
Important Dates to Remember
Monday, October 13 – Office Closed for Thanksgiving
Friday, October 17 – Dr. Tucker’s practice closed for the day
(all other practices open as usual)
Tuesday, October 21 – Network Spinal Analysis Workshop
Neo Massage Group Class
Krista Dicks, BA, RMT, CLT
Certified Infant Massage Instructor.
Learn Massage for your Baby!
Monday October 6th, Thursday October 9th, and Thursday October 16th
10 am – 11 am
or
October 20th, October 23rd and October 29th
10 am – 11 am
ô Three separate classes, each one hour in duration
ô Learn hands on massage strokes for the entire body
ô Learn how massage aids baby’s health
ô Two adults may attend with baby
ô Six babies per class maximum
ô Bring comfy blanket for baby to lie on
ô Feel free to bring anything else baby may need
ô Receipt for massage therapy issued in child’s name
Please call to reserve a spot in either class.
(613) 725-0988
Network Spinal Analysis Workshop
Dr. Michael Tucker, D.C.
Tuesday, October 21, 7:15 pm – 8:15 pm
Free! Bring a friend to this informative workshop. All welcome!
A half hour talk about Network Spinal Analysis
followed by a half hour demonstration of the work..
Please call to reserve a seat.
(613) 725-0988
CranioSacral Therapy
Marian Sears-Carter, PT, has joined Rosemary Brown-Tucker, RMT.
She is accepting new patients for CranioSacral Therapy
and Musculo-Skeletal related Acupuncture.
Please call (613) 725-0988 to schedule an appointment.
Receipts for Physiotherapy provided.
Massage and Lymphedema Therapy
We are pleased to welcome Krista Dicks, BA, RMT, CLT.
She has joined Erin Whyte, RMT.
Krista is a Registered Massage Therapist, Lymphedema Therapist and
Certified Infant Massage Instructor.
Please call (613) 725-9088 to schedule an appointment.
Appointments are available Monday to Saturday.
Far-Infrared Sauna
Complimentary Introductory Special
If you have never tried our Sauna,
Your first session is Free!
Package deals, or individual sessions, are available for subsequent visits
CranioSacral Therapy for Charity
Our September Children’s Therapy Day raised $80.00.
Thanks to everyone who participated.
Body Work
Contributed by Dr. Michael Tucker, D.C.
I recently found an article I had filed away over 10 years ago. In re-reading it, I found it still fresh. I hope it inspires.
In this article, Marian Woodman, a psychotherapist, describes a basic deep wound for many of us: that we are unlovable. This wound gets buried in despair and a sense of powerlessness. As the energy of the wound surfaces, we have power issues with our body, such as a healing crisis. Practitioners who work with the body must also be aware of the ways in which power issues act on their own psyches, in order to ensure that their actions facilitate the healing process of both their clients and themselves.
People…have a feeling that their soul is unlovable – “I’m unlovable” and therefore they have to keep it out of sight, buried deep within themselves. They’ll even come in and say “Marion, I have a really good dream for you today!” See – it, the soul, is still trying to please: “for you”. Projecting. Everything is projected out. Somebody out there is going to recognize ME, says the soul.
People say that their parents abandoned then, and that is the source of their problems. You see, we abandon ourselves. (If we have been abandoned by our parents, we learn our lesson well, and we abandon ourselves.) The task of the analyst is to find out when the betrayal, the abandonment, occurred. At that point, something split the body from the psyche. A trauma is an arrested action. When you move into bodywork, you find where the psyche is.
So you have to be extremely careful with bodywork, because the body often has the psychotic corner, the rejected psyche. Dead from the neck down – the body is dense, opaque matter, unconscious. You see them walking around – there is no consciousness below the neck. Their body does not WANT to become conscious. Once you start to introduce consciousness, the agony is terrible. They become ill. “I’m sicker now than I ever was. I wish I had never started therapy.“ And it will be Candida or Lupus or Epstein Barr or Rheumatoid Arthritis, heart, sometimes cancer. Often the immune system…..The body is sometimes faced with the pain of a lifetime.
The body can be a dictator. It has learned its lessons well, its lessons of power. If you have been treated, and abused, with power – overpowered – you will abuse yourself with power. We were brought up on power – on the rule of the weak by the powerful, the adult ruling the child. We were brought up on power, that is the patriarchal society, the patriarchal mode. We unconsciously use it. AND bodyworkers think they know what the body should do, and they DON’T!! – any more than anybody. Any more than the analyst knows what the psyche should do. Most bodywork is an exercise in power: this is entirely wrong, another violation of the body. The needed bodywork is the bodywork where the soul is listened to, respected, and given its outlet…
How can CranioSacral Therapy benefit babies and children?
By Rosemary Brown-Tucker, R.M.T.
Babies
It is commonly believed that babies and children should be free of structural imbalances in their bodies due to their youth. In reality, signs of physical and neurological stress and strain may be evident from birth onwards. Birth itself is a highly stimulating journey with many twists and turns and compressions as the baby comes through the bony pelvis. The baby’s head is designed to withstand these forces in a normal delivery. The infant’s skull bones overlap and bend to reduce the size of the head as it descends. At birth the infant skull commonly looks misshapen which gradually self-corrects in the first days after life assisted by yawning, suckling and crying. The cranial unmoulding process may not resolve completely in more difficult births, resulting in the baby living with head and body stresses and strains. Some babies appear to cope happily with these strains in their system, but others present a variety of problems including:
Feeding Difficulties.
Breastfeeding latch problems may be evident due to mechanical stresses throughout the head, face and throat. Difficult or uncoordinated sucking can occur due to the nerves to the tongue and face being irritated.
Colic & Reflux.
Bouts of prolonged crying from colic and gas and regurgitation of milk may be signs of irritated nerves to the stomach and digestive system. If the vagus nerve to the stomach, which exits from the base of the skull, is irritated, it can impair digestion. The diaphragm, upper chest and throat may be distorted or under strain from the birthing process which can impede digestion and retaining contents of stomach.
Sleep Disturbances.
Tension in a baby’s nervous system and strain on the membranes of the head may lead to over-stimulation, or being overly alert. This may result in restless sleep, or very brief patterns of sleep, with baby appearing “jumpy”.
Children
A growing child may have unresolved physical strain problems from birth or have developed new patterns of strain from childhood injuries or trauma.
Ear Infections.
Fluid drainage from the ear with blockage in the Eustachian tube can lead to recurrent ear infections. This may be caused from unresolved cranial molding leading to compression of the bones and membranes of the ear impeding fluid drainage. Infections may never fully resolve leading to persistent, chronic ear infections with a compromised immune system.
Learning Difficulties.
Poor concentration, fidgeting and hyper-activity may all be the result of a nervous system under stress. Cranial compression can feel uncomfortable leading to a child wanting to move to find more comfortable positions; over time, restlessness becomes a habit. Severe compression can affect normal patterns of learning.
Dental and Sinus Problems.
Blocked or running nose can result from impaired drainage of the sinuses and bones of the face from mechanically imbalanced cranial bones. Dental crowding and mouth breathing can also be addressed by getting at the underlying patterns of bony distortion from infancy or childhood injuries.
Headaches.
Areas of focused pressure in the skull may begin around age 7 as the joints of the skull fully form. Patterns of retained tension in areas of the body may manifest as head pain or headaches and fatigue.
Other childhood problems which may benefit from CranioSacral therapy:
Asthma
Poor immune functioning/ chronic infections
Special needs (Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome, etc)
Growing pains
Autism and Autism spectrum disorders
CranioSacral treatment is gentle, safe and effective for babies and children. The natural ability of the body to release held patterns of stress is assisted by light pressure applied specifically where necessary.
Often after a treatment the baby or child is very relaxed and may sleep well. Reactions to treatment are variable; some children display a temporary burst of energy or unsettled behaviour for the first 24-48 hours.
Tendonitis Explained
By Erin Whyte, R.M.T.
What is it? Tendonitis (‘tendon’~ name of muscle where it attaches to bone, ‘itis’~inflammation) can be a painful and activity limiting condition that most commonly affects the muscles of the rotator cuff, biceps (in the upper arm) and at the elbow.
How does it occur? There is usually not one specific ‘injury’ that occurs. Instead small, repetitive movements over a prolonged period of time (from days to months) causes small micro-tearing right where the muscle meets the bone. Any kind of trauma to the body results in inflammation. Over time small adhesions (think of band-aids that won’t come off) limit flexibility of the muscle. Pain and weakness are common symptoms.
How do you stop it? First and foremost with rest and/or stopping the motion that is causing it. Modifying your movement (ie. switching a mouse to the opposite hand) can alleviate pain and allow just enough rest to stop the cycle of inflammation. Ice is the next best remedy to help with swelling and pain. Compression wraps can help to limit the friction of the muscles that are tearing thereby protecting the tendon from further damage.
What else helps with treatment? Massage is an effective technique to help reduce trigger points in the muscles’ bellies and to break down scar tissue that is limiting movement. Add in some stretches to maintain proper length and tone of the muscle and then strengthening to regain power, and the likelihood of re-occurrence is much less likely. With treatment this condition can be reversed within 4-6 sessions, depending on how chronic it is and how compliant the client is with suggested home care.