I have a confession to make….I suck at self-care
There, I said it. It’s ironic, considering I make my living taking care of people and also teaching them how to take care of themselves. It’s true that consistent self-care is key, but even I struggle with consistency.
Think about it, you get an injury or have some pain somewhere so you do what any smart person does and make an appointment for your friendly neighborhood massage therapist. You get a little bit of relief, but the next day or two days later, it comes back. And you get frustrated and jump to the next thing to provide some relief. And this is a perfect example of why massage doesn’t work (and you can read all about right here).
I’ll use myself as an example too. A few years ago I sprained my left ankle, but because I was still able to bear weight on it unlike the first time I sprained it and was in a boot for 6 weeks, I went about my business, modifying things as needed, including squats. I ended up staggering my stance and was loading about 90% of my weight on my right leg. What happened ended up culminating in my Yoga Tune Up teacher training because I ended up having this constant, nagging, dull ache in my right hip for literally months. I tried yoga, stretching, dry needling, massage, lacrosse balls, foam rollers, and nothing gave me lasting relief until the YTU therapy balls entered my life and I actually starting being consistent. A few minutes a day a few days a week, and in less than 2 weeks my pain was 90% gone.
Now? That pain floats around between my hip flexor, IT band and quadricep and it has been flaring up lately because guess what? I haven’t used my therapy balls like I had been. And I have no one to blame but myself for that.
So, if you’re still having that nagging pain, or that injury isn’t improving like you had expected, ask yourself how much work you’re actually putting into it. And get in touch with us so we can help get you back on track.
In good hands,
Rebecca Tamm, LMT