It is a Japanese proverb that says “fall down seven times,… and stand up eight.!” While this is a great description for overcoming the difficulties, trial and tribulations that life throws at us I would offer that we never truly stand up straight waiting for the next fall. Those most common “falls” that we seem to be expecting is the problem with weight loss, energy and getting enough done.

We rarely truly stand up 100%. Does that surprise you? We adopt a truly crouched posture in most of our daily tasks. The muscles of the body are dynamic, they constantly adjust to stretch, and the lack there of. Musculature can shorten and restrict. The “Front Line” (credit to Tom Myers) is a line of connecting muscles from the skull (just behind the ears) to the bottom of your tummy. If this line gets shorter, (from not standing up straight) it makes it more difficult to stand up straight. Like wearing a small 2 oz sinker hanging from your neck it will inevitably pull you down.

What in the world does standing up straight have to do with weight loss and energy? Well, mostly with the body’s involvement of breath and biomechanics. If you do not breathe fully then some muscles do not fully stretch, move fluids, exchange gasses. They eventually become tight and shortened. The body works towards a position of ease. Hunched over aint it! This posture takes “more energy” (yes more!) to maintain. So the body feels it has to store energy to meet this demand. So not only are you robbing it of the ability to generate energy by breathing fully, but also making it store more to meet the excessive demand of bad posture. It’s like a snake eating its own tail. You get locked into this pattern then consume quick energy foods to “get you through”.

So when me “and mom” tell you to stand up straight it really is a good thing!

Sooooooo, Stand up straight, take a deep breath, drink a tall glass of water and get a massage and get rid of that weight dragging you down.

You say tOmato, I say tomAto. But aren’t they the same? No! Let me state right off that there is a difference between carpal tunnel injury and carpal tunnel syndrome. That diagnosis is for a physician. Both have pain in the wrist as the most demanding symptom. But Carpal tunnel syndrome is referred pain and carpal tunnel injury is not. But you would never know the difference, hopefully your physician does.

Carpal tunnel syndrome or CTS is part of a domino effect involving the rotator cuff muscles. But in truth it involves the muscles from the backbone to the shoulder to the chest bone It also involves muscles from the hips to the head and is not limited to the injury side. It is about trigger point pain referral and not about the carpal (small bones of the hand) pathway or tunnel.

Helping this condition involves the range of motion and the dynamic tension that holds the shoulder in place. Helping CTS is like washing your hair, wet, lather, rinse, and repeat. Its not as simple as releasing one muscle. You balance the tension between 8 different muscles and then start all over. Range of motion increases gradually and then and only then can you deactivate the trigger point that caused the problem in the first place. Breath work is also important in this bodywork since the muscles involved respond to the movement (or lack thereof) of the ribs.

 Soft tissue bodywork has been shown to be very effective at relieving carpal tunnel syndrome. Since the problem is actually coming from your shoulder, surgery on the “carpal tunnel” generally doesn’t help. But bodywork after surgery still can.

 So, drink a tall glass of water, take a DEEP breath, and get a massage. It may mean the difference between 3 months off work and a regular massage.