Increasing body awareness to reduce aches and pains

I had a particularly interesting conversation with a patient last week. She explained that one of the main benefits of her treatment with me, other than reducing her headaches, was an increase in the awareness she has for her body. She'd been relying on medication for these headaches for many years, but has now found the neck and shoulder exercises I have given her to be a more effective painkiller! It's still early days and I believe we will be able to eliminate the headaches completely, but increasing her body awareness is key to preventing them from returning. I never want patients to be reliant on Osteopathic treatment. I believe it's more important to empower you with the knowledge and tools to help yourself. Our body has its own healing mechanisms, so we should harness them and help them!

It's very common for us to not pay attention to our body. Even after years of training and experience, I may suddenly realise I'm tired and slouching into my seat. A little reminder to myself and I place a cushion in the small of my back and feel instantly better. Simple tricks like this can make all the difference to our comfort and overall health. However, only through working to build our body awareness can we start to notice how we use our body and the physical effects it can have.

Osteopathic treatments naturally increase body awareness, because no matter what the problem area, we always assess the whole body to see how it is functioning overall. Dysfunction in one area can lead to symptoms in another- we don't just treat the bit that hurts. Similarly, problems in one area can then cause problems elsewhere, so it's important to assess fully.

A simple exercise you can do at home to increase your body awareness:

1. Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground and hands in your lap.
2. Once comfortable, focus on taking deep, even breaths in and out through your nose.
3. Bring your attention to your nose and the feeling as the air enters your lungs, expanding your ribs and belly.
4. After a few breaths, bring your attention to all parts of your body touching the chair and floor. Feel how supported and comfortable you are.
5. Then, slowly start your own mental 'body scan' from the top of your head, to the tips of your toes. Assess how each area feels; any areas of tension? Any pain? How about areas that seem blocked and won't relax?
6. Don't worry if your mind wanders and other thoughts take over, it's totally natural. Each time it happens, just take your mind back to the last area you focussed on and continue the 'scan'.
7. Once you've reached your toes, relax in this position for a few minutes and on each out breath, visualise all those problem areas you pinpointed relaxing and easing.

A seemingly simple exercise like this will help in the short-term by potentially making you aware of injuries or problematic areas, so you can get them assessed and treated. The relaxation element will help reduce any tension building up.

By practising this every morning, ideally, it will gradually increase your body awareness so that you're able to do it instinctively and therefore prevent problems. For example, like I said at the beginning, I sometimes become aware of my posture and have to alter it for comfort and to prevent injuries building up. If I didn't do this body awareness exercise regularly, I may stay in that detrimental position longer or continue activities that put a strain on me.

Osteopathy is like doing this body scan, only an Osteopath uses your description of symptoms with their knowledge, plus an examination including posture and movement assessments. For more information about Osteopathy and if it could help you, please feel free to call for a chat!

Zoë Clark is a registered osteopath trained at the British College of Osteopathic Medicine in London.
Practicing in Howe, near Norwich (01508 558373) and Burston, near Diss, Norfolk (07543 557746).