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When you focus on the pain, you can miss the magic.
by Dr Suzanne McBride

Hey Kiwi rock stars

Here we are again at the beginning of a new season! Are you feeling and functioning at your best? If we haven’t met yet, I am Dr Suzanne and I am here to help! My goal this season is to keep us all on the courts, out of the Ortho’s office and enjoying community at the breezeway bar.

There are some things I have noticed in my last 14 months as a Kiwi member. There is a lack of stretching and there are a lot of injuries. There is also a mentality that the point of pain is where the focus needs to be. Today I would like to offer a different perspective. Are you open to new possibilities? If so, let’s play ball.

I have been doing bodywork for 24 years. I grew up tumbling and twisting my body all around as a gymnast and a spring board diver. (One summer my dad made me go to tennis camp- he said I would thank him when I got older- I DID!) I spent my college years in the athletic training room; I followed college up with a 2 year massage therapy program; Followed this up with chiropractic school and 10 years post doctoral fascination with energy work. My list is long and distinguished. My love of Top Gun is a bit ridiculous.

I look at the body as a matrix of interconnected and interdependent parts. The body is like a computer, it runs programs and it creates patterns. There are pain patterns and release patterns. The release patterns are where the magic is. When you only focus on the area that is screaming at you, you are missing the areas that you can work with. Let’s look at an example- low back pain.

When someone is complaining of low back pain what are possible causes? I scan this person head to toe and I look to see what areas of the body are pulling and tugging at the low back. If someone has rounded shoulders and a forward head I may start with stretching her pectoral muscles; I will massage her shoulders and upper back and then with gentle touch chiropractic I finish a session with unwinding nervous system tension that was causing the compression in her neck.

If this low back pain person had a belly (the abdominals aren’t contracting for some reason) I may stretch her quads, find trigger points in her Psoas and use gentle chiropractic to open up L4-L5-S1 disc space; Thus re-establish proper nerve function to the muscles. Even when we think “it is just a muscle thing” remember- the nerves tell the muscles what to do- so we want to tend to the nerve system always!!

Have an amazing season. I look forward to supporting you in staying healthy and flexible (And keeping you on the courts!)

health and heart

Dr Suzanne