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I have found in my 20 plus years of being an athlete, a coach, a personal trainer, etc that it takes a good team to gain the best results. Whether your goal is to lose weight, get stronger, rehab an injury, train for a sport, or reduce stress, professional help will get you your results faster. We all have our strengths in life and if we combine them with other people's strengths it makes for a better and faster outcome. No matter what your goals are, having a team behind you to give you the support you need, when you need it is the best plan of attack!

Since January, I have been working on my goal of becoming more flexible. Now that it is June, half way through the year, I must admit that I am quite proud of myself for not only staying focused on my goal for the last 6 months but getting great results as well. In March I received my first of many stretch therapy treatments. Adding this treatment to the rest of my “Team” has changed my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined both personally and professionally. Like I said earlier, I have been into fitness for more than 20 years, and I have never experienced anything else like it!!! On a personal level, injuries that have plagued me for years from breaking my collarbone tumbling, to knee surgery from playing 8 years of soccer throughout high school and college, to running 5k's, 10k's, and marathons with a sway back worse than a horse; all of these have left behind scare tissue, muscle strains, and trigger points (muscle/fascia knots) throughout my body. When I broke my collarbone 22 years ago in high school, no one told me I should get physically therapy afterwards. They just put me into this crazy strap suit thing that pulled my shoulders and arms back, told me to wear it for 6-8 weeks, and rest. And here I am 20 plus years later still dealing with the nerve pain, scar tissue, knotted muscles, strained connective tissue, and tight/knotted fascia all around that area from my neck to my elbow to my all the muscles surrounding my shoulder blade on that side. Which, by the way, has now turned into mild scoliosis in my thoracic area, due to my spin being pulled out of alignment for so long from the tight muscles and connective tissue.

It got to the point where I was frustrated and flat out mad that I was in pain ALL the time. At first I started by taking a break from weight lifting, hoping the pain in my shoulder, neck, back, and arm would go away. It didn't. Then there was the infrared body wraps, which gave me temporary relief for a couple of days. I would try and weight train again and the pain was still there. Then I added in private yoga, massage therapy, and chiropractic adjustments, while also taking supplements and icing the area to help with the inflammation. Then one day in March I thought I was having a heart attack! I had the common well known symptoms: Sharp shooting chest pains that go down into the left arm, trouble breathing, etc. Luckily Dr. Yolanda was on site at the gym that day, and I immediately had her check me out. She looked me over, check my vitals, and confirmed that it was Costochondritis as the primary source of pain that day. Then Ann Frederick of Stretch to Win went on to add that besides the Costochondritis (inflammation of rib cartilage) my sternum, 1st rib, and collarbone were probably still traumatized from the injury of the broken collarbone and needed extra work. Lots of scar tissue to work out and manipulation of soft tissue along with getting my ribs, sternum, and collarbone back in alignment.

My “Dream Team” to help me reach my goal of gaining more flexibility and to reduce my back, neck, arm, and shoulder pain is:
Dr. Yolanda, ND to over see everything (head coach)
Ann Frederick, Fascial Stretch Therapist (assistant coach)
Dr. Bobbie Bennett for my Chiropractic care
Plus Private Yoga, Massage Therapy, Infrared Body Wraps, Ultrasound Treatments, Laser Treatments, and Trigger Point.
All of their hard work combined with the treatments and supplements has helped me go several days without pain (the record is 5 days so far)!!! However, I have come to realize two things; first I am not going to fix 20 plus years of built up tension, scar tissue, and stress in my body over night, and second with my job being extremely active, I can't truly get the rest and recovery time that I need. I have also realized that the old saying of “It gets worse before it gets better” is true in my case, because sometimes the healing process can be painful. All the body work that has been done has definitely stirred up inflammation, scar tissue, nerves that have been pinched, connective tissue and muscles that have been tight and out of alignment for so long they are not sure what normal is supposed to be like and so on. The good news is that as I continue to combine all of these treatments and have my “Dream Team” work their magic on me, I am having more and more pain free days. I feel like I am finally getting to the root of my problem, and as we all work together to “fix it” my symptoms are subsiding slowly but surely.

In my next blog I plan to discuss how including Stretch Therapy into your program can help you reach your health and fitness goals faster. I will discuss how professionally it has changed the way I look at physical fitness. I will talk about the small miracles that my clients have experienced on my stretch table that has brought some women, including myself, to tears of joy that they have finally found relief.
Again, words truly can't express what stretch therapy can do for you, and combined with massage, infrared wraps, and or chiropractic care it makes a great pain removal combo. If you still haven't had a chance to get on my stretch table yet, call 480-456-5767 and schedule your appointment today!

Skye