"doctor" means teacher
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI just looked online for some information for a friend who had a brain scan in an attempt to find an explanation for her terrible headaches. Apparently she has a lesion in her right basal ganglia. Now that area is a fairly large and complex part of the brain so it could have many possible effects. I was trying to learn more about it and found a site called Medcyclopedia. It had some tiny thumbnail images that looked like they might be of use, but unfortunately I would have to register in order to view the full-size images. I always find this compulsory narrowing of audience annoying, but annoyance turned to disgust when I found that in order to register I had to "prove" I was a professional by clicking the aortic lumen in the image presented, only to find that the page was so incompetently designed that it didn't work on any web browser other than Microsoft's awful and dangerous InternetExplorer, which fewer and fewer people use these days.
What is with medical groups that they are so loathe to disseminate information to the public at large? Don't they know that the word "doctor" originally meant "teacher"? Everywhere around the world there is a shortage of medical doctors. And the doctors themselves generally would like to be able to spend more time with their patients and less time on trivial things. They also bemoan the rise of nutty strains of "alternative" medicine, such as chiropracty or homeopathy, but they seem utterly opposed to disseminating the very knowledge which would drive back such superstitious beliefs.
Sometimes I think the medical profession is its own worst enemy.
What is with medical groups that they are so loathe to disseminate information to the public at large? Don't they know that the word "doctor" originally meant "teacher"? Everywhere around the world there is a shortage of medical doctors. And the doctors themselves generally would like to be able to spend more time with their patients and less time on trivial things. They also bemoan the rise of nutty strains of "alternative" medicine, such as chiropracty or homeopathy, but they seem utterly opposed to disseminating the very knowledge which would drive back such superstitious beliefs.
Sometimes I think the medical profession is its own worst enemy.
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Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-28 03:12 am (UTC)one of the first things we learned in massage school was to do an assessment of the body. you basically have certain bony landmarks that you look for and compare them on each side of the body (and to your memory/knowledge, of course).
for a quick example, if you look at someone's scapulae on their back, one of them is almost always higher than the other. on the higher side, it is most likely that the upper trap/levator scapula are to blame for the discrepancy. it could be that the lower side is elongated/overly stretched or it could be that the higher side has been shortened due to injury/overuse. these things are easier to tell once you start working on the person...but the point i am making here goes back to something one of my teachers said while i was in school,
"chiropractors treat bones, massage therapists treat muscles"
as a chiropractor, you could re-position the bone to restore equilibrium...but what holds it in place? the muscles (which they don't touch at all), obviously. it is said that once you visit a chiropractor, you will probably be visiting them with some sort of regularity for the rest of your life. when you visit a massage therapist, you should eventually get to a point where you no longer need them. massage therapists simply help the body heal, nothing more than that.
oh, and fyi, if you're having trouble with your back... i'm not going to give you any sort of diagnosis over the internet because that would be totally stupid, haha... but i will say, one way to keep it from "going out" is to help strengthen the muscles of your back. yes, i mean working out lol. also work on the opposing muscles such as the abs. whenever lifting heavy objects, always bend at the knees (NOT the back) and tighten your abs at the same time. :)
Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-28 04:00 am (UTC)I've never seen a chiropractor but I have "adjusted" my back and other joints more times than I can count. I've done it for other people and I've had trusted others do it for me too.
Personally if I could get a massage a week for the rest of my life I feel that would be about perfect. I consider it maintenance.
I don't need a diagnosis thanks, it wouldn't help. My body is hypermobile. I am physically strong and getting stronger, my relative physical strength has little affect on the hypermobility of my joints. Moderate exercise does make me feel better as does stretching and massage. I also know how to lift things safely as I've been extensively trained in this.
If you don't know much about hypermobility and want to there is a decent wikipedia entry you can check out.
Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-28 09:05 am (UTC)Massage relaxes in a way that almost nothing else is capable of doing. That alone must do an immense amount of good, not only for the muscles if they've been damaged (bruised, torn, whatever), but also for blood pressure, brain chemistry, the immune system, digestion, and more. Even just a caring touch, without massage, has the ability to make us feel good. Being social creatures we have been programmed to need contact with others. And when we get it, the de-stressing effect is powerful. Touching a person has almost become taboo in our society, however massage lifts that taboo and grants a person the right to relax at another's touch. Even better if it helping the repair of damaged muscle at the same time.
What you say about supporting your body properly with correct leverage, and tensing the right muscles to help with that, is great advice. I often see people bend over to pick up something heavy without thinking of the strain they're putting on vulnerable parts. I have to admit I'm guilty of letting muscles weaken through lack of use (sitting at the computer writing or programming), then causing myself pain when I do something my poor muscles are not prepared for. I used to be more regular with my calisthenic exercises. I should become more conscientious again.
Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-28 08:35 pm (UTC)i agree with all of the things you said about massage, fyi. i don't think massage is the end-all be-all, but i do know there is a lot of things it is IMMENSELY helpful for. i was actually able to save my mother from carpel tunnel surgery through massage and this made me very grateful to have this training.
honestly, i think the biggest reason i'm not seeing a doctor RE:my hand is because it's sort of an interesting experiment to me. i've never been in serious pain like this and it's kind of neat to get the view of a potential patient/client in pain. i'm also curious to see how much massage helps. i'm not a liar and i never will be a liar, so it's important to me that i believe in myself and my abilities as a massage therapist in order for me to help others. i simply will not tell someone i can help them if i don't think i can. this sounds like it should be obvious, but for a lot of crooked people, it's not.
Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-28 11:02 pm (UTC)Don't forget that our basic body plan is actually lopsided. The symmetry we are so attracted to is actually pretty unusual, and has been selected for by our feelings that it is beautiful. To see what I mean, take a photograph of any person's face and cut it down the middle. Now separate the two halves, and for each, duplicate and reverse the duplicate, then use it to construct a full face with its unreversed version. You will end up with two faces, one constructed from the right side and a copy of the right side reversed. And another constructed from the left side and the left side reversed. These faces will look quite different for most people. Only in a very few exceptionally attractive people will they look very similar.
The same is true of the body. In most people one arm will be longer than another, one leg will be longer or more muscled, one foot will be bigger. Only in a few people will the two match, and those people will tend to excel at physical activities.
This seems odd until you peek inside the body. Under the skin much of the body is asymmetrical -- the liver is on one side, the stomach is on the other, the heart is lopsided, the intestines loop around in a quite odd way, one side of the brain governs speech, another enjoys music, and we are all either left- or right-handed, -footed, and -eyed.
Re: about chiropracty
Date: 2010-05-29 03:29 am (UTC)yeah, i know that people have differences but not everything is caused by genetics. i broke my ankle at one point and now one leg is shorter than the other. it could be genetics, it could be from the break during my teens...who knows. the point is that i do experience a certain amount of pain due to the asymmetry. the body will always compensate in one way or another, but that doesn't mean it won't cause problems. having one arm longer than the other is not likely to cause any problems, but on weight bearing appendages like the legs, it does cause a shift in the hips which then causes a shift for the spine. well, this is my guess anyways. massage is kind of cool because i sometimes feel like a detective, lmao. in my form of massage, you take the patient's complaints and combine them with what you see in their bone structure, their lifestyle and a few other factors... and then you form a map of what may be happening. and regardless of whether or not you're right the first time, they're going to get a certain amount of relief and benefit. it's often a "let's try and see" type deal.
when i was working on my mother for her carpel tunnel, i was still in school. my first inclination was to work on her wrist/hand, of course. she didn't really receive much benefit from that, however. it wasn't until we studied the neck and i began working that on her that she received results. it became my opinion that the impingement on her median nerve was not caused by true carpel tunnel, but was actually related to the scalenes in her neck. could i be wrong? sure! did she stop getting horrible pain/tingling sensations and avoid surgery? yep! so who cares, haha.