Dear Reader

We've just had a weekend in Millport for my Dad's 70th. Paddleboarding, swimming, cycling, walking, we were outside nearly the whole time and everyone came home tired in a good way. The raft race was on, which was brilliant to watch, and we found a few fishing spots for my Dad.

I needed it. I've been running on Basal for weeks while Kev had shingles, most likely below Basal, if I'm honest. This week is the first normal one I've had in a while, so I'm back to Tend. (If you missed it, that's the three-mode thing I wrote about here — Basal, Tend and Repair, and how I decide each Monday which one I'm in.)

Which meant we started the week with a treatment swap.

Noes from the Treatment Room

What I Noticed

Working on Kev, I found the same thing I find with a lot of clients: the tightness wasn't on the painful side. It was on the opposite one.

That happens because the body is very good at compensating and protecting. When one side is sore or guarding, the other side quietly takes on the work. And the side doing the work is the side that gets tight.

Why it happens

The side you feel is grabbing all your attention. It's shouting. So that's the side you stretch and stretching gives you relief for an hour or two, which feels like you’re making progress. Then you go back to the same unconscious patterns and it comes back. Stretching feels easy and safe, it feels like you're doing something. Unfortunately it doesn’t address what's actually happening.

Your body works across planes, not in straight lines. Your opposite arm swings with your opposite leg when you walk. There's a fascial line running from one glute, across the low back, up to the opposite shoulder. So a tight, tense right hip can show up as a tight left shoulder.

Clients find this genuinely surprising. It's often the explanation for why you've tried everything and nothing helps.

Compensation patterns outlive the injury

We all have a history. Clients usually tell me about an old injury only once I've got my hands on that part of them, the ankle they broke, the ligament they tore, years ago.

But the body adopted a pattern at the time, and the pattern still lives with you, it just feels normal.

This is not your fault, the body is clever and It's protecting you.

People panic when the pain shifts from hip to knee to opposite shoulder and assume it's getting worse or that something is seriously wrong. Usually the pattern has just shifted to the next part of your body carrying the load.

What to notice this week

When I'm assessing a client, I watch how they move, sit and stand. Their daily habits and patterns are not always obvious, so I ask them to become aware about ordinary life movements;

• Which side do you carry your bag on?
• Which hip do you put a child on?
• Which side do you sleep on?
• Are you clenching your bum when you drive?
• Do you sit on the sofa with one leg tucked under you?
• Any repetitive work movements.

Once you become aware of something or a tightness, check your movement on both sides and notice where the tightness actually is. You might get an ah-ha moment and remember something you'd forgotten about.

Be curious rather than worried.

And if you've been stretching the tight side for months and it keeps coming back you're most likely stretching the side in pain rather than the side or area doing all the extra work.

One thing, if you've got a minute

Click reply and tell me two things: what have you noticed since reading this email? What's your biggest ah-ha and what questions do you have for me?

I'm genuinely curious, I read every reply, and your questions help me decide what to write about next.

Love Jo

P.S. If someone you know has been stretching the same spot for months with nothing to show for it, feel free to forward this on.

P.P.S If this is you and you’d like more support click reply and I’ll advise you on your next steps.

​
​

🗓️Whats on This Week

Tue 2–6pm · Treatments with Kev, home visits · Book​
​Wed 9am–2pm · Treatments with Jo · Book​
​Wed 6–7pm · Reset Session, online · Remedy find out more​
​Thu 2.30–5.30pm · Treatments with Kev, home visits · Book​

Thanks for reading, I hope you feel the love and support I put into our emails every week.

Share with a Friend - Have you found his useful, the more people who learn to navigate their health. the better, share with a friend - send then this link 👉​

Click reply, I love hearing what you've enjoyed about the newsletter or if you have any questions. It's me (Jo) a real human thats writing to you each week.

You're getting this email because you opted in for our Strength & Soul - Navigate Your Health newsletter.

To make sure you keep getting these emails, please add info@strengthandsoul.co.uk to your address book or whitelist us. If you want to unsubscribe from all our emails for good? No worries, just click Unsubscribe. (Reminder, clicking this link removes you from all our emails and you won't hear from us again!)

​
​Unsubscribe · Preferences | The Steading, Elsrickle, ML12 6QZ