Dynamic Bodywork

I had a client recently with symptoms that would come on every morning at 1am, like clockwork. When I hear symptoms like this, I often look to this 24-hour cycle chart. 1am is associated with peak gall bladder meridian activity. I told her this and she perked up, telling me her daughter was preparing to have her gall bladder removed. I figured this probably wasn't coincidence. Sure enough, the problem was an emotional one related to her daughter's surgery.

Having a joint be bone-on-bone doesn't necessarily mean one needs an immediate joint replacement. Many orthopedic surgeons will tell you to wait until the pain is intolerable to get surgery. In many cases, I tend to agree with that. Try any non-surgical therapies you can to help and delay-delay-delay. That said, when the range of motion is severely limited, sooner can sometimes be better. With that severely limited ROM comes all sorts of unavoidable compensatory movement at neighboring joints. If one were to wait too long to get a hip replacement when their hip has severely limited ROM, for example, they may end up damaging their knee and low back unnecessarily in the process.

Do you have adductor muscles (groin muscles) that won't relax? This is often due to instability of the big toe caused by restriction at the abductor hallucis attachment. Specifically, it's the attachment to the heel that is typically at play. The restriction causes weakness of the abductor hallucis muscle, leading the groin muscles to tighten up to support the inner line of the leg. To release this, and get the adductors to let go, try rolling this spot out on a small ball or working the tissue with your fingers.