Bodywork and balance

Happy Sunday evening peeps. Hope you had a good weekend!

Every so often, especially when I have been busy and or stressed, I get a nasty crick in my neck. Sometimes my lower back, but mostly my neck. It goes into my shoulder blade and down my arm. Moving my head is very difficult, and I am in a world of pain.

I am a bit prone to musculoskeletal pain. I think it is my way of showing stress, when on the surface of things I have my game face on.

I had an episode of this neck pain yesterday. My neck was stiff and sore, and my upper back on the left side was hard as a rock and painful to touch.

It was a bit miserable. My head felt like it couldn't get the right position on my neck.

I rubbed tiger balm on it, commandeered the fella to perform massage on demand and whimpered like a little girl while he did so. I took panadiene, had an early arvo wine and had a nap. Naps make most things better. But it didn't really help this.

So, on a dinner out with friends last night, I used alcohol as analgesia. Clever me. I was in pain but I didn't care.

Luckily though, one of my fellow diners is an acupuncturist. She sat beside me and gently started to percuss the area. She then took my hand and started massaging the outside of the hand, in between the base of the little finger and the wrist. That area, though it was far from the painful area, really hurt when she massaged it.

Then I felt it in the area of the pain. Then I felt a bit sick. Then emotional. Then I felt pain in both elbows. It was a strange release.

She asked me if I had a body therapist (I presume a masseur or some such)...I don't.

We all expect a lot from our bodies and minds, but don't give them a lot back. Some of us run in a paradigm of deprivation- we need to do more on less sleep, lose weight, exercise more. We run the risk of running on empty.

So to avoid some more of these episodes, I am going to do a little something for myself. I will book in with Elaine the acupuncturist. Restore my energy, the qi. Even as a hardcore scientist/medical type, I am accepting of some alternative therapies. Acupuncture actually has quite a good evidence base, and, by some accounts, can be used successfully in some chronic pain conditions where conventional treatments have failed.

I have been for a swim today- a kind of active relaxation.

So, tell me. Do you swear by any alternative therapies? Do you perform these checks and balances? Or are you skeptical?