76 » OpenRoad Driver
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Turn Away
by Vreni Gurd
»
Turn, turn, turn – there is a season – spring turns into summer, turns into fall. Stuff happens to us,
and we start to develop aches and pains. We stop being able to easily do what we used to do, and far
too often we just accept our lesser ability and our pain as “the way it is.”
Why do we develop aches and pains? Why are activities that used to
be easy becoming more challenging? Usually there are three causes: If two structures are adhered and are not able to dissociate, that can
limit range of motion and can be the source of pain.
1. Accidents, falls or blows to our body;
2. Surgery, deep wounds or cuts;
3. Not regularly moving the body through a full range of motion. When we have a hard fall, not only does the brain bang back
and forth within the skull, but all the other organs also undergo
quick acceleration and deceleration, causing micro-tears in their
attachments to the boney frame. As these attachments heal, they
become fibrotic, making them less flexible, which also takes slack
out of the web system. If one part of the web is restricted, another
part of the web is forced to expand to accommodate. Often it is the
stretched part that hurts, meaning the pain is not where the cause is.
To understand this better, think of your body as a giant web of
tissue, with every structure being connected to its neighbour both
near and far. Each structure has to be able to slide and glide in
relation to its neighbour, and each structure needs to be able to
dissociate and move in the opposite direction.
Our digestive organs are encased in watery fascial bags that are
suspended from the back body. In four-legged animals the organs
literally hang down from their back. Because humans are upright,
gravity also plays a role, so the fascial water balloons that are
hanging down sit on top of each other, but they should be quite free
to move as we move. So, when we twist or bend or reach, our organs
move around to accommodate the motion. Our liver, stomach and
kidneys move up and down significantly with each breath. When we
twist, our heart lifts up, and the lungs drop back behind to allow the
rib cage to rotate.
Falls can also knock bones slightly off axis, changing function at the
joints.
Surgeries create adhesions because not only do scars form unnatural
fulcrums around which tissues then rotate, but also because once the
body is opened up, air gets in and dries out the wet tissue, making it
sticky and more prone to adhesions.
If we don’t move enough in all ranges of motion, and if we don’t
drink enough water, our fascial web does not remain as lubricated.
Organs might adhere when they don’t regularly get that slide and
glide happening between their surfaces.