Your Nervous System On Overload

YOUR BODY'S NATURAL STARTLE RESPONSE

It begins in your BRAIN.  Your natural "startle response" occurs when special parts of your brain called the "amygdala" and "brainstem" sense sudden or sustained stimuli,  threat,  danger,  trauma,  anxiety,  sustained stress,  prolonged pain,  or injury.  Your brain instructs your body's systems to prepare and maintain a "Startle Response" or "Fight,  Flight or Freeze Response".  

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This is your most primal survival instinct and once out of danger your body's systems should return to normal.  However, your brain may get so overstimulated your body may become physically "stuck" in this heightened state.  Imagine your car, with the engine running, it would be like having one foot pressing on the gas pedal while the other foot is on the brakes!  If your body continues functioning in this way for a long time it may negatively impact your health.

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LONG TERM Effects of "Startle Response"

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Adrenal Fatigue
• Headaches/Migraines
• Myofascial Pain Syndrome
• Anxiety​
• Eating Disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Sleep Disorders
• Suppressed Immune Function
• High Blood Pressure
• Chronic Pain
• Poor Digestion
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Bowel/Bladder Dysfunction

Immediate Effects of "Startle Response"

• Arms and Hands Clench

• Blinking

• Jaw Tightens

• Shoulders Tighten

• Legs and Feet Prepare to Run

Manual Therapy supports the integration of all of your body's systems, especially the Autonomic Nervous System.  Re-establishing your ability to maintain resilience and vitality in your tissues and nervous system is the goal of Manual Therapy.

 

Got Curiosity?

Positive health begins by being a curious self-observer and paying attention to your own body. There are many opportunities to LISTEN to what your body is telling you about what it needs.  Think of yourself as an explorer on a journey who gathers valuable information along the way, ask yourself such questions daily as, "How do the foods I am eating make me feel?", "What energizes me?", "What drains me?".  By listening to your body and understanding your limits and strengths, YOU CAN create healthy experiences and take action toward maintaining positive health.

Manual Therapy assists your body's own natural intelligence to self-regulate and heal itself.  

Promoting a Healing Response in Your Body

When considering positive health for yourself, have you ever noticed if you are thoughtfully responding or reflexively reacting to sensations in your body?  

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To thoughtfully respond is to answer or reply to what your body is telling you.  This means to come alongside your body, by sending calming thoughts and messages to the areas of sensation you may be experiencing, in order to assist what is functional and learn to understand your weaknesses and to cultivate your strengths. 

To reflexively react is to oppose or go against your body.  Learning to be gentle and compassionate with your body's messages and sensations is a large step to learning how to maintain resilience and vitality. 

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Create awareness and a HEALING RESPONSE by observing and listening to your own body, YOU CAN develop a valuable, healthy connection with yourself.  Simply saying,  "I value a connection with my body" is a powerful way to create a healing response throughout your body.

Manual therapy offers hands-on support by listening to where your body's soft tissue systems need support and encourages your body's motility and mobility of contractile and non-contractile tissue, hydrates fascia, increases the range of motion (ROM) of joint complexes, induces relaxation, aids muscle function, reduces pain, soft tissue swelling, inflammation and movement restrictions.  Thereby addressing patterns of chronic conditions.