The Amazing Race |
Last year, there was a strong father and
son team on The Amazing Race, coming in first place on many legs of the race,
then unfortunately, while running on a beach, the father tore his Achilles
Tendon in the sand, and they had to forfeit and leave the race early. The tear would likely take 3-4 months to
recover, so their chance of a million dollars was over too soon.
After watching the show yesterday, I was
thinking about how Osteopathy can help The Amazing Race contestants. For both these teams, I thought about how an
Osteopath as a teammate could have helped prevent the Achilles Tendon tear on
the father and son team, and helped the daughter recover and get off her
crutches sooner to continue on the race.
For the father, during his time on the race, all the running likely
caused tightness in his lower leg and calf muscles. It would have been interesting to hear if he
complained of any leg cramps or pain in his foot earlier in the race. In any case, decreasing muscle tightness in
his lower leg and thereby reducing tension in his Achilles Tendon would have
likely prevented his torn tendon.
Running in the sand is harder than running on a harder surface or on
grass due to the increased need for balance, and the pushing down to toe off in
the sand was likely the straw that broke the camel’s back as the saying goes.
For the daughter, being buried up to her
neck in the cold sand likely caused decreased circulation to her legs and
muscle tightness, and after being buried so long, her pain was likely due to
muscle cramps and ischemic pain from decreased blood flow. Thus, the crutches helped by allowing her to
move without using her already tight lower leg muscles, and she would likely be
able to walk normally when her leg muscles relaxed again. Since she is on a race, The Amazing Race, she
does not have the time to allow the muscles to naturally relax again with
rest. Thus, to speed up her recovery, an
Osteopathic teammate could more quickly decrease her muscle tightness and
improve circulation to her legs using Massage Techniques, Muscle Energy,
Acupressure and Counterstrain, or a combination of these together, to help her
legs recover faster.
For
the Osteopath, treating the different areas of pain for a patient is like
completing the different challenges or legs of The Amazing Race. And by balancing these areas of the body, we
can help our patients continue along the road to good health. Thus, our aches and pains are only challenges
to our health, not pit stops or destinations in our life. When the Osteopathic Practitioner can balance
the body to the way he or she wants the patient to feel, then that is like
landing on the matt of The Amazing Race in first place, together.
Dickson Wong
Osteopathic Practitioner,
www.Holistic-MediZen.com