Tight Isn't Always Good

For the last few weeks I've been going to an osteopath to try and get my body loosened up.  


As a result of so many months of inactivity and having to sleep in a semi-upright position, the muscles in my neck and shoulders became super tight and a source of frequent discomfort and/or pain.


I already knew the body has some wonderful defence mechanisms and on occasion I've been really happy about that, but this is a case where these defences have contributed to and continue to add to the overall problem.


Seems the body doesn't really like foreign objects being inserted.  No surprises there.  My brain was obviously forgiving of Jake - for the greater good and all that - but, it seems the message either didn't get through to other parts of my body that it was OK, or it was ignored.  Either way, with Melissa's help, we're now trying to loosen things up, but are struggling to make significant headway.  


It seems that as one area is targeted, there is always some other complicating factor just waiting to negate any benefits I should be getting.


As an example, it seems as a result of the stomach peg and sleeping position, my organs have been "moved around" a tad around the diaphragm area and we need to try and release some of the tension, etc around there before the other muscles "directly" looking after the neck and shoulders will respond.  Seems this "relocation" is partially to blame for my slightly stooped posture - everything is pulling me into that slightly hunched position.


Great.  This isn't going to be a quick fix and despite buying into the exercises Melissa has me doing, the relief tends to be reasonably short-lived at the moment.  Making things more frustrating/challenging is she is having to continually reassess what needs to be attacked first.


And to round it all off, it seems that as my impaired immune system works on getting rid of my sniffles, the natural defences react by (you guessed it) tightening muscles up in the chest area. 


It just goes to show you, things are never as simple as they seem.  I honestly thought sorting out this muscle tightness would be quite a quick fix, but I certainly appreciate, yet again, just what a complex engineering marvel the body is and you can't rush things.