Everybody responds differently treatment, especially depending on the type of treatment we give. You can feel “worked on”, pretty relaxed, more mobile, or even still quite sore.

Some common after treatment effects that usually last up to 48 hours

• Tiredness
• Increased soreness
• Headaches
• Dehydration

In between appointments there’s plenty of methods you can use to get yourself feeling better now! As I always say, I only see you for an hour once a week, you’re with yourself 24/7 – if there’s something you can do now to help yourself – lets do it!

Have a nap

Osteopathic treatment has been shown to calm the sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight) and allow the body to switch into a parasympathetic state (rest and digest) (Rechburger et al., 2019). Basically, it relaxes us and makes us sleepy. So make time to have a nice 20-minute nap! This helps the body heal, recover, and make up for any lost sleep due to pain.

Ice and heat

A common question asked is “should I ice or heat it?”

The overall theme to this is preference – use what feels best to you. Be that hot, cold, or both. In our experience and the research suggests the following uses and benefits:

Ice/Cold

Best for: new injuries, swelling, and pain relief

Ice has been shown to be a powerful pain modulator (meaning it overrides the pain signals in your body providing pain relief). It can help with swelling after a sprain but try not to place on for longer than 10 minutes.

Heat

Best for: Longer term pain, back pain, general aches and pains.

Heat is warm and comforting, relaxing the muscles and this often helps with general mobility and flexibility. Not a great idea in the early stages of a sports injury or sprain as this can often make the swelling worse.

Keep moving

“Motion is lotion” If you’ve sat down for a while, it’s good to get up every now and then to help reduce stiffness of muscles.

Movement of the body has a variety of benefits:

• Moving inflammatory fluids away
• Pain relief
• Stretches and warms the muscles
• Teaches the body that movement is safe and does not need to go into a protective spasm
• Endorphin release – feel good factor
• Reduces stiffness

Hydration

Your connective tissues (muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joint capsules) are 95% water. If you are dehydrated this will negatively affect your body’s ability to move optimally. Often just making sure you get 6-8 glasses of water is enough to feel much better.

I go into more detail in my free aftercare ebook on the resources page.

Harry

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References

Rechberger, V., Biberschick, M., & Porthun, J. (2019). Effectiveness of an osteopathic treatment on the autonomic nervous system: a systematic review of the literature. European journal of medical research, 24(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-019-0394-5