The best approach is one that is individualized and tailored to your specific needs, which is why I recommend building a team of health professionals you trust.

1. Pleasure hunting or mapping out areas of your body that feel good (or less bad). The expectation with this strategy isn’t that the pain will go away, but to explore how things feels. You’re starting away from the areas that hurt, exploring how things feel, and working towards the areas that hurt. Near the end of the video I also share a manual therapy technique that you can do on yourself.

2. Movement that you already enjoy. We know exercise is good, but there is no clinical evidence that ranks exercises on a hierarchical scale of one being better than the others. Movement provides blood flow and space!

3. Breathing naturally expands and mobilizes tissue: it’s a natural movement and it’s subtle. Breathing is also a major way of calming down the brain’s danger response and lowering heart rate. Remember, your nerves are traveling along the same neurological highway. Anything you touch that feels good is going to be registered in a pleasurable way (the brain firing those nerves that create a sensation that feels good). In the moment, you’re working on dialing down your anxiety and tension.

We use touch, movement, and breathing to start to normalize these processes to tense (squeezing and activating) and release (resting at neutral).

Manual therapy can also be done in the comfort of your own home. If you have the proper guidance, you can take control in your hands with massaging the shaft.

This information is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding treatment, medications/supplements, or any medical diagnoses. This information is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way to substitute the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.