Health And Fitness Magazine

Page 18

cover story

Your Health Depends on 3-D Balance H

ave you ever noticed that pain medication really doesn’t fix the pain in your low back or your leg? Have you ever noticed that going to your doctor really doesn’t fix it either?

By Dr. Donna, Editor

Have you found that physical therapy or chiropractic treatments allow you to make a little bit of progress but it seems that every few months there is one more setback in your recovery? Do you often wonder if you’ll ever be able to move your body again like you used to? Are you suffering from disability that you have accepted as permanent but know in your heart that there must be something that can make a difference?

Think of Your Body as Levers and Pulleys To Patrick Mummy, Founder of Symmetry for Health (Pain Relief through Posture Alignment Therapy), the body is a system of levers and pulleys acted upon by gravity. The key is to balance the pulleys and levers. When you go into his office for a free first consultation in Folsom (2575 E. Bidwell St., Ste. 260), you won’t be talking much about your pain. Instead, Patrick will explain the system and get right down to business. He’ll take 21 different measurements that are calculated three-dimensionally to determine which of the levers and pulleys in your body can be altered in the next two weeks. He’ll then show you very specific and customized exercises you can do 15 minutes per day that will start to align your body. His proven theory is that over time, the corrective exercises will align your body better – and this in itself will result in a decrease in pain and optimal performance.

Patrick Mummy, CEO

Founder of Symmetry for Health

After two weeks, you’ll return for an evaluation and receive new exercises for your 15-minute self-help program that will show you even more progress than you received the last two weeks. You’ll continue this process for four months, 18

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when you’ll receive a maintenance program that will help you keep your gains and benefits.

Compromised Posture Results in Pain and Body Breakdown And if you’re like other clients he’s worked with over the last 17 years, you’ll notice great improvements, better than what you’ve ever seen from other health practitioners. “It’s not that other health practitioners are not effective,” Patrick said, “…but rather because when you can stand balanced, your body will have less pain and you are more effective at dealing with the forces of gravity on your body. Our sedentary lifestyles, injuries and maladapted movement patterns greatly compromise our optimal posture. As a result, we start to see our body breakdown – maybe knee cartilage wears down, neck pain increases, or back pain becomes more constant and more disabling.” By changing your alignment with exercises you do at home 15 minutes a day that emphasize the strength and balance of whole muscle groups, your brain begins sending correct signals to muscles on how to move your bones and hold your bones in a balanced position.

Why People Don’t Get Better After Surgery “If your posture is poor before surgery on your knee, shoulder or back, it will still be poor after surgery, resulting in additional surgeries. But if we can stop habits that contribute to the problems, eventually we will get down to the initial cause of the body’s breakdown. The exercises will rebuild good habits of movement that allow you to have the strength and balance you need to perform movements your body was designed to do,” he reported. Patrick has found that clients who initiate his program before surgery heal twice as fast as those who don’t – and it’s all due to the correction of the muscle imbalances.

When Do All the Posture Changes Start? According to Patrick, people start compensating by the age of five and the dysfunction starts when you begin school. Measuring dozens of children in kindergarten and first grade, he found they held themselves in a posture that reduced gravity’s forces on the body quite well. But by the time they hit 2nd grade, there were significant changes that resulted in misalignment. “It’s no wonder that a herniated disk occurs after wear and tear throughout the years,” he commented. “I’m even finding that it’s obvious why someone gets osteoporosis in a hip or spine based on the measurements.”

Symmetry Program Used by Top Athletes With a background in athletic training and experience


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