Careering around in metal boxes at high speed under our own fallible control with other ones going at equal velocity in the other direction is by far the most dangerous thing that most of us ever do. We were never designed to withstand the forces from the impacts that frequently occur. Future generations will shake their heads in horror just as we do at some barbaric practices from hundreds of years ago.
Still, we are stuck with them for a while and I love my car too. And I want one that goes faster.
Most of my patients have had at least one road traffic accident. Many have suffered since, sometimes in ways they cannot quite explain: a muzzy head, poor memory or perhaps emotional changes. Sometimes only osteopathic examination will reveal the connection. Whiplash is a classic case. Osteopathically it is almost a cliché: two or three weeks of neck stiffness and all is apparently well. Six months later chronic low back pain sets in for the first time for no apparently reason. Or it might be the same five years later after tripping on a curb. These are typical examples: the complex forces involved in a whiplash injury can lead to malign, highly diverse and insidious effects.
Osteopathy, and in particular cranial osteopathy, can detect and treat force vectors held imprinted in the tissues from physical trauma of all kinds. This can lead to regaining a comfortable healthy body even after years of pain and dysfunction. It is particularly useful in complex cases where injury has been added to insult been added to previous injury. Working in Hereford I would often see ex-Army or ex-Rugby warriors in their forties who had been gradually getting more uncomfortable for years. Many injuries would have been picked up in their twenties when they were very fit and felt immortal. These would be stored and only really felt as the body slowed a little, perhaps ten or twenty years later. Their effects would then be quite diffuse having been spread around by a system struggling to compensate and stay in balance. Vague aches, stiffness, soreness, headaches and tiredness would be typical. It was a great joy for me to peel away layer after layer and to see a fitter, happier, younger looking chap emerge.
