Whatever your view of the events of the last year there is no doubt that the year has thrown up a whole raft of ‘opportunities’ to evolve both as a society and as individuals. Of all the emotions and challenges that Covid has thrown up, one of the stranger situations we have all found ourselves in is having our jobs classified as being either essential to the basic functioning of society or not. And surely it is only natural to feel affronted if you fall into that category of non-essential, to feel that your very purpose and value is being questioned. That is especially the case if you happen to find yourself, as I do, outside mainstream healthcare yet providing a service and treatments which, undoubtedly, enhance the health and quality of life of my clients.
It’s been an emotional roller coaster! It isn’t easy to hear the continued disappointment of clients for whom without their face to face treatments leave them without the pain and stress relief that helps at a time they need it the most. It has, however, been heartening to hear the overwhelming support not only of the importance of the work I do from my clients, but also the support our allied healthcare professional colleagues have given for the value of what we do. Even the BBC recently presented a piece on the benefits of massage therapy to the support of our immune system BBC Report boosting our t-cell count by as much as 70%!!
Unfortunately, right now no-one in healthcare is able to provide what they may consider to be optimal care, including those who have been deemed essential. We, I, am not first line care. I do not provide emergency support and the nature of our hands-on work with clients is currently considered too much of a risk so I’m sorry to say I can still not support you all face to face.
It’s taken a while for me to accept that none of this means that our treatments are not effective or that we are not respected by the medical profession. It does not undermine all our education and training. It in no way diminishes what we do in helping our clients manage their pain, recover from injury, perform in sport and live active, fulfilling lives. In short our value is not being questioned, it’s just that right now we all just have to survive and not necessarily thrive.
I’ve finally made peace with the fact that as a soft tissue and movement therapist I’m not in the business of preserving life, I’m in the business of enhancing it. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those doing the former, but it so happens that for me I find the later far more fulfilling not least of which because what I do helps put individuals in a better position and more likely to survive any future challenges.
If you want to chat about how we can work together in the future to improve your physical and mental resilience then email me on unstoppablerhythms@gmail.com or call on 07763 292 050