Our aim is to listen to what’s going on with your body, understand it and together work towards bringing it to its natural balance. Treatment involves a range of techniques from several disciplines. We believe the key to start making a different choice in our life is first understand what’s happening within us.
Pain
Pain is the response that your brain gives after sensing a threat in the environment with the mission to protect you. Our body detects what’s going on around us thanks to the sensors that are inbuilt in our neurons throughout the body.
Sensors react to three kind of stimulus: mechanical (pressure or stretch), temperature (hot/cold) and chemical (stress chemicals, acid lactic, allergens). When a certain threshold is passed the sensor opens and a danger message is sent along the neurons to the spinal cord and then to the brain. If the brain resolves that you are in danger it will produce pain, for you to take action, as well as releasing hormones and activating the nerve system to survive.
Nervous System
The nervous system is formed by the brain, the spinal cord and a complex network of nerves that run in all parts of our body. What makes the nervous system very unique is its functions, it’s responsible for our sensations and responses to internal and/or external stimuli. The functions can be divided into basic and higher functions.
| Functions of the Nerve System | |
| Brain Spinal cord Nerves |
Motor – skeletal muscles, tone Sensory – temperature, vestibular, touch, pain, vibration Autonomic – reflexes, circulation, respiration, digestion |
| Brain | Cognition – thinking, memory, learning Emotions – feelings Conciousness – awareness |
The autonomic nervous system has two interrelated systems that work together to maintain equilibrium. The Sympathetic system activates when there’s a threat. If a lion enters the room, our brain will release adrenaline and cortisol to switch off systems that aren’t key for surviving (digestion) and will make us run faster by pumping more blood to our muscles, more air to our lungs and more glucose to give energy. When the threat is gone the Parasympathetic system releases acetilcoline to slow our heart, relax our muscles and slow breathing; to restore energy. This system works during sleep, rest and meditation.
How we respond to stress will depend on how balanced our autonomic system is. The basic responses include:
1. Call out for help – our first instinct is to seek help and support.
2. Fight or flight – the brain prepares the body to fight or hide in a safe place.
3. Freeze – If nothing works the body shuts down to protect itself.
The sympathetic response lasts until the threat disappears; but when our emotional brain keeps sensing danger with no real threat is when problems start. The continued release of stress hormones has been shown to have a significant impact in our mental health and wellbeing. Dr Bessel van del Kolk suggests that to manage stress properly we must balance our emotional with our rational brain We can do this via two ways: by learning to regulate emotions with mindfulness, meditation and yoga or by recalibrating the autonomic nervous system through touch, breath and movement.
Typical symptoms sympathetic imbalance
Anxiety
Fatigue
Reflux
Panic attacks
Depression
Heartburn
Chronic pain
Joint pain
Imsomnia
Typical symptoms parasympathetic imbalance
Lack of energy
Constipation
Bloatedness
Treatment
Our treatment aims to recalibrate the autonomic nervous system to bring more balance in the whole system. We aim to educate you during the process as we believe when you truly understand what’s going on with your body you can start moving forward. The process follows an initial assessment > diagnosis > treatment plan > management plan.
We listen to you and your story, then to your body by examining posture and running a few nerve and muscular tests. We will explain the findings and together we create a plan to treat it, manage it and prevent it.
Manual treatment will consist of Silvia applying a range of different techniques from Physiotherapy, Osteopathy and Myofascial that she believes will be more beneficial for you based on her wide experience. You might also receive homework to do like exercises, going to the beach or a book to read.
Neck pain
Lower back & sciatic pain
Scoliosis
Posture
Pin & Needles
Numbness
Jaw pain
Shoulder pain
Knee pain
Tennis Elbow
Ankle sprain
Chronic pain
Fibromyalgia
Surgical scars
Exercises Prevention
Structural – Physiotherapy
Specific joint mobilization techniques can help regain mobility in your spine and any joint that is compromised by pain or limited mobility. These techniques can help with:
Craniosacral – Osteopathy
Craniosacral therapy is a gentle technique that induces very subtle movements of the skull to help you balance the central nerve system. This technique can benefit people suffering from:
Visceral – Osteopathy
Visceral manipulation is a gentle therapy which may increase mobility and range of movement of the tissue that surrounds the organs. After surgery, scars can create adhesions in the connective tissue creating tension and dysfunction in organs.
The treatment aims to release tension and helps to improve the individual function of organs and positively influences the structural integrity of the whole body. It can support recovery of:
Myofascial Release Therapy
Myofascial Release is a hands-on approach that uses gentle application of pressure to release the tightness of the fascia tissue in the body with the goal to relieve pain, gain flexibility and restore movement.
Fascia distributes along 12 main lines (Tom Myers) along our body system, corresponding with Chinese meridians. Structural Integration series consist of an initial postural assessment followed by work on each of the 12 fascial planes, which will be structured in three blocks of four different sessions (one weekly).
Block 1 | Superficial line
Superficial front line, Front arm lines
Superficial Back Line, Back Arm Lines
Lateral Line
Spiral Lines
Block 2 | Core Line
Lower Deep Front Line
Middle Deep Front line
Deep Back line
Upper Deep Front Line, Deep Back Line
Block 3 | Integration
Pelvis and Walking
Torso and Breathing
Arms and Manipulatione
Spine & Tensegrity
What to bring? What do I wear?
Please bring any medical reports, X-rays or any documentation from past treatments that may be relevant. Please bring simple sports garments to wear – shorts, shirt, sports bra or singlet. Silvia will cover you with towels/blankets during treatment for comfort and warmth.
Stress Management
Emotional and physical pain are perceived by the brain in similar ways. Understanding the biology of pain empowers people to manage it in a more efficient way.
We offer personalized workshops that look at the science behind the why, the how and the impact of stress in our bodies and offer practical solutions to reduce stress and create more balance in our lives.
The content of the workshops will include:
– Biology and biochemistry of stress
– Emotions and stress
– Stress as adaptation syndrome
– Gut health and impact on stress
– Latest Research on neuroscience
– Practical tools to reduce stress
– Resources
