Retirement, Your Body, and PRT

By 

Ashley Osier

MA, HHE, CPS, CSMT, CAMT, CAYT, CWHP

 ~ Holistic Wellness for Mind, Body, and Spirit ~

I have the world's best clients and students. They have been a constant inspiration in my practice and in developing strategies to assist injury prevention, pain management, stress management, and joyful aging. Recently one of my gems let me know that when she retires she planned on being more serious about starting a corrective exercise and wellness program. Why now? "I think I need to consider how strong I am going to need to be physically to take care of my husband in the coming years."

That led me to considering the exercises I will be creating for her to fulfill this goal. While focusing on aging well or being able to play a sport or engage in a particular hobby are excellent goals, I couldn't help but be inspired by this clients' heart for her husband and forethought about her future.  

So why am I writing about this here? Because I have known people, nurses, moms and spouses, over the years who have strained or injured various parts of their body while caring for someone. Caring for the physical well-being of another person, especially someone who is bigger than you, weighs more than you, or has physical limitations, is very demanding on the body. Posture, modified movements, knowledge of stabilizing muscles and making sure to be in good physical shape yourself is critical for long-term wellness and fitness.

An example of this is a client of mine who retired earlier last year and soon after found out that his brother had a stroke and needed daily assistance. No one else was available to help, so my client took on caring for his brother. Little did he realize how demanding it would be on his own body and how little time he would have to do his own stretches and exercises. When he finally had the time to come back in for regular sessions, his body was strained and exhausted. Luckily he was able to eventually make time to deal with the stress on his physical body. However many people never tend to what the body needs to function optimally, but then will require it to function as though nothing happened.

Don't let this be you! Keep up with a regular walking or appropriate exercise program as you move closer to retirement. Implement a healthy eating routine to maintain so that your weight doesn't increase and force stress on your organs, muscles, or joints. If you might need to care for a loved one, consider what you will need physically to be a caretaker without injuring yourself. If you have a hobby you love, try to focus on exercises that will help you continue that hobby throughout your retirement. If you are an older athlete, like some of my clients, make sure you are maintaining what you have so you can play your sport for as long as possible. There are a number of leagues now that cater to athletes who are 70+. Awesome!!

No matter how close you are to retirement, practicing PRT daily will help you tremendously. Your warm ups and cool downs will be better and your workouts and recovery more efficient. Your sleep will greatly improve if you are finding sleep difficult and when you wake up, getting out of bed will be less of an effort. The blessing of PRT is how easy it is to practice just about everywhere. One client who is partially retired and travels often to Japan always takes her tennis ball to practice Point Release™ Technique on the plane. Any flight longer than four hours should include stretching and PRT.

Take the ball anywhere!

I have had clients in the hospital using the tennis ball on these specific acupuncture points, on the subway and even cyclists who put it in their fannypack to release points on the legs, hips and calves to prevent spasms and increase energy to keep them going. My client whose brother had a stroke is going to show his brother how to use PRT on specific points that will assist him in his own recovery as well as himself. It will be an awesome journey for them to enjoy together while also being very therapeutic. Get your children and grandchildren started now. What a great opportunity this is for grandparents to share wellness with their grandchildren, especially those who are active in a sport. 

Though PRT is just one piece and the StretchFit™Method provides the corrective exercise, micro-fitness, and therapeutic stretching component, PRT done correctly assists in building core strength, increases body awareness, and empowers individuals to take charge of their own pain management and wellness. In 1998 I regularly showed a client of mine, who was a prominent yoga teacher, how to use the ball on specific acupuncture points to help her students. She has used it in her classes ever since and I know students of hers who went through her teacher training program who use varied versions of it in their classes. It is very therapeutic to access the TCM points and pathways while stretching and can aid in preventing stretching strains and tears. My Friday class integrates both SFM and PRT to maximize the benefits of both practices. You can find more information about the class here: http://ashleyosier.massageplanet.com and http://eastwestsomatherapy.com.

For individual instruction with specific body challenges and chronic pain issues call or email:

925.864.3114

ewsomatherapy@gmail.com

Ashley Osier created StretchFit™ Method and Point Release™ Technique over the past 17 years to assist individuals who are experiencing varied limitations in their daily function due to injury, illness, chronic pain, and/or the effects of the natural aging process. She is a holistic health educator and therapist, posture specialist, stress management therapist, an acupressure and massage therapist, stretching, massage, acupressure, and self-acupressure instructor and creator of the Point Release™ Technique and StretchFit™ Method. She specializes in working with stress management, injury prevention and pain relief, corrective exercise, therapeutic stretching for individuals and couples, and posture awareness. She also offers coaching in nutrition and support for women going through divorce. She can be reached at ewsomatherapy@gmail.com.

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