 Cue the song: I’ve got the Magic in Me by B.o.B
Growing up, I was very injury-prone. For one, I was a lanky, clumsy, and too-quickly growing girl. Second, I played competitive soccer.
With both these factors considered, I was often a victim of sports-related and tall-bodied injuries. These came in the form of growing pains, a loose and popping-out shoulder, back pain, muscle strains, endless knee problems, and body parts frequently being out of place. Physiotherapy quickly became my best friend.
She was a great friend too. As I grew into my body, physiotherapy helped make this transition smoother, healing me of injury and finding effective solutions to my problems. For example, I found knee braces that helped reduce the pain from my Osgood-Schlatter, my physiotherapist adjusted my pelvis and feet back to their correct places, and she helped reduce my muscle strains and pulls. However, no matter how many sessions I had, there was still one ailment I could never really shake: my headaches.
Headaches and migraines have been a struggle of mine for as long as I can remember. With headaches occurring multiple times on a weekly basis, and migraines on a monthly basis, I have tried to find the root cause for these evil torturers. Water intake, menstruation, diet, exercise, and sleep are all possible factors, however, when my lifestyle was adjusted to accommodate them, the headaches still continued to exist.
These headaches have impacted my life for years. Take my 20’s for instance; it is difficult to stare at computer screens and do my homework, to concentrate in long lectures, to work in office buildings or enclosed rooms, listen to loud music or go to concerts, to walk in the sun without sunglasses, or to even get a good night’s sleep.
In addition to taking Advil and improving my lifestyle, I have tried countless different therapies to help reduce the onset. However, none have worked for me. I have come to the conclusion that everyone’s body is different; some therapies work for people and different ailments/injuries, while others don’t. The problem was, I still had not found what worked for my body, leaving me feeling hopeless for quite a long time.
That is, until I saw an osteopath.
Recommended to me by a former colleague, osteopathy was very new to me. I was unfamiliar with this practice and skeptical at first. However, throughout my appointment, I was quickly reassured that this need not be the case.
My consultation started with a blind assessment. Rather than directly telling the osteopath my problems, she tried to find them on her own first. Placing her fingertips gently on the crown of my head, she began to feel the energy travel through my body, eventually leading her to my right eye.
She told me that not only is my right eye very tight, but the whole right side of my face is too. She then asked if my problem is headaches.
For the remainder of the session, she worked on my face, using an approach that felt like a mix of physiotherapy and deep-tissue massage. Specifically targeting the right side, she worked on my cheekbones, brow bones, and then eventually did dental work inside my mouth, working on my palate and gums.
Finding out that the right side of my face was tight was intriguing to me. I reflected: ever since an accident in grade three, the right side of my face has been somewhat frozen—my right eyebrow does not move on its own, my nose is slightly crooked, being pulled towards the right, and the right side of my mouth cannot stretch as far as my left can.
Then, I started to consider the accident itself. When I was 8 years old, I was hit by a speeding snowboard at the end of a snow hill, harshly striking the eyebrow region, just barely missing my eye. I needed 6 stitches.
Perhaps, the right-side tightness is an aftermath of this accident or scar tissue. Perhaps, it is the aftermath of an undetected concussion. Perhaps, it is none of the above; I am no doctor, merely a speculator, so this, I do not know.
However, what I do know is that after this single appointment, I didn’t have headaches for three months. Life was freeing; I felt rejuvenated, cleansed, healthy.
In my eyes, healing is a form of magic. When our bodies throw challenges our way, it works hard to recover, but sometimes, it needs a little extra help. That’s where these medicines and therapies come in. Practitioners are like magicians, and while it may take some time and experimentation, sometimes you just need to figure out what magic works best for you.