Gumby Awareness
Our friend Gumby
is an appropriate analogy
for the benefits of
osteopathic treatment.
He is bendable and pliable.
He has no specific
anatomical structure.
When he has an injury,
a strain pattern is created
and he bends into
a different shape.
Gumby is representative
of a connected structure
moving as one functional unit.
As the body ages, there is a decrease in the flexibility and elasticity of tissues.
The longer a strain pattern remains in the body,
the more dense the tissue becomes within the strain pattern.
The goal of treatment is to address these areas of tissue restriction
and restore normal function and tissue motion.
A pattern of somatic dysfunction
is created from the forces of an injury.
The areas of impact will exhibit
compressed and displaced tissue –
and create a ‘pattern of injury’ that has a tissue density that is palpable (‘readable’)
by trained hands.
Injured tissue has less range of motion,
feels denser and will have restricted motion (subtle or gross) in those areas affected
by the force of the injury.
Trained hands can sense the force, direction and timing of an injury
that creates a strain pattern in the tissue.
Palpatory osteopathic treatment assists in removing
these different ’tissue densities’
and restoring the body to a more original “Gumby” state –
more tissue elasticity and flexibility.
