In search for body balance or the body quest...

  • By Tanya Brightwell
  • •
  • 28 Sep, 2017
  • •

From the old posts... when I was in a lot of pain

Hi, my name is Tanya,  Tanya Brightwell, or as my passport still says Tatiana Rostovtseva, Russian-born British agegroup triathlete and a Triathlon coach. I am fighting to get the control of my body back and have decided to share this experience with you. 

This is the second article about my quest and fight for my body. In the first article I wrote about discovering that I score quite high (7 out of 10) in a Hypermobility test, even though I never was able to do the splits. I described the beginning of my challenge after years of frustration and spending lots of money on numerous specialists to try to sort my body out; always without getting anywhere.

I discovered that lots of everyday actions contribute a huge amount to the overall body balance and often only you can fix your problems. I discovered that my habits, like standing unevenly, contributed towards throwing my body out of sync, but I was not sure how to fix it and to balance it back.

When I was trying to stand with what I thought was symmetry, I had muscle tightening here and there within a few seconds.

By the time I wrote the last article, I discovered that my hips were moving very unevenly and I started to work on tightening one hip and stretching the other, and there were definite
improvements. Still, I was not able to walk pain-free. I knew that I was not symmetrical and that one shoulder was higher than the other, but I couldn't work out how to get them equal. Lifting or pushing down one shoulder didn't have much of an effect.

Lots of positive things have happened since then.

One morning, I realised that it is not necessarily one shoulder is in the correct position and the other was incorrect (even though one was painful). I always teach my swimmers that the body is like a see-saw; if you lift the head too high  your leg will sink. Using the same analogy, correction should be done with right and left sides at the same time so to bring the left shoulder up … I also have to move the right shoulder down.

And that seemed to work and finally started to bring some relief. The problem being that not only my shoulders were different heights, but my hips and my ankles were also not aligned and working identically. I was trying to work on hips one day, on feet on the second day, and on my shoulders on the third day. I knew that you somehow have to address all levels at the same time, but I didn't know how to connect it all. I felt that I was losing the fight. My physio was on holiday and there was nowhere else to go.
Then I watched second episode of Doctor in the Family, shown by BBC, where a middle-aged bodybuilder was in a lot of pain and on very strong pain killers for years. He was taken to the clinic where he was given the full analysis of his muscles and skeleton and was given very different correction exercises to what I was ever shown. They had an almost imminent effect on his body alignment. I noticed that the Physio had the AIM logo on his top. So there was a hope somewhere. Somebody went one step further than me and had worked something out.

I waited and fought for another two weeks and then went to check the AIM (Anatomy in motion) website. Of cause I was not alone. According to the website, there were thousands and thousands of people who had already contacted them in search for help. They promised that they would produce three videos, explaining a few basics. I subscribed to the email and was really looking forward to receiving one. And I was not disappointed. "We don't treat the pain", he said, "but the core of the pain". The first video was 40 minutes of talking through self-assessments, three-dimensional mobilisation exercises and included a little self assessment before and after. I was amazed and for the first time in years I felt that I was standing more or less straight. Even only for few seconds. But that gave me huge encouragement and hope to move forward. It taught me the way to correct myself  to move one shoulder up or down you have to involve other shoulder and hip¦.

In the meantime I was working on left side motoric, just in everyday life; I was decorating a room and was trying to use both arms. If I had pain in the left shoulder I was trying to replicate the move with the right arm very slowly, thinking about the way I moved and then replicate the move with my weak side. On the third day my middle back clicked in a very similar way to what I had at the osteopath clinic, but more intense and I felt a big relief. My body started to correct itself as I was building and gaining (or better to say waking up) muscles on that lazy left-hand side. Muscles, as my physio told me, are inerasably strong, so if one side is much more dominant than the other, they will pull the joints. And to top it up with weak ligaments, you will have an answer to why no other treatments worked. I was now sure that I was on the right path. I was trying to do more and more with the left arm and hand swapping knives when cooking (I will not mention how neatly cut vegetables were) and swapping hands while stirring. If I was picking something with the right hand, I was trying to replicate move with the left hand. Every time something was painful, I was trying to find the difference between the same movement on a weak and strong side. And literally, educate the left side how to move. I discovered that simple things, that were painful before, like putting plates on a shelf, were painful because I was trying to use the shoulder without rotating the body. That meant that I was using shoulder muscles only, but not the bigger lateral muscles. And of cause without that rotation one cannot engage them. That's why I couldn't activate my left gluteus (see article in Issue 48). My body was in the wrong position! I kept thinking about bodybuilders; they have to rotate their body in a very particular way to show particular muscles. Get the position right and the muscle(s) will fire!

My journey is not over. I need to learn so many things,¦ like to sit straight. I know that this is only the beginning and I don't expect not having setbacks. That fact that I can SOMETIMES run is amazing. I know my quest will never end. I will need to consider and to watch what the next challenge my body will throw on me, but at least I am quite confident that I can deal with it. And I can try to prevent it by just being a bit disciplined.

The more I talk to people, the more I realise how many people are stuck in the same circle as me. Habits, injuries, pains through body into the protective mode. And the longer it is in that mode, the bigger impact it has on other parts of the body. All of this is relative, not just for people with Hypermobility or EDS. The difference is that for EDS people it takes much less time to fire the wrong kinetic chain (on a positive side it seems, it takes less time to sort the problem, providing the right solution is found. Or maybe I am just lucky).

That is why it is so important for everybody to rehabilitate properly after an injury. Sometimes you need to find the right specialist to help with the rehabilitation. For example, if you had a fall and dislocated your pelvis you may need an osteopath or chiropractor to start the process. And the sooner you see him the fewer 'wrong' muscles and/or habits will develop, so you will be doing less damage to the body in the long term. 

So what is next for me? I feel that I need more information and more answers to lots of questions. I came so far with sorting my body out in the last couple of months with just a little guidance and I don't want my experience to be wasted. I know that there are a lot people with similar problems, so I am ready to move on and take the next step with my career. I understand that my experience is a single case and I need further education to be able to help people. I am looking into taking the right route and it seems that Osteopathy will provide me with the starting point that I will want to build up. In the meantime, please remember that I am not a health professional just an athlete and coach who is trying to answer the quest that my body put in front of me and searching for body balance and not to be in pain.

I want to help and to give life back to people who "merely cope with life as they know it, putting up with pain (need we?), unaware of their bodies (really?), relying on others when things go wrong (sadly)" - from author Gary Ward - What the FOOT?
 

I had a large element of progress, but the quest was far from over. I still couldn‟t walk pain-free, but my body awareness and control was unbelievably better; I had much fewer pains and felt unbelievable

Post Title

By Tanya Brightwell • August 8, 2021
Pour new pool in Higham Kent opened its doors to the swimmers today. It was a huge journey restoring this pool from 8 years of total neglect. However we are now up and running.  We would like to focus on individual approach and 1-2-1 lessons, however we are planning to run limited small group sessions in future. Water should be fun. It should not b scary, but for some kids and adults it is not fun. They do not trust water. They do not understand how it can support them. 

We would like to bring the joy of being in the water to our swimmers. To teach them how to learn from the water - the best teacher ever 

What is in YOUR bucket - Modern Medical System Approach.

By Tanya Brightwell • November 23, 2017
Part 1 "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: Is 'quick fix' possible is regards to health?" can be found here

Part 2 "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: The body doesn't come with user manual" can be found here

 I often think about that Jag when I think about modern approach to human health and pains, especially muscular-skeletal pains. 

What will be the first question your GP asks if you come with back pain complaints? 

I know that my GP will ask. "Did you try over the counter pain killers or anti-inflammatory?"

He will not be interested in the cause of the pain and it will be a miracle if he actually looked at, palpated the area and examined my movement.

The next step will be waiting another couple of weeks (taking painkillers) to see if the problem magically resolves itself. Sometimes it does. 

If it doesn't weeks in pain can affect your wellbeing. Your sleep, your life style, your mood. You will be moving differently, protecting the painful area. Commonly, activities will be altered or stopped to avoid pain. You will start moving oddly, creating further misbalance in the body. That, potentially, will create more pain elsewhere. 

In few weeks you will be offered stronger pain killers, often Opioids, while you will be waiting for Physio. By then lots of us are so tuned to the 'magic fixing pill' idea that our expectations of the Physio will be wrong. He will be expected to provide a fix there and then, without us being involved. What most of us don't realise is that even if prescribed exercises are done to satisfactory level, the pain still may be there because... again, WE DON'T HAVE A USER MANUAL . NHS situation with physiotherapists us quite sad.  They just not given enough time to think things through and often have to work by common routines. Which saves time but doesn't take into the account that we all are very different. Some NHS trusts have started Physio back pain management classes where exercises delivered from TV screen without anybody watching and correcting patients. It is not surprising that most of the pain suffers are going back to the GP with the same pains. You mood is all over the place so anti-depressants are given to help you to cope.

Finally you were referred to the hospital where, after waiting couple of months, you have an MRI scan and are told that you have herniated disks that press on the nerve root! Hurray! You have a diagnosis that means that you can be ... FIXED (or at least explain why you are still in pain). 

You have a steroid injection and... MIRACLE. Pain gone. What you probably were not told that steroid injections weakens surrounding tissues, from bones to muscle and ligaments and in long term. The effect of steroids can last only a few months.

Often, when the steroid effect wears off, the body is left in a worse state than before and an operation is the only way to go. Spine fusions, knee, hip replacements, tissue re-connection. Amazing achievements of modern medicine, but the question is WILL THIS MAKE YOU PAIN FREE? Will it provide so much needed FIX? Will you finally be free? Will it address the cause of the problem, or just try to treat the symptoms? 

CAN THE SYMPTOMPTOMS BE TREATED SUCCESSFULLY WITHOUR ADDRESSING THE RUTE OF THE PROBLEM? 

I will leave you to judge. 

I will leave you to think WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET - THE BUCKET OF PAIN


Part 1 "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: Is 'quick fix' possible is regards to health?" can be found here

Part 2 "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: The body doesn't come with user manual" can be found here

What is in YOUR bucket - each body is unique.

By Tanya Brightwell • October 26, 2017
Part 1  "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: Is 'quick fix' possible is regards to health?" can be found here 

But enough about health for a bit. Let's talk about ... cars.

We used to have an old Jag (my husband's pride and joy to the extend that he never wanted to accept that the thing was more often grounded on our driveway than being driven). At some point Jag developed an interesting problem. It was running beautifully on the road, but then, after a longer drive, the coolant poured out. And, of course, the first thing that we tried was going to the local Halford and buying a magic liquid in hope that it will fix the leek. Well, it didn't. We still had to carry a bottle of water with us to top the coolant.
The next step was taking it to the local garage. They did something that seemed to work, but not for a long time. In about a month we were back to carrying a bottle with us.
We finally went to the Jaguar garage, but, but then, car developed other problems and engine need to be replaced. My husband finally accepted defeat and we sold Jag for scrap.
Humans are not cars. They don't come with a manual and they are incredibly complex pieces of natural engineering.
Every part of us connected and communicates to the others, if not directly, then through the body fluids. If something goes wrong with one part the others can be affected.

Part 1 "WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET: Is 'quick fix' possible is regards to health?" can be found here 

What is in YOUR bucket? - Quick fix of a pain.

By Tanya Brightwell • October 22, 2017

    Our world is an exceptionally busy place. What is the most precious thing for most of us? Is it our Family? Friends? House? Money? Job? Think about it. What most of us don't have enough of.... For me the answer is TIME. Days fly by. Kids-work-study-kids-work-bed. Day after day. I fit an occasional run or a class in the gym. It is MY time. Study is MY time as well. Writing this article is also MY time as I love what I do. The fact is - I am lucky to have MY time - lots of my friends and clients don't.

    With such a busy life and lack of MY time to address MY problems we all want quick fixes if something goes wrong. We go to the doctor and most of the time doctor will give us a tablet and the tablet will often make us feel better.
    The question is - will it make your body WORK better? Will it be healing, or masking the problem? Will it be trying to address symptoms or ROOT causes?
    To be continued .....

About Tanya Brightwell

By Tanya Brightwell • September 28, 2017
I was born in St Petersburg Russia in 1973 under the old Soviet communist regime.
I enjoyed a distinguished early sporting career as a swimmer and competed at District and National Level culminating in finishing 3rd in the National Championships 2 years running at the ages of 11 and 12.
In 2001 I met my future husband John Brightwell while working on a project for the UK Company he worked for. We were married in 2002 and in 2003 my son Andrey and I moved to the UK and began a new life in my husband's home town of Dartford in Kent.
My second child Natasha was born in 2007. In order to get back in shape I started running and competed in a number of half marathons which I enjoyed greatly. In 2010 David Lloyds in Dartford put on an indoor triathlon competition, I competed and won the event but most importantly found the sport that I now love.
I joined the local triathlon club as well as a running club and a cycling club and started to concentrate on becoming competitive in this sport. From the first race I realised that I could be quite good at Triathlons. 2010 was a learning year but I achieved a few podium finishes. In 2011 I experimented with different distances finishing second in my first Olympic distance and competing in a Middle distance race in the New Forrest. The same year I studied for and achieved a level one Tri Coaching certificate.
My first international appearance was in 2012, Auckland,NZ where I competed in World Triathlon Grand Final. I came 4th in my age group in Sprint Triathlon and 7th in Aquathlon.

Triathlon achievements:

September, 2015  4th AG in World Sprint triathlon Grand Final, Chicago
July, 2015 2nd AG in European Sprint triathlon championships, Geneva
July, 2014 England female sprint champion
June, 2014 1st AG place in European Sprint triathlon championships, Kitzbuhel
September, 2013 2nd AG place in World Sprint Triathlon Championships Grand Final, London. 
October, 2012 4th AG place in World Sprint Triathlon Championships Grand Final, New Zealand

Triathlon Results:

Date
Event
AG position
Gender position
20/06/2014
ETU European championships (sprint)
1
5
10/06/2014
Bridge Aquathlon
1
1
31/05/2014
Nottingham tri (sprint)
1
2
22/09/2013
Anglian water tri (European Q) (Olympic)
1
6
13/09/2013
ITU world championships London (Sprint)
2
29
11/08/2013
Bewl water tri (sprint)
1
1
07/08/2013
Grain 10 mile Time trial
1
1
07/07/2013
Sussex Tri festival (Sprint)
1
1
02/07/2013
Cyclopark Time Trial 10miles
1
1
23/06/2013
Bridge Triathlon (Olympic)
1
1
18/06/2013
Bridge auathlon
1
1
09/06/2013
White Oak Tri (Sprint)
1
2
23/06/2013
Grendon tri (European Qualifier) (Sprint)
1
4
20/10/2012
ITU world championships, NZ (Sprint)
4
20
17/10/2012
ITU word aquathlon, Auckland, NZ
7
29/09/2012
Hever tri (sprint)
1
1
12/08/2013
Bucklers Hard Triathlon (Olympic)
1
2
09/06/2012
bexhill tri (Sprint)
2
2
27/05/2012
Big cow age group national (sprint)
7
29
20/05/2012
Dorney lake (World Q) (Sprint)
1
7
25/9/2011
New forest (middle distance)
2
7
26/6/2011
Bridge tri (Olympic)
2
2
10/04/2011
Sevenoaks tri (sprint)
1
1
19/09/2010
big cow tri (sprint)
7
7
18/08/2010
mid week tri Dorney (sprint)
2
3
14/08/2010
eltham aquathlon 500/5k
1
7
11/07/2010
White Oak triathlon(sprint)
2
3
06/06/2010
Cranbrook tri (Sprint)
1
1
23/05/2010
bexhill tri (sprint)
4