osteopathy

today, isaac received an osteopathic treatment. it was interesting. my mother's cousin and his wife live up in tacoma, washington. they are both doctors. corinne, the wife, is an osteopath obgyn doctor. she recommended a DO (doctor of osteopathy) here in Portland. and she also mentioned she would be attending a retreat here in portland this weekend, and that maybe she could get us to come and have isaac evaluated. so she called this morning saying we could come over. i hopped in the car with omar and isaac and headed east on 84 to this retreat that overlooked the columbia river. it was gorgeous, even on a dour rainy day like today.

corinne and the doctor who she recommended we see (paul) listened to the isaac story. then corinne brought us into this really big room with big windows and a blazing fireplace. it was filled with massage tables. it was quiet and relaxing. felt like you could only talk in whispers. we laid isaac down on the table. she placed her hands on his back, between the ribs, behind his neck, the lower part of his scalp, the top of his head. she applied some pressure on his cheeks right above the jaw near his nose. he didn't seem to like that too much. whatever she was doing seemed very subtle. paul showed up and wrapped his hands around isaac's middle. another DO did something (and this was when isaac was sitting up) where touched isaac's solar plexus and his face and somehow that made isaac breathe easier. hey! now there was something! isaac's got some blockages.

the idea is he's experienced some trauma in his short life. the birth, because of the long labor, is considered traumatic. the intense uterine contractions ramming his skull down into my pelvis and squeezing/pushing his sacrum for well over 15 hours (i'm talking about the every 3 minute type contractions i had the night before he was born) probably is a good candidate for physical trauma. also, i think he's experienced a bit of trauma associated with the pneumonia, in terms of his lungs not fully recovering so far and his body having to adjust to his inability to breathe deeply. i'm not clear what sort of effects this has on him. but i think it makes his whole midriff pretty tight. for instance, paul attempted to raise isaac's arms above his head. it wasn't something isaac wanted to do and couldn't do easily. i remember before he was sick, isaac had the most endearing little stretch where he'd arch his back and stretch his arms over his head. and he hasn't done that in nearly 2 months. so perhaps his lung duress has caused his back and shoulders to tense up in some way... or maybe it's his diaphram that's contracted inwards... as you can see i don't quite know what i'm talking about.

what i like about osteopathy is it considers the body as a whole, especially in terms of fluidity. the idea is that the body can heal itself. but in order for this to happen, the fluid in your body needs to get to the places that are sick. and if you have blockages, then problems occur. i thought that this was an interesting website that describes osteopathy more at length: http://www.osteodoc.com/index.htm

we shall see what sort of long term effects this will have on isaac. but, so far, i appreciate the concept!