There’s little doubt that 2020 has brought with it, a substantial shift in the mental health of Australia’s population. Trends indicate that the numbers of people suffering from stress, anxiety and panic attacks is on the rise and is a true threat to the future state of Australia’s mental health.
Many of our patients arrive at our clinic with the classic but very real symptoms of stress and anxiety. Much of the time, people are aware something isn’t right but aren’t sure what the root cause is, or the extensive litany of symptoms that stress and anxiety can cause to our emotional, spiritual and physical selves. Our patients find themselves manifesting in a myriad of different ways – becoming irritable, restless, suffering from fatigue, chest pains, insomnia and a racing mind amongst many other symptoms, all seemingly unconnected but potentially debilitating if not properly managed. It’s been estimated that stress related workers compensation claims have doubled in recent years, now costing over $10 billion each year. Let’s unpack the enormity of that number. The huge number of people impacted by stress and anxiety if the average payment is just $250,000. That’s an average of 40,000 people whose claims were so debilitating, that they went to court. Imagine the thousands of other cases, perhaps no less serious but of which we have no recording and we’ll understand the scale of the issue we’re dealing with.
What does stress do to our body?
We try to help our patients understand that its normal to feel stressed and anxious in small quantities. It’s when we wait until stress and anxiety become overwhelming that issues start to become more marked in our bodies. In our modern, digital world, stress triggers can exist on a constant level, which stimulates a response in our body. Stress and anxiety stimulate changes in our body and activates our ‘fight or flight’ response, leaving us constantly in an inflammatory response and unable to self-regulate our hormones and responses. In turn, the appearance of mental and physical stress symptoms can cause further stress and perpetuate a vicious circle, people feel unable to break.
How can CranioSacral Therapy help stress?
At Evolve Manual Therapy, we practice Craniosacral Therapy (CST) which is a light touch manual therapy which works with the body to promote greater wellbeing and health. It’s a whole of body approach which works to remove restrictions within the cranium and sacrum (head and pelvis) and helps shift the body out of stress mode into a calmer, more relaxed state. Our practioners gently apply manual pressure to help increase mobility and circulation within the craniosacral system. When the body slows down during a session, it’s like untangling a tightly knotted ball of wool – where the stressed and confused reactions and responses get a chance to unravel and rebalance. Our bodies have an innate ability to self-correct and heal and CST, as a non-invasive therapy allows our mind and body to correct in an absolutely safe, non-medicated way.
The science shows the enormous benefits experienced by a wide range of patients suffering with stress or anxiety related symptoms. At Evolve Manual Therapy, we encourage patients to seek support early, whatever the source of stress. We all need help from time to time.