Introduction to CST Part 9: Healing Movement Directions

Regarding movement directions, I have explained them concretely through case studies, but I would like to think about them a little more together.
I wrote 'healing movement directions' because when you correctly judge the movement direction and apply it as a stimulus, as introduced in the case studies, the body reacts by trying to heal itself, which can result in symptom improvement. This is not something that only therapists can do; you can elicit similar reactions by feeling and deciding the direction yourself when performing self-care (such as gymnastics or stretching).

Here are some questions.
・How do you find the movement direction?
・Do you have the conscious intention of finding the movement direction?
・Which movement direction selection leads to improvement or changes in the body?
・Are you deciding the movement direction simply based on knowledge of kinesiology and anatomy?

When searching for a movement direction, knowledge of kinesiology and anatomy is essential as a therapist, but not everyone moves in the same way. What is important is how much you can elicit the movement that the patient's body needs. Judging only by textbook knowledge can sometimes have the opposite, negative effect. Reading subtle reactions from the patient's body and providing appropriate stimulation is a crucial element in treatment.
Looking for movement directions from this perspective is a very important skill for a therapist. Excellent therapists are skilled at finding healing movement directions. For that, knowledge, technique, and experience are indispensable. It is unavoidable that you cannot master it immediately, but just waiting around makes your growth speed too slow, and the patient in front of you will not wait. The excuse that you cannot heal because you lack experience is not accepted by patients.
Once you stand in front of a patient as a therapist, it does not matter to the patient whether you are in your first year or your 20th year. No patient is waiting around thinking it cannot be helped because you are a newcomer.
If it were you, which therapist would you want to be treated by?
① A novice therapist
② A therapist with 20 years of experience

If you judge only by the number of years, you would choose the therapist with 20 years of experience.
But is that really okay?
In reality, it is not about the number of years of experience; for the patient, the result is everything. If a newcomer goes in place of a therapist with many years of experience and ends up healing the patient, the patient will be satisfied. In other words, the patient will pay the newcomer who produced the result. Conversely, if a senior therapist treats the patient instead of the newcomer and heals them, the patient will request the senior therapist from then on.

In the past, I have also had patients change from me to a senior colleague due to differences in technique, knowledge, or approach. For a patient, if they are paying the same amount, it is natural to pay the person who produces better results. It is a harsh world, but that is also the responsibility of being a therapist.

I have digressed a little, but I believe that the CST approach is important as one of the ways to become able to produce results quickly, regardless of the number of years of experience.

◇ How to find healing movement directions
1. Ask the other person (the patient) Ask what kind of sensation the person has with the movement direction you have chosen. You can judge whether the movement direction is appropriate based on that sensation. If the expression is positive, there is a high possibility of improvement by moving in that direction; if the expression is negative, there is a high possibility of worsening.

Positive expressions: Easy, light, feels good, comfortable, tension releasing
Negative expressions: Strenuous, heavy, painful, feels wrong, uncomfortable

2. Try moving in 8 directions When moving soft tissues or joints, move in the direction among the 8 directions where the other person shows a positive sensation.
※ What is particularly important in finding the movement direction is sensation. However, when we talk about sensation, we are talking about within the normal range. What is needed is the sensation the other person (the patient) has when being moved or touched. Also, the sensation in the therapist's hands when touching or moving is important. If the sensation is high for both parties, treatment becomes easy, but if it is low for both, it becomes difficult.

◇ How to refine your senses
To refine your senses, you must practice practical skills.
What! Is that all? Yes! That is all. However, there is a way to do it. To improve your own body's senses, do not do it from the therapist's side, but from the patient's side. In other words, be the one being touched. Many therapists practice practical skills to improve their treatment techniques, but most are only conscious of practicing from the therapist's side. Of course, training the therapist's senses is important, but at the same time, training the senses of the person being treated is also extremely important. That is why I recommend that my juniors actively receive treatment from instructors and assistant instructors when they go to study sessions. At that time, it is important to sharpen your senses as much as possible and feel.
By feeling what kind of stimulus enters your body and what kind of effect that stimulus has on you, your own sensory level will rise. When you become the patient side in practical training, try to provide feedback in an expression that conveys the sensation of being treated as precisely as possible to the other person. Furthermore, try to be conscious of whether the sensation of being touched is good or bad. And, thoroughly verify which is more effective: treatment matched to the patient's senses or treatment matched to the therapist's senses.
By having both the therapist and the patient clearly express what the sensation is and providing feedback to each other, you can efficiently raise your sensory level as a therapist. Please be conscious of this when you practice practical skills.

◇ The body's voice
To refine your senses, being touched is important, but you can also refine them sufficiently in your daily life. That is the task of listening to the body's voice. Many people react sensitively to negative voices, such as pain or discomfort, but do not try to react much to positive voices. That is because the body's priority is low.
For example, if you get a headache, you immediately take headache medicine and try to suppress it. Did you know that this is actually ignoring the body's warning signal? The fact that the body is sending pain or discomfort as a signal means that there is a malfunction somewhere in the body, so it is a voice asking you to take a break. However, most people push themselves, pretend that voice does not exist, and ignore it while moving. As a result of continuing to ignore it, you get sick, get a slipped disc, or are suddenly struck by pain. In other words, I want you to make time to listen to your body's voice slowly in your daily life.
At first, 5 minutes is fine. Practice feeling what it feels like slowly from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. If that is difficult, when you are doing exercises like gymnastics or stretching, feel the good sensations and bad sensations yourself, and try changing the type of stimulus so that it becomes a good sensation. We move through our daily lives unconsciously, but if you focus on that unconsciousness and try to be conscious of feeling, there are many discoveries. I would like to explain the details on another occasion.

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