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@ Arrow//Spine
2025-06-04 16:36:07At this stage in the game, one does not need another alarming news story, another shocking scientific discovery, or even some psuedo-spiritual online-influencer to tell us about the zillions of environmental hazards and dangers to our health that abound in the world we live in.
Cancer rates are up, sperm counts are down, depression rates are sky-high, and general morale is seemingly at an all-time low, and if I'm seeing the same sources and interpreting the same data you are from the commonly accepted "mainstream" media sources, than its hard to argue that an alternative option to all of these things that have made us so sick and depressed is not such an unreasonable one.
The "Norm" has become food laced with chemicals, medical treatments left up to pharmecutical companies, rampant and profound obesity rates, and a crippling nationwide mental health crisis. If that is the case, then we should be looking for some serious answers to these problems by considering what our alternatives really are.
We still tend to view "healthy", "organic", and "physically fit" types of people as a sort of "fringe" population. If the baseline for the majority of the US means being overweight, overburdened and under-active, then actually feeling healthy, stress free and physically fit means you are swimming against the tide of this country's attitudes towards what "health" is. I do not think I need waste any more of yours or my precious time by citing examples, as you can watch the fight play out in real time today in the "mainstream" news.
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So here is where we start looking for solutions, rather than only focusing on the problems, and arguing about things that are right in front of our faces. What we label as "alternative treatments" are often age-old practices that came from one culture or another throughout history. Acupuncture, Massage, Chinese Medicine, Herbalism, and more. All of these have been in practice for thousands of years, but they tend to lack the rigorous scientific data to back them up (though that is rapidly changing), and they also offer fewer opportunities for massive profits by government or private entities.
Most of these alternative medicines and treatments put their focus on how the body is operating as a whole, and they rarely utilize invasive procedures and almost never prescribe pharmaceuticals, unless considered absolutely necessary.
What keeps these types of treatments outside the main stream is precisely that; they do not offer many places for third-party intermediaries to come in and profit. Insurers, medical equipment companies, clinic operators, They would all lose out. A direct patient-provider relationship has been commandeered by insurance providers, drug companies, and MASSIVE incentives for profit and personal gains.
Steps in; Spatial Medicine, and the cohesive future of what we now consider fringe practices about the body. If you can go to one Manual Therapist who is able to help you recover from a variety of issues that would normally have brought you to 5 different specialists and clinics, then who is really losing out, you or them?
When you can get direct access to care from trained and qualified individuals, without needing to ask permission from your health insurer, and without being limited to care options because of it. How does that sound?
When we finally get it in our heads that all of these alternative therapies are more interested in your body working the right way than it appears the mainstream medical conglomerate ever was, than we can stop feeling bad about wanting to actually feel good, and seek the care that fits our needs. There are a litany of trained, licensed, and verifiable practitioners out there who have proven their experience. Sure, this puts a little more onus on you to, but it also ensures you are able to trust and verify your care-providers, instead of having to trust and submit to an unverifiable insurance company or doctor who choses for you.
As a Manual Therapist who aims to distinguish this work from the generically accepted idea of "massage", I can say that I have watched people who've spent years with traditional doctors get over issues in matter of weeks when they work with me. At the very lowest baseline, no one has ever walked out of my office feeling worse than they did when they got there, but more often life-changing healing and pain relief is the result. Alternative and "direct-care" providers will ensure you get the most value for your hard earned money, because we are also getting the most direct, rewarding and ultimately effective relationship we like to have with our clients.
So despite what the mainstream says, trust your gut and make the effort to find out what alternative treatments may actually get you where you'd like to be. Look for providers with experience, and listen to all the options. Most of us take pride in our practices, and strive to provide the best possible care to our clients. As soon as middlemen and third-parties get involved, you are compromising the quality of care, and the personal relationship that is essential to getting better.
If working with ArrowSpine Manual Therapy is something you are curious about, please contact me to set up a phone call or an in-person office visit to learn more!
Sincerly, \ Brian Romanelli, LMT
ArrowSpine Manual Therapy