Aarti Shah McTimoney Chiropractor celebrates 25 years in practice with a torn meniscus!!

The end of 2014 marks 25 years as a McTimoney Chiropractor for me – a milestone that I never expected to reach when I graduated in 1989 only 21 years of age.

It has been a year where I’ve taken a fair amount of time off, some for pleasure and some due to pain. The pain being a torn meniscus (a tear in my knee cartilage) which eventually forced me to get off my feet and rest. And resting I am as I write this on a beach in sunny Spain waiting for the sun to go down.

I never fully appreciated how painful a torn knee cartilage is – how could I as I had never experienced one before. I have spent nearly 5 months since May doing rehabilitation exercises on it, icing it, have McTimoney Chiropractic sessions, ultrasound, painkillers,homeopathy, healing sessions, praying and maintaining my upper body strength in case I needed crutches if I had surgery.

For the best part I have tried my best to be positive but sometimes darkness has engulfed me with anger, frustration and pain and that all encompassing question, “Why had this had happened to me?”  With all the measures and steps that I had implemented for my recovery one would think that I would have been fully healed by now – no? Sometimes the best solution is to step back and do nothing. This is what I finally realised and was forced to do at the end of Aug. With 1 weeks notice to my clients I cancelled all my work for 5 weeks and ran away to the mountains in Spain. For the first few weeks I slept more that I can ever recall as I began to fully realise how exhausting and weary pain can be. Slowly over the weeks I resurfaced ready in time for my clients arrival to mark the 25 years celebration of my being in practice and their experience of McTimoney sessions with me. I was overwhelmed and honoured that clients would come to support me.

At inside Out Retreat Spain (www.insideoutretreat.com) my clients and I participated in juicing, detoxing, mountain walks, posture awareness, aquacise. Yoga, Pilates, inspirational movies and talks, alternative treatments and McTimoney Chiropractic sessions from me as well as just hanging out together.

Over the period of 4 weeks that I spent in Spain in September I felt rejuvenated, had lost weight through sleeping ( my knee was grateful), looked younger than I had done in a long time and was truly happy to be alive and virtually pain free in my knee – I’d forgotten how good it felt to feel well. The power of rest and doing “absolutely nothing” is underrated – for me it has been highly beneficial and productive in my healing.

My time away has only confirmed the power of McTimoney Chiropractic – one does not need ongoing sessions if clients are willing to participate in their own recovery through appropriate exercise, diet and nutrition and of course adequate rest as I found out recently

More than ever before I stand by my quote on my website by Plato

“Self – conquest is the greatest of victories”