PATIENT STORY OF THE MONTH! Trying Something New Opens the Door to Relief
We’ve all heard that laughter is the best medicine, and it turns out that human physiology supports this claim.When we laugh, our body releases a flood of feel-good chemicals and neurotransmitters. Our blood flow increases, and our production of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, decreases. Oh, and laughing also burns calories! The feel-good, endorphin-inducing benefits of laughter are exactly what prompted Dr. Madan Kataria to develop laughter yoga in 1995. Laughter yoga incorporates breathing, stretching, clapping, and of course, laughing. Kataria developed the initial idea after coming across research into the benefits of laughter on overall health and well-being. He began to put the research into practice by telling jokes to his patients, and after seeing the positive effects, he took his material to a local park. Parkgoers, who were initially skeptical, joined in on the practice, and the first laughter yoga club was born. The laughter meetup had everyone in high spirits — until the group ran out of jokes. Unsure of what to do next, Kataria found another medical book suggesting the group didn’t need jokes to laugh. Fake laughter is just as beneficial as the real thing because the body can’t tell the difference between the two. Collaborating with this wife, Madhuri, Kataria combined common yoga warmups and breathing techniques with facilitated laughter to create the form of laughter yoga that is practiced worldwide today. If you’re interested in trying laughter yoga for yourself, then you’re in luck. Laughter yoga clubs exist across the United States and the world.Videos onYouTube can teach the basics, but laughter yoga tends to be most beneficial in a group setting. Just think about the last time you found yourself in a fit of giggles with a group of friends or during a comedy show. Didn’t it feel great? Rather than wait for a silly situation to trigger laughter, use laughter yoga to promote laughter and alleviate stress on any day at any time. LAUGH WITH ME! A Lighthearted Approach to Decreasing Stress
Before our patient Mrs. Kennedy came to our clinic and started receiving treatment for her neuropathy, it was excruciating for her to be on her feet. Throughout her day, she would experience burning, aching, and
even itching of her feet. “It felt like someone putting nails into my feet or like I was walking on glass,” she remembers. At times, the inside of her feet would even swell “beyond the point of walking.” Due to the pain she felt, Mrs. Kennedy couldn’t participate or enjoy the activities she loved. She was unable to take walks around her neighborhood or participate at her gym.While this was disheartening for Mrs. Kennedy, it wasn’t what truly dismayed her. “The thing that hurt me the most is that when I was in the classroom, I was unable to work with my students or play with my grandbabies.That really hurt.” Wanting to be able to walk on her feet again without pain, she turned to our services here at Superior Health Centers, and our doctors and nurses walked her through the process. “When they first said they were going to inject me in the feet, I said,‘Heck to the no!’ until they explained it to me exactly how it was going to be.The nurse was very gentle with me, and it did hurt a little bit,” she admits, “but what pain is not worth getting relief?” Mrs. Kennedy started on treatments, and the results have lifted her spirits immensely. “Right now, I can walk, I can play with my grandbabies, and I can even jump rope!” She is very thankful to have given these treatments a try, and she encourages others to follow in her footsteps and to not be afraid of trying something new. “If what you’re doing is not successful, then reach out and go beyond.” For information regarding our injection treatments, call us at 888-530-6465 today.
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