After an accident I have had physical therapy and I’m doing better. As part of my therapy I am supposed to do sit-ups/leg raises, but the strain on my lower back is too much and the next day I can barely stand up or bend over. I know as I do more therapy it will get better, but I was wondering if I could use EFT to do the sit-ups/leg raises to build my muscles?
 photo by Matthew Fang |
Here is a similar experience I had with a client which I think will shed light on what you’re doing. I was working with a dancer who had a hip injury and was having trouble doing a turning dance move.
I had her visualize herself doing the move. I then asked her how much of the move she was doing. 100% was the move at full speed and flawless. Anything less than full speed or full movement was rated less than that. We then tapped on the aspect of the trouble she was having. These ranged from feeling too stiff in the visualization to worrying that the move was too fast and she was going to fall. We tapped on whatever was short of 100%. Then she visualized herself doing the move again. We repeated the process until she got to 100%.
She was then able to repeat the process on her own, but she didn’t need to do this many times as the hip issues went away very quickly after we started doing this work.
I would have you do a similar visualization. Imagine you are doing the sit-ups/leg raises. Tune in to how easy or hard it is for you. What are the worries you have about doing the exercise? Is it going to hurt, take too long, or ache in the morning? Then tap on these issues.
[Note: This question came in a few weeks ago. I answered the question directly and this is part of the e-mail received back.
After a week of tapping and visualizations I am able to reach to my knees — which is more than I’ve been able to do in almost one year. My stretches aren’t painful and (oddly or not) the soreness that should be there due to inactivity is far far less. Say a 5 on a scale of 1-10, ten being I’m not moving out of this bed, heating pad or not. Thanks again!]
Dear Gene, I don’t know the Laws or rules where you may live, but I was wondering. I graduated from Massage Therapy School years ago.I was a little surprised at an answer you gave a writer. I know in our field (MT)we are not allowed to Diagnose, or to give advise outside of our Training or “Scope of Practice” I realize EFT is very powerful. Many things can be helped or even cured. Even still, we live in a Litigious world where MANY would just Love a Lawsuit Payday. I have no idea as to your training besides EFT. I just know that if a stranger asked me “…
but I was wondering if I could use EFT to do the sit-ups/leg raises to build my muscles”. This is one of those Slippery Slopes where, at least in my neck of the woods, To not inform the questioner That Only a Dr.could answer such a question. I am unaware of the Ability of EFT to “Build Muscles” Maybe I’m reading too much into this, I just know that my Professional Liability Coverage is Very Expensive, I don’t need any Malpractice suits nor would I feel comfortable ethically, answering questions outside of my training. This is also definitely
an Ethical area. No wonder The Shrinks (MD.’s) feel so threatened. They would jump all over this with, “This is why we go to school for 20 years!”
We where always taught “When in doubt, refer it out” (To a M.D.) Yes, I am well aware That Gary says “to try it on EVERYTHING” (Just spent a fantastic week as his and his Daughter Tinas Guest at a filming of Veterans with PTSD) If I didn’t know 1st hand how busy the poor guy is, I would e-mail him to get his opinion. Has anyone else wondered this point? ThanX, Debi
I agree with what you have written here. I think there are a number of EFT practitioner who give the rest of a bad name by using EFT on things they are not qualified for. My rule of thumb is, “If I am not qualified to work with it without EFT then I am not qualified to work with it with EFT.”
In the example given in the article at no point was I diagnosing what was going on her body. We were only tapping on how her visualization of the movement was like. I was never having her do the movement for me. Many times I told here, “To take total responsibility for her body and that she should take the advice of her physical therapist before doing any types of exercise.” I should have been much more clear in my writing.
Thanks for the feedback.
ThanX for clearing it all up for me. It truly is sad that we live in such a litigious society. One where we have to remember the lengths some Cretins will go to, just for an easy buck. I appreciate your efforts and for the opportunity to Learn here…ThanX