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OUR ADVICE DURING YOUR ORTHOKINESY TREATMENTS

Are you currently undergoing orthokinesic OPS treatment? Below you will find all the advice you need to optimise your treatment. You will also find out what the criteria are for choosing the right shoes.

You have just received an orthokinesic manipulation. Your therapist has researched the areas of tension and fixation present in your body and then corrected the lesions that maintain them, using various postural and dynamic techniques.

The aim of the orthokinesic manipulation is to restore overall postural mobility. It is therefore not limited to unblocking the symptomatic area. The orthokinesist seeks to free key areas of the body to enable it to regain all its dynamic postural functions.

At the end of the consultation, you may feel relief, liberation or even lightness. It is important to know that orthokinesic manipulation also restores blood circulation in the freed areas. A process of waste elimination follows: the body ‘opens the valves’ and takes advantage of this to perform an internal cleansing. It is therefore normal that within the next 3 to 4 days you will feel unpleasant effects such as a reappearance of pain, muscular tension and stiffness. This is known as the ‘rebound effect’. It corresponds to the effort made by your body to regain its state of equilibrium.

Rest is not advisable after orthokinesic manipulation. You should resume your normal activity, avoiding however excessive exertion for 3 to 4 days. Efforts must be dosed below the pain threshold.

In order to activate the blood circulation of your muscles, to maintain the mobility acquired during the session and to help the muscles regain their elasticity, it is advisable to move around (walking, short runs...), to take hot baths and to stay well hydrated.

After an orthokinesic manipulation, you should feel an improvement within 15 days. When the result is insufficient, it is advisable to see your orthokinesist again. It may be necessary to carry out an OPS postural assessment to find out why your body is defending itself. If an OPS postural assessment has already been carried out before the manipulation, it is possible that the body has become defensive again as a result of habit. This is the case when tensions have been present for a long time. Several sessions may then be necessary to ensure a cerebral anchorage.
You have just undergone active postural rehabilitation using adjustable and adaptable elastic straps, depending on the pathology or mechanical defects analysed by your orthokinesist.

The objectives of this rehabilitation are to reprogram the proprioception of a movement, to strengthen deficient postural muscle chains and to free up areas of tension or fixation.

The advice to be followed is identical to that of orthokinesic manipulation since the latter can also promote the release of tension or cause muscle pains if the orthokinesist has given priority to muscle strengthening during the session.

READ THE STRAPS INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
You have just acquired plantar activators (stimulating active insoles): they are designed to balance you, just like shock absorbers that balance the chassis of a car.

For this reason, it is advisable to respect a period of progressive adaptation and training :
• For the more sedentary, you start with 20 minutes a day for the first week and double this time each week, until you can wear the insoles all day long. • For the more active, you can start with one hour a day and double the time each day.

For good proprioceptive and postural rehabilitation, it is advisable to wear your plantar activators for at least one hour a day.

During the adaptation phase with the ‘city insoles’, it is advisable to wear the ‘sport insoles’ (with sports shoes) while walking, before wearing them during sports activity. It will then be easier to start exercising with the ‘sport insoles’, as they are even more stimulating than the ‘city insoles’. The first time you go out with ‘sport insoles’ should not exceed 20 minutes. You can increase each session by 10 to 20 minutes until you wear them during the entire activity.

You must listen to your body and remove the insoles if you feel any muscle contractions (the effort has probably been too great). Rest for a day or two can be beneficial when there has been an exaggeration in the wearing time, especially in the beginning. It is important to know that the strongest correction is often in the heel (for custom-made activators). So it is normal to have a sensation of support in this area. There are protective velcro pads under the insole in the friction areas. Don't worry if you see the carbonesate base piercing through. This is normal wear and tear that does not get worse after piercing (this is proof of the dynamism of the sole).

You can wash the soles with a sponge lightly soaked in soapy water. Never wash them in the washing machine, nor place them near a heat source to dry them more quickly (radiator...).

A check-up is normally carried out 6 months after the beginning of the orthopaedic treatment. If you still have problems, you can visit your therapist after 2 months of wearing the active orthopaedic insoles. Please note that the plantar activators can easily be adapted by adding elements or straps if the stimulation needs to be adjusted. 

Exercises are presented in the video on how to use the activators. It is advisable to perform these exercises regularly for a few minutes a day, for better postural rehabilitation.



READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THE KINEPOD PLANTAR ACTIVATORS

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THE ORTHES PLANTAR ACTIVATORS

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THE TEDOP PLANTAR ACTIVATORS
You have just acquired a mouth activator, a so-called ‘stimulating active dental tray’. Its aim is to balance your jaw muscles symmetrically, in order to rebalance your head posture. Indeed, when the head is tilted, the posture is also tilted, which can lead to postural compensation and pain.

The mouth activator should be used passively at the beginning, as you have to adapt anyway to keeping it in your mouth. Initially, the brain believes it is a food so that hypersalivation is stimulated. This is already a first exercise to strengthen the muscles of the tongue: if the tongue is placed under the mouthpiece, you can push on it (upwards) in order to swallow your saliva. After 1 month of wearing, you can do the same exercise by pushing on the palate. You can then perform contractions for 5 to 6 seconds and then release for the same length of time (to be repeated several times).

Your active mouthpiece can also be used actively by chewing it LIGHTLY (never chewing strongly). The aim is to work on the endurance of the chewing muscles and to balance their tonus (left-right of the face). Lateral and forward movements of the jaw can also be done, but all exercises should be done gradually: from 2 to 3 minutes up to 20 minutes per day.

For very nervous people who clench their teeth while sleeping, it is advisable to perform the exercises before going to sleep. Once the jaws are relaxed, the clenching of the teeth should no longer be present. If the clenching persists at night (intense bruxism), it is advisable to wear the mouthpiece also at night.

It is also normal to wake up without the mouthpiece in your mouth: this is a sign that your muscles have become relaxed during your sleep.

Exercises are presented in the video on how to use the activators. It is advisable to do these exercises regularly a few minutes a day, for better postural rehabilitation.



READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THE KINEPOD MOUTH ACTIVATORS

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF THE TEDOP MOUTH ACTIVATORS
You have just acquired an active eye board to rehabilitate the muscles of your eyes. This board is an orthoptic rehabilitation tool. Its aim is to strengthen the oculomotor muscles, rehabilitate the coordination of the oculomotor muscles, improve oculomotor proprioception and act on the posture in descending chain. The active eye board should be used in a progressive way: from 2 to 3 minutes of exercise a day in the beginning to 15 to 20 minutes a day.

The active eyeboard is placed in front of the patient's nose, either horizontally or vertically, depending on the desired muscle work. You should visualise two lines that intersect at two points of the same colour. Try to move the intersection of these two lines to the other points, in order to work on the convergence and divergence of the eyes. The easiest exercise is to place the board horizontally, looking at a point on the centre line. This line will split at the fixed point. Then try to change the intersection of these two lines on another point.

The norm is to succeed in crossing the two off-centre lines in order to train the lateral muscles of the eyes.

In a vertical position, start first by crossing the central lines, then the top and bottom lines of the board. If you can't get the lines to cross, try to follow each point on each line using one eye, horizontally and vertically. Do the exercise with each eye and then try again to cross the lines with both eyes.



READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ACTIVE EYE BOARD
Choosing the right shoes is not always easy. This is why OPS Clinic has established criteria for good shoes and regularly analyses the shoes on the market to give you our opinion.

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