Special Projects, Story Telling, and Myofascial Release

I talked about a project I was working on in my last post and it is finally finished! As I talked about my work in my last post I mentioned John Barnes, a physical therapist who has profoundly influenced my life. I have taken seminars that presented his version of myofascial release for almost 15 years. In that time I have learned many things about the mind/body connection and how we can provide a way for both of these to go through profound changes within a unique healing environment. Going through school we talked a lot about how the mind and the body were connected and true healing had to include both the mind and the body. Unfortunately we didn't learn any methods to treat both.

What John Barnes has done, through his own experience, intuition and experimentation, is to create the unique treatment method called Myofascial Release. There are older forms of myofascial release, that some of you may have heard about, that often force the body system. Myofascial release, as John teaches it, is not always pain free, but the force used is always gentle and never forces its way through. It also addresses the mind as it dwells in the body through unique methods called unwinding and rebounding. While these are difficult to explain in words, the experience can be quite profound. It also allows the treatment to go deeper and provides more permanent results.

A therapist, using myofascial release, can treat many problems that often require surgery or other more invasive treatments that are often less than ideal solutions. I have helped clients avoid rotator cuff repairs, back surgery, neck surgery, carpal tunnel surgery, and surgical releases to tight areas such as the plantar fascia, lateral patellar tightness, and frozen shoulders. You can read more about this treatment by reading the articles at the myofascial release web site.

Through the years I have asked John about how he came up with many of the ideas contained in his treatment methods. In his story I gained not only answers, but I got to observe the process that John went through. Its not a linear path. It has many branches and some dead ends. The essential ideas that interested me were how he integrated these experiences into useful treatment methods.

John uses a teaching style that allows a person to develop an awareness that allows a great deal of creativity and intuition to play a larger role in treating these complex problems that people present. So much of this understanding, for me, came through hearing John tell his own story. I wanted this to be available to not only other therapists, but to clients as well.

On March 2, 2007 my brother Stew and a crew we assembled were allowed to come to John's house and interview him. As he sat in front of his fireplace, his story unfolded in his own voice, in his unique way. My plan was to make this interview available to everyone. This interview is now available as a DVD for anyone to hear and experience.

Even if you don't fully know what myofascial release is, this is a fascinating story. There are many things to resonate with. In the professional world myofascial release is becoming more and more known because the results are powerful and even more so with a skilled therapist. John has been asked to give 8 hour presentations to the American Back society a number of times and there is standing room only. This is attended by physicians, therapists, and chiropractors from all over the world. But, I believe that it is important to now educate a wider audience to this treatment method. This was one of my goals for this project. I wanted to make myofascial release more accessible to the general population. I believe story telling is an effective way to do this.

In terms of satisfaction, this work has been something that I have gained great enjoyment from. It continues to challenge, inspire, and change me. When I decided to go into physical therapy in high school, the work I do now is what I envisioned myself doing then. It has provided me some of the deepest spiritual connections that I have experienced in my life. It still surprises me and provides a lot of joy.

I encourage you to read the articles and if you are a visual learner or want to hear it from John himself, get the DVD.

Healing as a spiritual walk... literally!

Erica Davis is a patient that my wife has treated that suffered a spinal cord injury due to a vascular defect that bled and put pressure on her spinal cord, taking away her ability to walk. She had been a healthy competitive tri-athlete and suddenly became unable to walk. She soon found out that health insurance doesn't pay to help you walk. It only pays to teach you how to go from your chair to the bed and back.

Awakenings Health Institute and Project Walk are programs that believe most spinal cord injured patients can regain their ability to walk with the proper stimulation. It is an aggressive training program that uses exercise to stimulate the regrowth of spinal nerve function. There are a number of research studies that show that exercise is a major factor in maintaining the health and growth of the central nervous system. Many spinal cord injured persons have intact spinal cords that have been traumatized, but have a potential, under the right stimulation, to recover much of their function.

In my opinion, the lack of willingness by insurance companies to cover this rehabilitation is a major moral fault. In addition to not covering the rehab there is a lack of availability of information. Unless a person is aggressive, the medical system tends to guide you into less than ideal solutions that essentially give up on the possibility of recovery. Because many medical insurance companies are publicly traded the advantages of pooling funds to help people are lost because these funds are taken away to pay shareholders, CEOs, and a whole groups of employees hired to dole out as little care as possible. The care that is given tend to be therapies that the insurance company can invest in such as pharmaceuticals. This way money is sent into investments that emphasize the desire of the insurance company to retain profits rather than help people get well.

The care that does require an actual person to treat has been made more and more difficult by such methods as capitation, which requires a caregiver to take care of all the patients in their area for one flat fee. This rewards caregivers for not giving care because the more care they give the less money they make. This is why many doctors are overloaded with patients and to survive have to choose those medical solutions that move people through the system by treating symptoms rather than taking the time to look at the whole person. There is also less incentive to be innovative because innovation makes more people want to come in to get treated with even less returns and more work.

While we are waiting for this terrible system to get fixed there is a great need for the type of care that Awakenings Health Institute and Project Walk offer. There are many spinal cord patients that are willing to put in the work required to get back their ability to walk, but don't have the funds to get treated. Often their injury takes away their ability to make a living placing them even further behind.

Right now Erica has a Donation Site where you can purchase many different items that you normally buy and help her and others get the treatment they need. I would invite you to give as you are able to support programs like these that offer hope and practical solutions to spinal injured persons to gain their optimal potential.

Erica is now on staff at Awakenings Health Institute. One of the founders and many of the staff are not only health professionals but recovered spinal cord injured patients. Erica has been competing in handcycle races and has met many people including Robin Williams, champion triathletes, and others who have encouraged her in her work to make life flow. She is showing many encouraging signs and continues to make progress toward her goal of walking.

P.S. After being asked to take a picture with her, sitting on her lap, Robin told her, "This is the most fun I have had all day!" He and others were there to support all the members of the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

What is Salvation?

The word salvation comes up in spiritual dialog quite often. What is interesting is we often convert that to saved, as in lifting someone out of the clutches of danger like a superhero would do. The root word in salvation is actually salve, which refers to a healing balm or lotion. In one image we have superman flying down and saving someone from harm, in the other we have someone offering or applying a healing balm to someone else in the pain of disease.

I remember finding Batman far more interesting than Superman. Batman did his "good" deeds in secret and anonymously, where as superman was very public, even though he had his humble side as Clark Kent. Batman had wealth and non superhuman athletic abilities that his passion for justice honed and he had his, not so humble, public persona millionaire Bruce Wayne. Superman was born both super strong and super good. He was Jesus like, except he was indestructible in a physical sense, but was vulnerable often because of his own "goodness." For example, he would come to save someone even though he knew he might die from exposure to kryptonite.

Each of the hero saviors had their own motivations for saving others. Batman came from loneliness and anger. Superman came from loneliness and empathy. Each isolated by their own "greatness" and by their own pain.

If we look to a salve or healing lotion, there is no hero. If there is a hero, its the salve itself. It takes no super human ability to give someone the healing lotion or to apply it. An individual can't apply salve to hundreds of people at the same time. (After I wrote that last sentence I had this vision of some guy with a fire hose filled with lotion. Somehow I think something would be lost in fire hose balm application.) It is most likely a person to person experience, or its something a person can apply to themselves after being given it. It is not an isolating experience, its a process that requires at least two people to be involved. In fact the healing might not be in the balm alone, but may require someone to touch.