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Friday, December 16, 2011

Pain at the End Range of Joints- While the Range Changes the Pain May Not


   In working with a client who is in pain in a particular movement, we must assess their range-of-motion and establish starting points for any change in order to be able to demonstrate improvement. Our client may not realize their improved movement has taken them to the point of pain.

   When we take our movements to the end range of the joint we can encounter pain, which is a feedback mechanism to protect our joints, muscle and tendons.
End range can be:
Structural:

  • The limits of the bony surfaces, tendons or ligaments

Physiological:
  • In response to overtraining, underuse, lack of stretching or trauma and injury
   When we are working with our clients it's important to explain the difference between the two and to emphasize that pain from either can be acute. Typically the client will demonstrate the restriction in movement marked by pain at the limited end range as the reason for the office visit, a sort of “test-to-pain”.


   It is vital at that point to measure or provide for the client a reproducible reminder of their end range. After we work on the area(s) there can be a significant increase in pain-free range-of-motion. This increase may not be noticed by the client as they are eager to “test to pain”. If they find the same pain at end range without being shown the difference in range they can assume there has been no improvement.


   Before the client begins their “test-to-pain” demonstrate the initial end range to give them a point of reference to assess the changes that have taken place. We may have restored 20%, 30%, 50%, even 80% of normal structural motion, but unless we help them to see their starting point, we will never convince them of the journey they have taken.


   We also will be challenged in getting them to continue on their healing journey without that proof. Asking the client to move slowly from the beginning of their range-of-motion can give them a clear idea of their enhanced status. Focusing on the new capacity and emphasizing that new movement habits are being built will serve to stabilize progress and prevent re-injury.


   These ideas are key to helping our client properly evaluate our value to them and maintain them on their healing path.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cellular Response- What a surprise

   I am in a mild state of euphoria over my continuing work with a new(to me) technique called Cellular Response.It was developed by Dan Yamaguchi, a therapist on call with most of the NFL teams. It is a gentle energetic and structural therapeutic form that has produced some amazing results with my clients and in our practice workshops.Some of what I have witnessed with the technique


  • Participated in straightening a clients moderate scoliosis in 20 minutes. 
  • Reset a shoulder that has not only been separated and healed incorrectly but was affected by a stroke 20 years previously, restoring motion that hadn't been available in the 20 year period.
  • Relieved thoracic outlet syndrome in a few sessions
  • Restored postural alignment in less than a minute.
  • Reset shoulder and rib imbalances in moments
  • Relieved low back strain in a session.
  All of this was done with little effort and minimal or no discomfort to the client. I hope that more people can share this technique. It is available to anyone who is interested in learning it.
I can refer you to upcoming classes and practitioners in California if you are unable to see me.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Holiday Distress or Destress?

De-Stress Your Holidays-
Give Yourself and Those You Love the Gift of Health
   We are called by many outside voices to give, give, give … "Find the right present for my daughter, my wife, my grandmother, show everyone how good a giver I have to be." We are told to be generous to everyone ... except ourselves.


   The tensions of family get-togethers, end-of the year expenses, looking outside ourselves for satisfaction and validation for a job-well-done can take a heavy toll. We find the gift either wasn't appreciated or wanted. We may even find it sold-out before we try to buy it. We are looking for satisfaction and finding frustration. No wonder the holiday season can have the opposite effect we expect.



   We enter the "most wonderful time of the year" following riots in stores over $4 waffle irons, pepper-spraying those who would cut in a checkout line and walking over a dying man to get to a sale item. Perhaps the focus on material items has gotten out of hand? When we put ourselves and others at risk in order to buy a holiday present, it seems our priorities may be just a bit out-of-whack.



   We may feel sore and stressed-out, empty and dissatisfied. Is it the season or the idea of giving that is the problem? No, the problem seems to come when we look into the nature of the gift. Are we genuinely giving what mirrors our love and concern for the recipient? Or are we falling into the "thing trap"?
I'd like to believe that we want the best for our fellow man and woman as well as our family and friends and we are merely under too much pressure to consume, buy and spend by retailers. Push has definitely come to shove and we need to step back and reconsider.



   Finding some quiet time for ourselves to reflect on what is really important can be very helpful.



   What can we give that shows we care, that we want the best for the receiver? What can we enjoy giving, knowing that our gift will be well received? How about the gift of health, of comfort in the morning, easy breathing and movement during the day, pleasant sleep at night?



   How can we do that for those we care about? Promise to be an exercise or diet partner so they can develop a healthy regimen. Offer them an appointment or set of appointments with a health practitioner so they can bring back balance and comfort into their lives. Just as we can do for ourselves.
Taking care of ourselves and those we care about doesn't have to be so hard on us or on them, just give the gift of health.
© Kevin Minney 2011


Special Holidays Offers- 
Free De-stress Kit from Heartmath Institute- 
email me a request and I'll send you one right away



20% off on all sessions and gift certificates booked in December


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I Have a Wonderful News
For You Cellular Resonance

A powerful new technique I have waited a year to learn

Let me share the amazing effects with you

I am offering  50% off a session of Cellular Resonance through October
 
Please contact me at my office to set an appointment

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Back Pain -A Misdiagnosed Epidemic with Safe Pain-free Answers?

Back pains....Image by JD'na via Flickr
Low Back Pain- A Misdiagnosed Epidemic?

   Low Back Pain is a problem that is said to affect 80% of the United States population at some time through their lifetimes. Even the common cold would be pleased to reach that many people. There are billions of dollars in lost productivity, medical expenses ranging for prescriptions of anti-inflammatories through the strongest painkillers to Physical therapy, exercise, chiropractic and osteopathic therapies and even surgical intervention. Yet there is no clear understanding in mainstream medical practice of the real causes of low back pain. 

 
   Modern MRI imaging can show us the picture of a bulging or herniated disc with the physician’s focus being on the repair or removal of the injured tissue.  The disc injury has the potential to mechanically press on a nerve root and its herniated material is inflammatory and toxic when in contact with the nerve, resulting in pain and debility for the client but the treatment for the injury often does not address the cause of the disc injury or the lack of recovery after the disc injury has been addressed.

 
   The explanation of how and why the disc came to be in that state is usually omitted.  An analogy might be when our front tire shows abnormal wear, getting the tire replaced without seeing if we have an alignment problem that is causing the wear. We can continue to replace our tires or have on-going therapy, epidural injections and even surgery without addressing the issue that fundamental to our problem. 

 
   Our spine not only carries the central communication cable of our nervous system, the spinal cord, it is the structural “suspension bridge” for our body. As the central structural member, it is intrinsically linked to our lower body movement components, the legs, through the pelvis and sacrum, and to our breathing and upper body support, the ribcage. These links mean it is susceptible to influence from an imbalance in the pelvis, sacrum and ribcage. 

 
    In the case of the pelvis an imbalance can mean that the halves of the pelvis are not level leaving the lower back to have an uneven force acting on it, tipping it as if standing sideways on a hill. This puts a force on the lumbar vertebrae and opens up more space on one side of the spine than the other providing a space for the disc to herniate into. 

 
   In the case of the sacrum it can rotate to support the spine but fail to return to neutral, putting a torquing force into the lower back. 

 
   The ribcage can sustain an injury or restriction that limits its normal movement during breathing. While the body is taking its 11-13,000 breaths each day a side-bending or torquing signal is sent through the spine with each breath.

 
   In very few cases are these basic inputs to the imbalance and injury of the spine considered, let alone addressed. The result is greater costs for the client in terms of continuing pain and debility and in increased medical costs.

 
  Addressing all of the areas mentioned with minimal intrusion on the body is what are called for. Hanna Somatics re-educates the body to proper sequential function, Strain-Counterstrain relieve imbalances throughout the torso, pelvis and legs. Bowenwork  addresses the spine and its cooperative actions with the pelvis, sacrum and ribcage. Using functional restorative exercise like Muscle Balance and Function will provide for stable continuity of these systems. Providing a comprehensive method of quickly and powerfully addressing low back pain for long-term relief and significantly reduced costs is what these modalities can do.

-Kevin Minney

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Restless Leg- Time to give it a rest?



   Restless Legs syndrome is a very uncomfortable affliction affecting somewhere between 3% to more than 15% of the population. It is painful, but more seriously it is a sleep thief, keeping sufferers from having comfort and uninterrupted sleep. Cumulatively this can harm health, concentration, relationships, driving safety and work performance. Restless Leg Syndrome  (or RLS) is hard to diagnose. There can be a variety of issues involved, including an associated illness. The overall symptom is discomfort in the legs that appears after beginning any rest.   
   Sufferers have a strong urge to move their legs, which they may be unable to resist. The need to move can be accompanied by sensations that have been described as “creeping”, “itching”, “pulling”, “creepy-crawly”, “tugging”, or “’gnawing”. Symptoms start or increase when resting, the longer the rest, the greater chance the symptoms will occur and the more severe they are likely to be. Symptoms are worse in the evening; postures that can be bothersome during the night are not a problem during the day. Symptoms can reduce when legs are moved, with complete or partial relief coming for as long as the movement continues.       
   RLS often runs in families. It can appear as the result of an underlying condition such as peripheral neuropathy, kidney failure, Parkinson’s and diabetes. Successful treatment of the underlying disease can provide relief of the RLS. Anemia and low iron levels can contribute to worsening of the condition. ADHD is common in children and adults with RLS. More than 80 percent of people with RLS also experience a more common condition known as periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD). PLMD is characterized by involuntary leg twitching or jerking movements during sleep that typically occur every 10 to 60 seconds, sometimes throughout the night.    Unlike RLS, the movements caused by PLMD are involuntary-people have no control over them                                                                        
    There has been no research done on the myofascial nature of RLS, as that is not a road that pharmaceutical companies can make a profit on. That said there is ample physical evidence for a fascial basis for RLS, with it cutting across age, gender, and illness lines. The fascial tissue of the body is a common point. 
    If the fascia can be released of excessive tension, then the need to move can go away. And that, with Bowenwork, is what it does. While there have been no controlled clinical tests done using Bowenwork on RLS and PLMD, anecdotal evidence from around the world points to Bowen as having a simple drug-free solution to RLS that can give from 6 months to several years of relief.
References: www.rls.org/NetCommunity/Page; www.ninds.nih.gov/disorder/restlessl_legs/detail_restless_legs.htm
Please check on www.bowenwork.com for practitioners located around the world.
I'd love to hear what you think of this post and any requests you have for future posts.
Thanks
Kevin Minney 2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Stress- Causing you Distress? Stress Responses and Health

   Stress is a term coined by Hans Selye to describe the stimulus that an individual receives from either inner or outer sources.
That is to say, any input, whether physiological, psychological or environmental, we receive is a stress on us. The problem we have is that we confuse the input or stimulus with the response.
   Selye also said that there were different types of stress. One type that resulted in unhealthy responses he termed Distress. The other that resulted in positive effects he named Eu-stress.
   Dis-tress may be a case of a physical input. A noisy neighbor causes us to lose sleep and feel tired and unfocused at our work the next day. Eu-stress can be having a neighbor that has us over for a lively get-together that lasts until the wee hours, which we savor with fond memories the next day.
   As you can see by the way Selye categorized the different stresses that it is not a matter of what the input is, but rather a matter of its outcome, our response to it, that dictates whether stress is positive or negative. Popular culture has dictated that stress is bad when it actually has neutral value. The most important issue is what Selye termed the Stress Response. How do we respond to the inner and outer messages that we receive moment-to-moment, day-to-day throughout our lives?
Will we over-react with dramatic life-or-death responses, or will we calmly take in the stimulus and react appropriately?
   A central component of how we react and respond to stress is the organization of our nervous system and organ systems. We have what is called an Autonomic nervous system that controls 80% of the functions in our bodies. It has two major aspects. The Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic.
   The Sympathetic controls the immediate survival, “fight or flight”, functions like breathing and heart rate, glucose and adrenaline production, muscle tension and pain response.
   The Parasympathetic controls long-term survival functions like digestion, elimination, tissue regeneration and healing. Each works interdependently with the other, balancing their functions like two people on a see-saw. When one side is “up” or active, the other is “down” or quiet. So if one side is over-active or “stays on” too long, the other side can suffer. If there is too much Sympathetic reaction the long-term health of the body suffers. If there is too much Parasympathetic reaction, we could get run over by a truck.
   In our hectic society too much attention is paid to “fight or flight” so we are conditioned to react to stress as if it is an imminent survival issue. This results in over-stimulation, exhaustion, and malnutrition, along with the delay of our tissue repair functions for our circulatory systems and other organ functions.
  We need to practice our relaxation, where our calm response helps the Parasympathetic function can swing into action. Learning that a relaxed state is normal and natural state and maintaining that state is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Finding a balance between the Sympathetic portion and Parasympathetic portion helps our bodies operate in harmony.
   Using ways  initiate activity in the Parasympathetic, is an integral part of protecting our capacity to accelerate healing. Meditation, and visualization, can be powerful self-care tools to restore parasympathetic balance. Bowenwork is a modality that has a natural shift for the body into the parasympathetic state. Each session of Bowenwork begins by deeply relaxing the body, bringing the Parasympathetic into action to jump-start healing. These methods remind us of our natural healing state and of our powerful capacity to heal with the proper response to stress.


   I hope this article has provoked some interest and thoughts on the subject od stress and our various healthy and healthy responses to it. I hope to hear from you readers on the subject. I welcome your comments and contributions.
Kevin Minney 2011

Friday, April 1, 2011

Injuries and Injury Recovery



   Injuries, how do we recover from them? What is happening when we hurt ourselves and then are restored to health? What mechanism is at work that brings (or doesn’t bring) us healthy tissue, comfortable movement, an end to pain? We take for granted that we heal from a cut or a burn, that bruise will “go away”. What is really happening when these things go on?

   Organization, reorganization, communication and instant feedback all happen as a result of our healing process. We can see action taking place from the most visible level like changing the external posture of the body to accommodate a restriction brought about by the injury to the microscopic level where individual cells move from other parts of the body to assist in tissue regrowth. Beyond that we can measure organizing changes in tissue that we cannot even see.

   There is even electrical signaling entirely separate from nerve conduction going on in wound healing. Different levels of electrical potential are set up at the edges of the wound to align the cells that will be growing across the open wound1. Not only is the body sending building blocks for the healing of an area, it is “remote controlling” the arrangement of the blocks at a level that is entirely invisible.

   We have an astounding mechanism for repair and recovery available to us. Astounding, ultra-detailed, subtle and ready to help whenever we need it. And we need it every moment, since cells are being replaced every second of every day. New tissue to replace old and worn tissue completely enough so that it is said we have an entirely “new” body each 7 years.

   Well it may be that some bodies are “new” but you might be saying that yours doesn't feel particularly “new” or even completely recovered. Why is that with such a fantastic innate healing mechanism we don't often heal easily quickly or completely? What's wrong? Perhaps nothing is wrong as much as misdirected.

   There is a framework that is used to organize the involuntary activities of the body, from digesting to fear response, from breathing to keeping our our general muscle tone so we don't fall over. We call it the autonomic nervous system or ANS for short. It has two divisions, Sympathetic and Para-sympathetic, the  former focused on our short-term survival and the latter on our long-term survival.

   Sympathetic is our “fight or flight” part. It deals with muscle tension, blood flow heart rate, adrenalin production and our reaction to and mediation of pain. It is the “now” side. We run from the tiger, pull our hand from a hot stove, etc. Para-sympathetic is what we use between the incidents of fight or flight to keep ourselves fed, rested and renewed. Nutrition, cell growth and recovery, sleep all come under this divisions. Simple enough, two balanced parts to the mechanism that keeps us safe and healthy.

   Unfortunately the method of balance between these two divisions is a reciprocal one. When one is active the other is much less active. So if we have situations where there is no let-up in the “fight or flight” inputs like constant stress or chronic pain, healing has to be put on the back burner, to wait or be done in only a partial way. The body keeps tending to an emergency situation without taking care of its long-term needs.

   What can we do? We can focus on reducing pain to help the parasympathetic side take over. We can do breathing and meditation and visualization exercises such as Serge King's to relax and focus our healing. We can initiate gentle movement sometimes passive movement if we can't comfortably use our muscles yet. We can rest. allowing our bodies to workinternally istead of having to tend to externals. We can use a modality that can immediately move the body's reactions out of Sympathetic and into Para-sympathetic and facilitate healing, like Bowenwork or Reiki or Quantum Touch We can use a modality that pinpoints the body's attention on remembering its healing mission and generating supportive communication throughout the body to speed our healing. We can use Bowenwork, the modality that works with the body to relieve stress and recover from injury.

1Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance-James Oschmann- Butterworth Heinemann- 2003

 ©Kevin Minney

If you'd like to add a comment or actively disagree with me I welcome the opportunity to connect. Thanks for your time.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Pain That "Moves"

Illustration of the pain pathway in René Desca...Image via Wikipedia

   Pain is a sensation we all know. We may experience it from accident and injury, overuse, or illness.. When we can trace our pain to a specific incident or series of incidents we have a much easier chance of addressing and relieving the cause of our pain. There is no great detective work that needs to be done to “uncover the villain” causing our pain. What happens when we have no incident or incidents to point to? When we have no illness to blame? What happens when we have pain that occurs without warning, and can change locations in the body? What is happening when the pain “moves”? What can we do about it?
   Pain can be seen as a warning signal that a specific area of the body needs attention, now! That signal  means that the body is unable to handle the demands we are making on it and that we need to make a change right away. This inability can come from stress responses or damage. More often it comes from a chain of reactions that the body has made to restrictions we have caused.
   We may have a minor trauma to an area of the body that leaves us with contracted muscles or imbalances in our joints. The body responds by “robbing from Peter to pay Paul” and making a change in our movement to bring us back to as close to normal movement. Unfortunately, this can set off a chain of “robberies” that continue down the line progressively stealing movement, grace and ease until our body can no longer offer any compromise. That is when we have the cry for attention, pain.
   The painful area is usually the only the place we pay attention to, missing the chain of compromises or accommodations that have  lead the body to the pain response. These compromises or accommodations will not go away when we address the painful area. Often we will have only temporary relief when we focus on the painful area alone. When we fail to consider the events leading up to the body's pain response we will fail to correct the chain reaction that has been set off. The pain can begin to move around the body as accommodation shifts to other areas. We can chase and chase the pain without finding long-lasting relief if we do not address the chain of reactions that led to it. By addressing that chain we can bring long-term relief and balance to our body.
   Tracing the chain of compromise and accommodation would seem complicated and involved. Following the reactions back along the chain to  the original event  to bring back  balance and ease seems a tall order. How do we play detective? How do we relieve our mysterious pain that “moves”? How can we find each link in the chain in the proper sequence to release all the compromises and accommodations?
   Strangely enough we have only to turn to our own body for the answer. For every minute of every day our body is performing 100 million separate functions involving all our organs and cells, all of our muscles, nerves and tissues successfully and continually. The problem with our our pain is  only a fraction of a fraction of  what the body can successfully handle. The body is capable of making such a minor correction if given the chance. The body  remembers how to heal and will release that chain of compromise and accommodation if we focus on it.  The body knows the sequence, it created the sequence.  How do we focus our body on that sequence?
   That answers are simple. We look at the areas that are most restricted in movement, not just the painful areas. We can see from the pattern of greaetst to least restricted areas of the body the pattern the body has produced in accommodating  to trauma and injury. Addressing the restrictions in the order of greatest to least gives us a means to address the pain that has moved around the body due to its pattern of accommodation.
   Using a variety of body reading and structural assessmentt methods, going to someone who understands biomechanics can be ways to address this. We can also work with A Bodytalk practitioner or a Bowenwork therapist to access the internal information of the body and set it on the healing [path taking care of the "pain thet moves".
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Friday, March 11, 2011

Sinus issues and Drug-Free Ways to Address Them- Alameda and SF Bay Area

   Sinusitis and upper respiratory issues are problems that can bring our lives to a grinding halt. Whether the cause is from the sinuses or other respiratory issues, the symptoms can be similar, so I am including an excerpt fro the National Institute of Health on Sinusitis to begin this article
 
   Sinusitis simply means your sinuses are infected or inflamed, but this gives little indication of the misery and pain this condition can cause. Health care experts usually divide sinusitis cases into three categories:
Acute, which last for 3 weeks or less                                          
Chronic, which usually last for 3 to 8 weeks but can continue for months or even years
Recurrent, which are several acute attacks within a year                          
 
   Health care experts estimate that 37 million Americans are affected by sinusitis every year. Health care providers report nearly 32 million cases of chronic sinusitis to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually. Americans spend millions of dollars each year for medications that promise relief from their sinus symptoms.
   Sinuses are hollow air spaces in the human body. When people say, "I'm having a sinus attack," they usually are referring to symptoms in one or more of four pairs of cavities, or sinuses, known as paranasal sinuses.These cavities, located within the skull or bones of the head surrounding the nose, include the Frontal sinuses over the eyes in the brow area; Maxillary sinuses inside each cheekbone; Ethmoid sinuses just behind the bridge of the nose and between the eyes; and Sphenoid sinuses behind the ethmoids in the upper region of the nose and behind the eyes.
   Each sinus has an opening into the nose for the free exchange of air and mucus, and each is joined with the nasal passages by a continuous mucous membrane lining. Therefore, anything that causes a swelling in the nose—an infection, an allergic reaction, or another type of immune reaction—also can affect the sinuses. Air trapped within a blocked sinus, along with pus or other secretions may cause pressure on the sinus wall. The result is the sometimes intense pain of a sinus attack. Similarly, when air is prevented from entering a paranasal sinus by a swollen membrane at the opening, a vacuum can be created that also causes pain.
   The location of your sinus pain depends on which sinus is affected. Headache when you wake up in the morning is typical of a sinus problem. Pain when your forehead over the Frontal sinuses is touched may indicate that your Frontal sinuses are inflamed. Infection in the Maxillary sinuses can cause your upper jaw and teeth to ache and your cheeks to become tender to the touch. Since the Ethmoid sinuses are near the tear ducts in the corner of the eyes, inflammation of these cavities often causes swelling of the eyelids and tissues around your eyes, and pain between your eyes. Ethmoid inflammation also can cause tenderness when the sides of your nose are touched, a loss of smell, and a stuffy nose. Although the Sphenoid sinuses are less frequently affected, infection in this area can cause earaches, neck pain, and deep aching at the top of your head. Most people with sinusitis, however, have pain or tenderness in several locations, and their symptoms usually do not clearly indicate which sinuses are inflamed. Other symptoms of sinusitis can include fever; weakness; tiredness; a cough that may be more severe at night; runny nose (rhinitis) or nasal congestion. In addition, the drainage of mucus from the sphenoid or other sinuses down the back of your throat (postnasal drip) can cause you to have a sore throat. Mucus drainage also can irritate the membranes lining your larynx (upper windpipe). Not everyone with these symptoms, however, has sinusitis.                                    

    The soft tissues of the sinuses and nose are not the only actors in the drama. The bones of the skull of which the sinuses and nose are parts must rhythmically move in unison to pump the cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and spinal cord. This fluid nourishes and maintains the health of the brain and spinal cord. A variety of stresses or accident can interfere with normal cranial rhythms, producing similar symptoms and involving the sinuses.
   
   Also the major drains for waste and immune system fluids for the head lay just behind the muscles that run from the top of the chest bone or sternum to behind and below each ear. These muscles are called the sterno-cleidomastoid muscles. Our posture and stress can cause these muscles to become overly tight and slow or stop normal drainage. When there isn’t proper drainage fluids can back up in the head causing the symptoms previously mentioned.
   We can use postural exercise protocols and improved ergonomic to rebalance our head and neck posture. Vitamin D3 therapy has been shown to enhance our immune function actually resulting in a decrease in environmental reactions. Cranio-sacral therapies and Bowenwork have procedures that that are effective in as little as one session for releasing fluid build-up in the sinuses, restoring proper fluid movement behind the sterno-cleidomastoid muscles and integrating healthy cranial movement. The effects can be long lasting, ending the cycle of pain, inflammation, and medication that can repeat over weeks, months or even years. There are many healthy, safe ways to deal with sinusitis and upper respiratory issues.
Sinusitis information excerpted from National Institute of Health, Health Matters article Jan 2005

Friday, March 4, 2011

A Pain In the Rear

Gluteus maximus muscle * compressed with pngcrushImage via Wikipedia


    A “pain in the rear” is a familiar phrase that refers to a nagging problem, a distraction that won’t go away easily. Why is it so familiar? How did “a pain in the rear” become so special? History, custom and language have led us to accept the idea of a problem that won’t go away, retuning over and over, that we can we can do little about.  It can refer to our physical bodies or our emotional or mental states.

    Speaking of our physical state, did talking about the phrase start you shifting in your seat?  Have you had hip or buttock pain within the last few months? Does it hurt to sit or to walk for some distance? It’s likely that a large majority of you answered yes to one of those questions. So we can see the phrase comes from our present as well as our past.
 
   Now for the more important questions:
Do you need to have a pain in the rear?
If you have a pain do you have to suffer with it?  Suffering is optional, you know.
Is your pain in your rear “a pain in the rear”?

    Commercials try to lead us by always describing how we are in pain. Has there ever been a commercial that begins with us how comfortable and happy we are? Not likely. Suggesting we are having arthritis or muscle pain, we are told constantly we have to take painkillers as if there is no other option. Going to a physician may give us no more satisfaction, with the “pain in our rear” being called some “itis”, bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis and the answer being the same, painkillers. We might believe our pain in the rear is a curse that finds us only to be temporarily lifted with medications.
  
   What if those ideas weren’t true? What if the painkillers were only a cover-up of a problem that could be dealt with naturally and easily? What if the pain could go away and not come back again and again and again? What if the pain we feel is due to a temporary imbalance in the muscles and joints? Could we restore that balance permanently and rid ourselves of our “pain in the rear”?

   We would be out of the cycle of pain and painkiller, of curse and temporary relief. Our body retuning and restoring balance and preventing the return our “pain in the rear” would leave us back in control of our health.

   When we have “a pain in the rear” we can have our pelvis rotated and not coming back to relaxed neutral, we can have an over contraction of our gluteal muscles, or a torsion of our sacrum. All of these can arise from misuse and overuse, from improper sitting or lifting. All of these can be addressed simply and without the use of drugs. All of these can be prevented from returning through simple postural restorative exercise like Muscle Balance and Function, Somatics and others. All of these “pains in the rear” can be successfully helped with Bowenwork and its accompanying movement training.

   So, what do you want “a pain in the rear” that is a pain in the rear or would you like to end the pain cycle and replace it with a cycle of healthy balance?


Please feel free to comment and email me with your questions. These posts are intended to stimulate a discussion of possibilities for health and healing.
Thanks,
Kevin
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Successful Methods fo Asthma and Allergy Relief

Asthma and allergy problems generate lots of income for pharmaceutical companies, but their costly solutions offer short-term relief. What's a sufferer to do? Are there other safer, more economical ways to breathe free again?

  Asthma and allergy problems are serious and deserve effective solutions. We have been bombarded with drug solutions for these problems and yet the incidence of both problems continues to rise. Despite tripling spending on Allergy medicine, cases of a typical allergy hay fever have nearly doubled in the past 10 years. By focusing on symptoms and not on working improving the body's own capacity, we get stuck in a vicious cycle. More drugs, more illlness.
   If we step back and look at what we can change, we find simple nutritional changes can have profound results. A recent study of 60 years of medical literature  found that vitamin D deficiency is linked to increased airway reactivity, lower lung functions, and worse asthma control. School children were found to have reduced allergy problems when using increased vitamin D dosages, possibly even reducing the chance of developing asthma by 40% with higher doses of vitamin D.
   Other methods include reducing environmental pollution in the home and at work, reducing dairy intake and pet dander exposure. Breathing training like Buteyko breathing technique, mechanical aides like the sport breather can help restore breathing capacity. Bowenwork for diaphragmatic and ribcage release and upper respiratory clearing can be very helpful in increasing the airflow.



  We can achieve better results save money and improve our health when we look to ourselves instead of the drug companies. It means that we have to be responsible and take care of ourselves. It means we will putting our health first rather than the health of the drug companies. As a result our children will be healthier, we will be more healthy we will save billions of dollars and improve the quality of our lives. Not so bad for a few simple, safe lifestyle changes.

 
Please comment on this, if you need to know more, email me.
If you are sufering from these problems, take back control of your health and try some of the solutions suggested.


Leave things as they are and they will contnue to get worse.
Stop this once and promise yourself " this time, it will be different".
And it will.


Fortune magazine 2010,
 Childrens' AllergiesSource: Sharief S Jariwala S Kumar J Muntner P Melamed M (2011) Vitamin D levels and food and environmental allergies in the United States: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.01.017
 
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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Neuralgia, Neuritis- Safe Ways to Address Them

Neuralgia, Neuritis-Safe Ways to Address Them
   
   Neuralgia is pain in a nerve pathway. Generally, neuralgia isn't an illness in its own right, but a symptom of injury or a particular disorder. In many cases, the cause of the pain is not known. Older people are most susceptible, but people of any age can be affected. Specifically, it affects the peripheral nerves (those outside the brain, spinal cord, or central nervous system), blocking sensory and motor functions, with pronounced symptoms.                                                                                                                                                  
    Almost everyone will experience mild neuralgia at some point, but these bouts are usually temporary and tend to ease by themselves within a few days. Some types of neuralgia are longer lasting, debilitating and so agonizing that a person's quality of life is severely reduced. Trigeminal neuralgia, a condition that usually affects one side of the face only, is said to be one of the most painful medical conditions. Neuralgia is usually managed with medications and physical therapy, with surgery an option in some resistant cases. Bowenwork can be so successful in addressing these issues that the conditions may be completely relieved.       
   Symptoms of neuralgia include localized pains, sensitivity to touch, sharp or burning pain depending on the nerve affected, muscle spasm though the affected area is still functional.
   Neuritis is a complex process involving inflammation of the nerves, resulting in irritation that interferes with normal nerve function and the areas served.  Symptoms can include numbness, tingling weakness or paralysis along with the pain of neuralgia                                                                                                                          
   Causes of neuritis include:
Shingles - inflammation of a nerve, caused by infection with the herpes virus. This common type of neuralgia is known as post-herpetic neuralgia. The pain may linger long after the shingles rash has disappeared, particularly in areas of the face.                           
Infection - the nerve can be irritated by nearby infection, such as a tooth abscess.                                Pressure or injury - broken bones, slipped vertebral discs or muscles (sciatica) or certain tumors can press and irritate a nerve.                                                                                                                           Trigeminal neuralgia- the most common type of neuralgia, also known as tic douloureux. The trigeminal nerve supplies various areas of the face, including the cheeks and jaw. Trigeminal neuralgia is characterized by sudden jolts of shooting pain that usually affect one side of the face only. .
Occipital neuralgia-irritation of the main nerve that runs from the back of the skull can cause occipital neuralgia. This type of headache or pain is dull, throbbing and localized to the back of the head. The pain can sometimes include the forehead. It is suspected that tense muscles or ligaments may press against the nerve, causing irritation, inflammation and subsequent pain. Other causes may include viral infection, trauma to the neck or poor posture.


    Traditional medical methods of neuralgia and neuritis treatment include pain-killing medications such as aspirin or codeine; anticonvulsant medications to treat the pain and muscle spasms associated with trigeminal neuralgia; antidepressants to help relieve pain in some cases; surgery to desensitize the nerve and block pain messages; physical therapy and chiropractic. All these methods are invasive and carry side effects.
   Three important points: neuralgia is pain in a nerve pathway; generally, neuralgia isn't an illness in its own right, but a symptom of injury or particular disorders; in many cases, the cause of the pain is not known.  Use a conservative apporoach and look at all factors, many times traditional methods may be guessing at causes and only treating symptoms and not causes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 Sciatica
    If you notice a burning pain or numbness and tingling that runs down the back side of your leg, you may have an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the biggest one outside the trunk of your body. It begins in the lower back where five separate nerves make exit from the spinal cord between the lumbar vertebrae. They then come together making one long cable or wire cord-type nerve, which travels down the back of the thigh, knee, and lower leg. It sends out branches to all the muscles along the way all the way to the tip of each toe.                                                                                                     
   When sciatica comes on gradually, it is often due to inflammation caused by an infection such as a virus. It can also be caused by the effects of poor circulation to the nerve and by the deteriorating effects of diabetes. The gradual development of arthritis along the lower part of the spine is also a cause. Sciatic neuritis can also be caused by a bump or pressure anywhere along the course of the nerve in the back of the leg. Another more likely cause is impingement (or squeezing) by the internal flexor muscles of the hip, the psoas muscles. It is rarely due to a joint being out of place such as the sacroiliac or lumbo-sacral joints.         
  Mild cases can come and go and may recur unexpectedly over a long period of time without even becoming severe. Spells that come suddenly and that are severe will be very painful, causing problems with standing and walking. Even sitting and lying can be extremely uncomfortable. In such cases as these, there is a good chance a disc has bulged or ruptured demanding immediate attention. In all cases, the causes of sciatic neuritis has to be distinguished from causes other than inflammation, arthritis, neuropathy, and disc disease.
Ways to Heal   
   We can look at addressing inflammation through diet and nutrition, helping shift the body’s chemical balance form acid to alkaline either with drinking alkaline water, ingesting bicarbonate of soda or using an alkaline diet program and large doses of Vitamin D3. D3 also addresses inflammation and boosts immune response for infection fighting. Compression and arthritis and disc issues and occipital neuralgia can be addressed through gentle restorative postural exercise, osteopathic care, Bowenwork, Pilates, Somatics and other forms of enhanced movement and assisted stretching. Bowenwork has also been effective in relieving Trigeminal neuralgia
    By taking responsibility for our situation and engaging in these positive actions we can address and even eliminate these pain problems from our lives.
  copyright 2011 Kevin Minney
If you wish more information on any of the ways to heal discussed, feel free to ask or reply in comments.
Thanks.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

End the Suffering of Heartburn/GERD

  "I'm tired of this hearburn. My MD tells me it's GERD, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and I should take pills to handle it. I hear I'll have a 40% greater chance of pneumonia if I take them. Isn't there a safer way?When we have digestive distress and mainstream medicine has us believe we have few ways to deal with it. Actually, there are more ways to a healthy tummy.
 
 Heartburn, or GERD for gastro-esophageal reflux disease is a big problem in this country with a total of 61 million Americans having heartburn at least once a month. 19 million have symptoms weekly and over 9 million have daily symptoms. ,  . The costs of GERD medications are over 12 billion dollars a year3. The effect these medication are designed for is to reduce the level of acidity in the stomach It can be an occasional minor irritation after a meal or a serious pain that can result in damage to the esophagus.

  This is a potentially minor problem that has been played into a major moneymaker for pharmaceutical manufacturers as can be seen by the money spent above.
   The mechanism of heartburn, or reflux is a mechanically simple one. The ring of muscle called a sphincter at the lower end of our esophagus constricts to prevent the contents of our stomachs that are under pressure from pushing back up into the esophagus. The pressure in the stomach is caused by the muscular action in digestion of the stomach and the chemical reaction of the enzymes and hydrochloric acid that are expressed by the stomach for that purpose. The muscular tension of the sphincter provides the key to a proper seal between the burning content under pressure of the stomach and the sensitive tissue of the esophagus. If there is a poor seal between the stomach and the sphincter, acid-laden material washes onto the esophagus, causing burning and pain.

   What determines the amount of contraction and seal of the sphincter?
Strangely enough, the level of acidity in the stomach is the governing factor. That is to say, the greater the level of acidity, the tighter the sphincter.

   This seems very logical, the more potentially dangerous the contents of the stomach the tighter they should be locked away. So when there is leakage from the stomach to the esophagus, it is actually because there is not enough acidity in the stomach to trigger the tightening of the muscle, or there is too much pressure on the abdomen for the muscle to handle. In the former case, where there is too little acid, it may simply be because there has been too much food consumed too quickly for the stomach to produce sufficient acid, or too much fluid intake has served to dilute the acid level. These are simple lifestyle issues solved by eating more slowly and drinking less during a meal.

   The more problematic is when heartburn is chronic, meaning there is either too much pressure on the abdomen or there is too little acid production. The more serious problem is lowered acid production. If the stomach is not producing sufficient acid to tighten the sphincter, then all the GERD medications are simply treating the symptom, the burning of the esophagus while increasing the cause, lowered stomach acidity. It is a great formula for having a client for life instead pf taking care of a problem.

    A common safe and easy naturopathic answer for GERD is to enhance stomach acidity with a plant-based hydrochloric supplement, betaine hydrochloride. This raises stomach acidity to increase sphincter tension and promotes natural stomach acidity, so it only needs to be used short-term to promote long-term stomach health.

  In the case of excess abdominal pressure, both the sphincter and the esophagus can be affected, with the esophagus actually being pushed upward towards the throat, which is called a hiatal hernia. This of course compounds any acid reflux issues. In this case Bowenwork can release excess abdominal pressure in a few visits, and the client can be instructed in self-care maneuvers to restore balance to the esophagus and digestion.
     Sontag SJ. The medical management of reflux esophagitis. Role of antacids and acid inhibition. Gastroenterol Clin North Am 1990;19:683-712.
 

2    Hinder RA, Libbey JS, Gorecki P, Bammer T. Antireflux surgery. Indications, preoperative evaluation, and outcome. Gastroenterol Clin North Am 1999; 28:987-1005,viii.

3    Siepler J.K, Trudeau W.L.Treatment Options for Gastroesophageal Reflux disease: Scientific      
Review California Healthcare Foundation  2004

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A River with Many Branches: Temporo-mandibular Joint Disorder and Its Symptoms throughout the Body


   The TM joint is the hinge at each side of our face that connects the jaw or mandible, to the temporal bone of the skull. TMJ disorder is the Jaw disorder associated with Symptoms of the Head, Spine, Shoulder, Elbow/Wrist, and Digestion. We can see issues coming directly from the TMJ in jaw and facial pain, earaches, toothaches, headaches, hearing loss, even loss of equilibrium can be caused by jaw misalignment. 40% of the cranial nerves emerge around the TMJ joint. TMJ problems can also result in spinal misalignment, not only at the top of the spine near the joint, but even at the other end of the spine in the pelvis.

   We can self-assess for any problems in the joint by placing a fingertip in each ear and pressing forward, while opening and closing the mouth a few times. A normal TMJ joint will have no unusual sensation. If there is an imbalance the tip of the jawbone will press against your fingertip. It will be more noticeable on the side of the jaw more out of balance and there may be pain associated with the movement.

   The TMJ is part of the cranial bones and in healthy states they move in rhythm with the shoulder blades and the pelvis. When there is imbalance, this relationship is interrupted; interruptions can affect the shoulder, and elbow/wrist as well as the carpal tunnel in the wrist. When the TM joint is dysfunctional, the mouth is affected; the Ph, or relative acidity of the saliva is changed. When the Ph of the saliva is changed the normal digestive circuit is broken, resulting in impairment of the intestinal flora.

   For these and other reasons the TM joint is considered by some to be “the most important joint in the body.” It is an intersection for circulation of blood to and from the brain. Oral stress causes the neck to tighten and restrict circulation, resulting in headaches and facial pain.

   So we can see that from one source many different and seemingly unrelated symptoms can arise. The TMJ is like a might river with tributaries snaking through all the systems and structures of the body. When healthy and in balance it contributes to overall body health in a myriad of ways. When unhealthy, it contributes to our ill-health in just as many ways.

   In all of these cases we are talking about cumulative trauma, the gradual build-up of insult and injury to physiological processes and structures that results in these dramatic symptoms. Stress can be a starting point, causing grinding of the teeth, especially at night, creating over-tense jaw muscles. Usually there is no single dramatic incident to point to as the sole cause of a TMJ problem, though a motor vehicle accident can be a powerful contributor.

   When there is no single incident to connect with and the procession of severity of symptoms can be gradual, we are often surprised when we have finally developed an acute pain in our body. We can be just as confused as to what to do about it. Are we having a dental problem? Are we having a musculo-skeletal problem? Are we having an organ system problem? Which healthcare practitioner do we go to? How do they know how to treat us?

   When a healthcare practitioner lacks the perspective on these issues we have been discussing, they may focus in on one set of symptoms rather than looking for a central cause. So many treatments may be offered for one problem, compounding the difficulty in the recovery process. Invasive methods may be suggested when medications fail to address the issue. All because the tree is not seen because of the forest, or rather the river is not seen because we are distracted by one of its streams.

   What is a safe and easy way to address TMJ dysfunction? Bowenwork has a simple protocol that can be used in the first session to address the root cause of all these various symptoms. There is no invasive aspect, the work is all done outside the mouth and is pain-free. Bowenwork is simple, effective work to restore a healthy balance to the TMJ and to the entire body.


I welcome your comments.



Thank you,
Kevin Minney
www.kevinminney.com



Sports Performance-Enhancing and Maintaining Our Best Efforts

 As the year begins to round into better weather, we are looking at our favorite sports and how we can improve our performance and maintain that higher quality. There are many ideas for doing this but a few specific concepts can serve to focus our work.  There are three important factors in enhancing sports performance:
1.    Improved sport-specific training to provide greater strength and efficiency in the actions necessary for      the sport
2.    Increased control of the mental aspects, or the “Inner Game”
3.    Decreased injury recovery time to allow for increased training and return to competition.
  
   Sport-specific training includes strength and conditioning along with improving range-of motion efficiency of the muscle groups and actions directly involved in performance of the sport. This training involves more than merely amplifying the amount of time spent “doing” the sport. Sport-specific training was the cornerstone of the former USSR’s success in athletics. The USSR could not compete with the USA in nutrition, or healthy population, but by focusing on sports physiology and sport-specific training, the USSR was able to maintain an even footing with the US in world and Olympic competition.
    
   Enhancing the capacity of the body to perform the specific activities of a sport allows the performer to coordinate the increased capacity to provide better performance.  There are many individual programs for sport-specific training, but only one modality that can improve the application of these programs by reducing training related pain and stiffness recovery issues, along with enhancing pain-free range-of-motion. Using postural related exercise such as Muscle Balance and Function Development, or other  functional strength trainingcan provide alignment and targeted increases in more efficient movement, power and speed. Often though, more exercise is deemed better, rather than targeted exercise. When that happens restricted range-of-motion and overuse injuries can develop. If unhealthy movement patterns develop, Bowenwork can complement targeted exercise programs in restoring powerful movement patterns.
   
   Another important issue in enhancing sports performance is the “inner game” or the control of mental and emotional factors that can either support or sabotage an effective sports performance. At the Olympic level improvements of nearly 4% were noted using psychological methods to focus and control mental and emotional processes.  Since less than a 1% difference usually separates Olympic medalists from non-medallists, the differences noted in the study could serve to help a performer medal where they could have finished out of the running otherwise. Sports psychology for enhancing performance is a proven technique that can be further improved by establishing better autonomic nervous system balance. How can that be done? Auto-suggestion methods have been used since the early 1900's. More focused methods these days are in the realm of energy psychology such as EFT, Tapas technique, TFT, Zpoint Therapy, and Autogenic training and Bowenwork. Top tier athletes use these to achieve and maintain high levels of achievement. Restoring balance to our autonomic nervous system and regaining efficient use of our conscious and subconscious provides us with powerful tools to focus our performance.

   Injuries can interrupt training sequences and even the opportunity to compete. Accelerating injury recovery allows quicker return to training and competition. Competitive athletes often have faster recovery times due to their better fitness, but a proven method of accelerating healing and maintaining health is Bowenwork. Sport-specific injuries have been treated “on-site” with the athlete being able to return to action in a matter of moments. Bowenwork helps prepare for the game, compete in the game and stay in the game.
  

[1] Some Psychological Factors for Promoting Exceptional Athletic Performance, Brent S. Rushall www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_89.asp

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Arch Pain, Plantar Fasciitis, Hammer Toes, Bunions, Neuromas, Heel Spurs, Flat Feet: Foot Pain by Any Other Name Hurts Just as Much

We all have had complaints of temporary foot pain in our lives, usually problems of overuse, poor footwear or trauma. Even if the pain was acute it was short-lived and easily fixed. If these were the only problems we have with our feet, life would be easy indeed. Unfortunately chronic and acute foot problems can cost time, money and compromise the quality of our lives.

   When the pain is chronic in the arch, it can be called arch pain or plantar fasciitis. When the ends of our toes turn down and we walk on them rather than the pads underneath we have hammertoes. When the big toe joint turns across the foot, swells and begins to calcify, it is a bunion. Neuromas are swellings of the nerve sheaths between the toes in the foot when the bones are too tightly pressed together. Heel spurs are spiky overgrowths of the heel bone. Flat feet are feet that have little or no arch reducing the support of the weight resting on the foot.

   Each of these chronic conditions arises from imbalances that lead to repetitive trauma in the feet and toes in spite of the strength and subtlety of their structure. Considering the strength and complexity of the feet it is surprising that we have trouble with them at all. Designed for hunting barefoot, chasing game over all sorts of terrain, they have the same number of bones as the hands and make more subtle movements than the hands can. The feet handle multi-ton loads when we run or when we walk down stairs. Unfortunately there haven’t been any design modifications to deal with our modern more sedentary activities.

    We place stresses on our pelvises when sitting; we shorten our leg and hip muscles at the same time, conspiring against our innocent feet. Over time the repetitive stresses add up to injury and pain. We blame our feet, as that is where the pain is. We direct our efforts to stop the pain there, but they are merely the innocent victims. As strong as the feet are they are at the ends of the long levers of our legs. An imbalance in the pelvis or in the structure or action of the legs is magnified by that lever, which leads to our pain.  We can look at the structures above to effect recovery.

  Arch pain, plantar fasciitis and bunions can arise directly from pelvic imbalance. One side of the pelvis can “stick” in rotation, causing leg length discrepancies that result in strain at the end of the lever, the foot. The chronic strain creates inflammation, pain and tissue changes.
   Hammertoes can come from calf tightness and weight transfer pushing the pad beneath the ball of the foot forward and removing cushioning for the primary joints of the toe. The added pain at each step increases the contraction of the muscle tissue of the toes.

   Heel spurs can come about from over-tight hamstrings and pelvic imbalances producing concentration of stresses on the heel bone. Added stresses bring added calcium to the area and added weight-bearing stresses cause bones to remodel.

   Flat feet may come from imbalances in the pelvis causing contractions on the inner sides of the legs robbing the resilience from the suspension bridge of our foot arch.

   Neuromas can arise from over-tight shoes and torsion on the foot producing a squeeze and fluid build-up in the nerve sheaths, producing pain.

The common medical answers to these problems can be cumbersome stretching devices, and surgery. These are aimed at the symptom, not the problem.

 Quite often the action of walking or the gait is the problem.  An imbalance in the level of the hips or chronic tightness in the backs of the legs, the hamstrings can result in an uneven walking pattern that in turn puts higher stresses on the feet and toes.  Addressing the causes of the pain by providing postural balance and a healthy walking gait can correct the problem without haveing to have cumbersome or invasive treatments.

   So using techniques that will provide for my balanced movement and recruit the body’s own coordination are inherently safer and often much more effective. Osteopathic correction, Chiropractic, Postural exercise, and Bowenwork all can have positive effects.

   Bowenwork jumpstarts the body’s healing, restoring the balance between the halves of the pelvis, and reducing functional leg length discrepancies. Bowenwork can work to equalize hamstring lengths within each leg and between each leg. Bowenwork helps the body lengthen the muscular structure of the lower leg to speed recovery from hammertoes. In the case of flat feet, Bowenwork can produce enough release in the structures of the pelvis and leg to allow the arch and heel to return to normal health. Bowenwork helps the body clear the fluid build-up and restore normal spacing between the toe bones to relieve neuromas. Even bunions respond to Bowenwork.

Use a technique that addresses the problems of the foot in safer faster and non-invasive ways, rather than relying on methods that only attack the symptoms.


I would love to hear about other methods for relief of foot pain.

Thank you for your interest and comments.

Kevin Minney

www.kevinminney.com

  
  

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Pain Management- "Pain...Whose Fault Is It?

  We live in a society that is bombarded with messages. Messages to buy and to become something we aren’t already, or stop being what we already are. Commercial messages come at us non-stop from all media. These messages have the purpose of convincing us to purchase some good or service that will improve our lives. To do that we have believe we are fundamentally unhappy, or incapable on our own.

   That is where pain relief commercials come in, whether they are for over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin, Advil or Tylenol, or prescription medications. We are given the messages that pain is bad, that it is unavoidable, and most importantly, that we must blot it out. Those messages are necessary if mainstream medications and other pain relief therapies are to sell. They aren’t necessary if we look at what pain is, where it comes from and what we can do about it.

   What is pain? Is it some sort of needless torture, something that must be removed at all cost? No, it is not a torture. It is a survival message that we can listen to and learn from to become healthier. Pain is nothing more than the warning of the body that an area is under stress, and is close to becoming damaged if we keep doing what we are doing. If we try to ignore the pain warning by taking a pain reliever we are ignoring the check engine light of our body.

   The body is always moving information, and when the strain becomes high enough, there is an increase in the amount of information and it is felt as pain. If we listen to the alarm, we can find out what the problem is. If we trust that our body is trying to help, we can work on fixing what got us into trouble in the first place. Pain tells us about a chain of events that led us to the body having to sound the alarm. Often, as much as 80% of the time, the pain signal is the end of a long line of actions the body has taken.

   The body is responding to a shock or repeated motion that prevented normal movement and not damage to tissue. The body robs from another area to perform its task, and then has another restriction, and so on. When the body can’t move away from the restriction, it sends the alarm. We naturally focus on the painful area, but it is only giving us the bad news. That is why so very often we fail to get lasting or even significant relief when we use pain medications or try other therapies.

   Running after pain and trying to mask it misses the point entirely. When we don’t address the problem it will return, even when we try larger doses and stronger pills. This can be when we are told we are too old, fate or that we’ll just have to live with it.

   There are many modalities that work with the body to regain balance and functional organization. These include osteopathic therapies, especially Strain-Counterstrain, Functional Indirect Technique and Muscle Energy Technique. There are energetic techniques like Therapeutic Touch, Quantum Touch and Reiki. Each is a way that supports the body’s long-term healing response, quickly, safely and easily. Along with these is Bowenwork a modality that is both structural like osteopathic techniques and energetic as well. Investigate, find practitioners near you. It is your responsibility take control of your life and your pain. You'll have a better outcome. Take good care of your body. Don’t chase pain, use Bowenwork or one of these other modalities to eliminate the cause.


   Please feel free to comment on these posts. I appreciate your input and direction. I would be happy to respond in detail on these topics, as I believe I am just touching the surface issues and am happy to go into depth.


Thanks for your time,

Kevin Minney

www.kevinminney.com