You’ve heard the saying, “Stress is the #1 killer.” Well, then, I’m asking all health care professionals as well as the offices and institutions that we work in to become aware of our internal states of and environmental spaces where stress, worry, anxiety, and fear live and to replace those states with presence and tranquility despite the severity of the situation. If you live up to what you know I assure you your patients and clients will have more positive responses and outcomes. If you find this difficult and you see its effects on your patients and clients have the courage to give them my contact information. www.medicinevolution.com

Last week I had the opportunity to work on someone suffering from an array of symptoms such as fever, body/joint pains, headache, and a stiff neck from sleeping wrong. The most pressing and debilitating complaint was the neck pain because it exacerbated everything else on every small movement.

This is where courage, experience, and listening (with my hands) come into play and prove valuable -sometimes beyond medicine.

I began, like always, by touching and assessing the fluidity of the body or lack of it. Keeping mindful of the symptoms, but knowing they were simply the background of something closer, something more tangible. You see, the body will always express an imbalance on any level (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) as a symptom or a group of symptoms in the muscles and soft tissue. Why? Because symptoms are simply a pysical articulation o fsome inner imbalance. In my limited experience of 13 years, it is more frequent than not that symptoms stem from a structural imbalance(s) than from a viral or bacterial illness. It is sad that the treatment of such things isn’t referred more to people who do the type of work I do.

I didn’t touch the head or neck that session, even though at the end of the session those areas remained in pain. What I did do was go to where the body and my hands felt the most structural restrictions. Which happened to be the sacrum and low back, but my hands could tell this wasn’t simple. I worked right along the spine, in deep joint crevices of the sacro-illium, and around the mid-back where both head/neck and shoulders were not feeling connected to the lower spine and pelvis. In about 30 min I can tell by tissue changes whether or not I can help a person. Things were progressing well so I knew I needed to trust the work, my hands, and the healing potential of the body. By the end of the session movement was flowing as I rocked the hips I could see and feel movement through the spine move all the way up to the head. The ribcage was soft again, breathing more complete. I had to trust my clinical experience (backed that up with hundreds of years of knowledge passed from bodyworker to bodyworker through the ages) that the spine reflects itself vertebrae to vertebrae, the top most reflecting the bottom most, the base of the skull reflecting the sacrum – I left him in expert care.

I went for a second session the next day. I went with an open mind but I admit I was slightly haunted with thoughts that I would have to do direct work on the neck. So much was better, the symptoms were gone or at least very, very bearable. The suffering was gone from an observer’s view and that was expressed subjectively. When clients are suffering and tests fail to confirm than get  under the scrupulous knowledge of expert hands. Hands which know they are not perfect and will quickly and humbly bow out of any situation too much to bear.

I am thankful for my teachers, I am thankful for those who have the courage to take a different almost untrodden path, I do hope that people out there read this and come to structural bodyworkers like myself. If you aren’t in my area I will try my best to connect you with someone who maybe qualified closer to you. I was on the other side of the table years ago, this gave me my life back and I truly believe that others need this opportunity. Cutting people off from this type of work is oppression, it is selfish, it is insane.

The muscular and soft-tissue systems of the body can be a key to deeper illnesses. Read this article on massage and asthma.

December 2011
Massage Therapy May Improve Asthma Symptoms in Children

Massage therapy may improve lung function for children with asthma, according to a new study.

Numerous theories exist on how massage therapy may be beneficial, although there is limited research on the mechanism of action. There is promising preliminary evidence that suggests massage therapy may be beneficial to the lung function of children with asthma; however, data are not conclusive.

In a new study, 60 children with asthma were randomly assigned to receive 20 minutes of massage therapy from their parents at home for five weeks in addition to standard asthma care, or to a control group of only standard care. Several lung function tests, including spirometry, which measures the volume of air that can be inhaled or exhaled, forced expiratory flow in one second, which is the speed of air coming out of the lung, were performed on the first and last day of treatment.

The researchers found that at the end of the study, forced expiratory flow was significantly higher for children in the massage therapy group when compared to the control group. There was also a significant improvement in the forced respiratory flow to forced vital capacity (volume of air that can be forced out after full inspiration) ratio. No significant improvements were found for other lung function tests, including the peak expiratory flow.

The authors concluded that massage therapy may improve lung function for children with asthma. However, further well-designed studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

For more information about integrative therapies for asthma, please visit Natural Standard’s Comparative Effectiveness Database.

To comment on this story, please visit Natural Standard’s blog.
References

Abdel Fattah M, Hamdy B. Pulmonary functions of children with asthma improve following massage therapy. J Altern Complement Med. 2011 Nov;17(11):1065-8. View Abstract
Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com

The information in this brief report is intended for informational purposes only, and is meant to help users better understand health concerns. This information should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Users should consult with a qualified healthcare provider for specific questions regarding therapies, diagnosis and/or health conditions, prior to making therapeutic decisions. Copyright © 2012 Natural Standard Inc. Commercial distribution or reproduction prohibited.

http://sammysellshomes.com

Health and Wellness – The Tri-Valley is Filled With It!

March 5, 2012 By Sammy Shrimali
Meet Chris Corrales, CMT
Founder of MedicinEvolution – bodywork beyond massage, in Dublin, California

The Tri-Valley is a not only a beautiful place to live, but it is home to some talented health-and-wellness professionals.
The fact that Chris Corrales works in the business of helping people find ways to relax and live pain-free is no surprise, given his calm, professional, relaxed demeanor. My team had the pleasure of meeting with Chris this week.
Describing the services of his Dublin, Calif., – based MedicinEvolution as a “complete and systematic approach to balancing the body,” Chris said that his methods of holistic body work and massage focus, in great part, on fascia.
Fascia, Chris explained, is connective tissue found in all parts of the body.
“It’s an organ of structure and an organ of support,” he said. “It supports the body from the general structure (of a system) down to the cellular level.”
To use Chris’s analogy, think of fascia as the pith of an orange, which is the soft white substance found throughout the fruit.
Pith is found in abundance as a protective coating under an orange’s skin, just as it is found between each section of the orange and surrounding each pocket of juice. Fascia, he explained, exists in at least as great abundance and in similar patterning throughout the human body.
“There’s superficial fascia surrounding groups of organs, and then there are layers and depths to it, surrounding organs and organ parts,” he said. “But working fascia can be difficult. You can’t just stretch it. You need pressure, heat and intention to release it.”
Intention, he said, is where much of his work as a Rolf practitioner comes into play. He works closely with patients to help them want and learn to move in ways they may not think they are capable, given their pain or discomfort.
“I work with patients who are dealing with everything from cancer to fibromyalgia, to joint pain,” he said. “But I’m working with human beings, and every human being is different and everyone brings different life situations.”
Chris’s practice offers a holistic approach to healing. While he values the importance of working cooperatively with physicians, he believes that long-term use of prescription drugs can lead to other diseases or problems than what those medications were originally prescribed to treat.
“I do massage, but I don’t want anyone to think that is all I do,” he said. “It’s really holistic, alternative medicine.
The Rolf method, in which Chris is specially trained, is the most holistic method in bodywork, he said.
“I focus on accessing the parasympathetic nervous system,” he said, explaining that within the autonomic nervous system are two branches – parasympathetic and sympathetic.
Sympathetic responses, he said, include adrenaline releases, which he describes as toxic.
“The parasympathetic nervous system responses are based on rest and relaxation, and that’s what we aim to access,” he said.
The 10-session Rolf techniques each build on one another and occur in the relaxed setting of Chris’s Dublin office.
He tailors each patient’s program to meet their needs and includes massage methods that address the frontal spine, the neck and many other parts of the body for creating overall structural integration for improved health.
Chris offers his services on sliding-scale fees and is open to discussing modified payment plans for individuals who may not be able to afford the traditional plans.
You can contact Chris for a consultation at 925-922-2246.

Working with Clients Who Have Cerebral Palsy

by Ruth Werner, LMP, NCTMB

Massage Today August, 2002, Vol. 02, Issue 08

Cerebral Palsy: What Is It?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term that refers to many possible injuries to the brain during gestational development, birth, and early infancy. Several different types of CP have been identified, each involving damage to different parts of the brain.

The incidence of CP in the United States is two to four out of every 1,000 live births. Around half a million CP patients live in the U.S. today. In spite of improved prenatal care, the rate of CP in the U.S. has remained unchanged for many years.

Etiology: What Happens?

Cerebral palsy is the result of brain damage, usually to motor areas of the brain, specifically the basal ganglia and/or cerebellum. The damage can be brought about in a number of ways.

• Prenatal causes. Most cases of CP can be traced to problems during pregnancy, often due to maternal illness. Contributing factors include infections with herpes or toxoplasmosis, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, Rh sensitization (the mother essentially has an allergic reaction to the blood type of her unborn child), malnutrition, or abdominal trauma.
• Birth trauma. CP can result if the child experiences anoxia or asphyxia (lack of air from a mechanical blockage) during birth. Respiratory distress and head trauma (often from a difficult presentation or the use of forceps in delivery) may also increase the risk of brain damage.
• Acquired CP. This type of CP is acquired in early infancy. Causes include head trauma (often from car accidents or child abuse: “shaken baby syndrome”), infection with meningitis or encephalitis, vascular problems (brain hemorrhages) or neoplasms in the brain that may lead to brain damage.

Regardless of the cause of brain damage, the child with cerebral palsy will have some impairment of function. The problem could be so minor that only people who know what to look for may see it, or it may be completely debilitating both physically and mentally; it all depends on what part and how much of the brain has been affected.

Types of Cerebral Palsy

CP is classified into four types: spastic, athetoid, ataxic, and mixed.

• Spastic cerebral palsy. This is the most common form of the disorder, accounting for 50 to 80% of all CP patients. Spastic CP means that in some areas of the body muscle tone is so high that the tight muscle’s antagonists have completely let go. This is called the “clasp knife” effect.
• Athetoid cerebral palsy. This variety is less common than spastic CP, accounting for up to 30% of all patients. It involves very weak muscles, and frequent involuntary writhing movements.
• Ataxic cerebral palsy. This rare variety of the disorder involves chronic shaking and tremors, and very poor balance. Fewer than 10% of all CP patients live with ataxic CP.
• Mixed cerebral palsy. Many CP patients live with combinations of the CP forms.

CP may also be classified by what part of the body is affected. These terms are consistent with those used for other CNS disorders: hemiplegic CP means the left or right side is affected; diplegic CP means either two arms or two legs are affected; and quadriplegic CP means all the extremities are affected to some extent.

Types of CP may come and go, or change entirely from one kind to another, as the child grows. CP is not a progressive disorder, however, and if symptoms seem to be getting significantly worse over time, a different kind of CNS dysfunction must be considered.

Signs and Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of CP vary according to the location and extent of brain injury. Damage to the cerebellum produces different symptoms from damage to the frontal lobe, for instance. But some of the most common features of CP include hypertonicity; hypotonicity; poor coordination and voluntary muscle control; unusually weak muscles; random movements; seizure disorders; early hearing and/or vision problems; and progressive muscle contractures. About half of all CP patients have some level of mental retardation, and many are unable to communicate verbally.

Because infants don’t develop voluntary motor skills until they are around six months old, CP may be difficult to diagnose earlier than this point.

Treatment

CP is incurable and irreversible; as such, it is managed, rather than treated, by providing skills and equipment to live as fully and functionally as possible. For some CP patients this could mean using a brace for one foot that is slightly weaker than the other; for others it could mean intensive occupational, physical, and speech therapy for many years.

Medication for CP is occasionally prescribed to help manage seizures, and to reduce muscle spasm. Some surgical interventions have been developed to lengthen contracted muscles, to realign vertebrae that have become distorted by scoliosis, and to alter nerve pathways in the brain to reduce the severity of tremors.

Physical therapy is recommended for people with CP because the process of developing muscle contractures is slow and can be made even slower when muscles and joints are specifically stretched and manipulated to maintain flexibility. Patients may also be encouraged to use and strengthen their weaker limbs. It is important to note the many uses and benefits physical therapy has to offer CP patients, because massage therapy may also be a valuable adjunct in these cases.

What about Massage?

There is no question that massage therapy can have a valuable role in improving the quality of life of a person with CP. Unlike many CNS disorders, a lot of information about bodywork for CP patients is easily available; I’ll list some wonderful sources at the end of this article. Nonetheless, these clients require some special adjustments in the way bodywork is administered, and I’ve had several letters from massage therapists who would like to feel their work is more effective with this population.

The damage for a person who has CP does not begin in the muscle and connective tissues. Although this is where we feel the tightening of the connective tissue wrappings around muscles, the contractures themselves are simply a symptom-a complication of a problem deep in the brain. Therefore, if all we try to do is lengthen the muscles and stretch the fascia, we will run smack into a brick wall: either no progress will happed at all, or symptoms may even be temporarily exacerbated. Most people with CP get best results if bodywork focuses on indirectly affecting muscle tone through craniosacral work, gentle rocking, slow range of motion exercises, and manipulation of the arms and legs that engages the client in ways he or she doesn’t automatically resist-this often means going with the direction of muscle shortening in order to disengage the reflex. Ultimately, the therapist will have to experiment with lots of different approaches, often accompanied by extremely supportive bolstering, in order to find what techniques allow their clients to relax and enjoy their massage.

The benefits of massage to CP patients are undeniable. Parents write of their satisfaction when their child is able to sleep through the night, when postural distortions unbind, when breathing eases, when faces light up with joy because the massage therapist has arrived for a session. Imagine a child who is the object of vast numbers of painful, intrusive, unpleasant, dehumanizing medical procedures (regardless of the supportive intentions behind them). This child is handled rather than touched. Then his massage therapist arrives and arranges him carefully among pillows and bolsters on the table. She cradles his occiput and straightens his neck so he can breathe more easily. She rocks his arms and legs until their tension eases. She plays with his fingers until he realizes he can move them in lots of directions. Nothing she does hurts. What a gift, what a privilege to be invited into such a relationship!

If physical therapy is used to stretch and strengthen skeletal muscles, massage will also be a safe choice. The only caution is that people with very severe CP may not be able to communicate their wants or concerns clearly. If a massage therapist works with a client who cannot speak, other modes of communication, including nonverbal signals, become especially important. It is the responsibility of the massage therapist to make sure that his or her work is welcome and freely accepted at all times.

Our culture harbors a fear of people who look, or sound, or act differently from ourselves. Seeing or being with someone with CP can raise all kinds of fears or judgments that we never realized were there. Maybe this person can’t speak, or drools, or walks funny, or doesn’t walk at all. Speaking for myself, I will share that it’s especially hard for me to deal with disabilities when they occur in children. And yet, here is a population that so needs the work we do! As long as basic common-sense precautions are respected (don’t overwork numb areas, be sensitive to nonverbal communications, if anything you do makes symptoms worse then stop and try something else) massage can be a central coping mechanism for a child or adult with CP.