Time is running out to register for either upcoming Foundations I class. Early registration/reduced fee for the Rochester, NY seminar Sept. 17-19, 2010 end 9/1/10. For the Hershey, PA seminar Sept. 24-26, 2010, early registration/reduced fee runs out 9/10/10.
Please refer to my website, www.FoundationsinMFR.com for full details.
Walt Fritz, PT
Add comment August 14th, 2010
As a followup to my last post, “Miracles”, I’ve been thinking a lot about fear and how it effects us and our patients. The example I gave in this previous post should be obvious to all, but what about the more subtle suggestions that we give to our patients? Can these backfire and create fear?
Traditional physical therapy often links a patient’s success to their performing their home exercise program. If the patient fails to improve, blame is often placed on them, since they did not “follow through”. There are a great deal of assumptions made on the part of the therapist that allows them to deflect the blame onto the patient, first of which should be will strengthening exercise truly diminish pain. The evidence is rather scant on this. Failure to improve becomes a source of shame on the patient. Fear of not improving creates the desire to do what the therapist asks.
When I ask a patient if they have done the myofascial stretches that I have taught, a common response is one of embarrassment; that they did not do them as often as they felt that they should. (My home programs never consist of strengthening exercises). I tell them not to be ashamed, I am simply trying to check their response to all of what we’ve done, both in session and out of session.It is their choice whether they are going to do them or not. It is my responsibility to work with them in such a way that we make changes, whether or not they do the home myofascial stretches.
What about other things that we ask or tell our patients? How many of you have told them to drink a lot of water after a session to flush the toxins or to keep from being sore? The scientific research has shown this not to be true. But by telling a patient this, aren’t we potentially setting them up? I know, most of us were taught this in our various trainings, but they simply don’t hold water…
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Really?
I know I have to stop somewhere, as anything that I tell a patient can induce an emotion. But why pass on our own beliefs if that is all they are?
Walt Fritz, PT
Add comment August 14th, 2010
Miracles. I recently had an experience with a client that I wish to share. This client had been seeing a NUCCA chiropractor for approximately 15 years. For those who may not be familiar with NUCCA chiropractic, I would refer you to the NUCCA.org website. NUCCA emphasizes and focuses on C1 as the cause of issues throughout the body. Treatment is focused only on C1. My client felt that the NUCCA chiropractor had really helped him over the years, but with some reservations.
One thing that seems universal among NUCCA is that no one, beside the NUCCA chiropractor, should be allowed to touch the person’s neck, for fear of knocking the precise adjustments out. Additionally, this client had been warned to avoid hitting potholes with the car or jarring the neck or back in any manner. My client had developed a deep sense of fear that the alignment of C1 would be knocked out of place with the slightest incident.
This client, after numerous return visits to the chiropractor for check ups and re-adjustments after minor jarring, finally asked me to look at his neck. Tightness of the upper neck was evident and we proceeded with a few sessions of simple cervical lifts to release the sub-occipital region. He was doing quite well for a long period of time until a few weeks ago. He bumped his head and called to schedule a session. At the session he voiced his fear that this would send him into a few months of problems, as it had in the past. Prior occurances such as this required frequent re-visits to the chiropractor and much caution and guarding of the neck. At that session I simply performed a cervical lift to loosen the upper posterior cervical region and sent him on his way. He returned two weeks later calling me a miracle worker. While I appreciate the praise (and asked him to repeat it a few times!), I educated him further about the environment surrounding C1 and the need to keep things loose.After the previous session he had no symptoms at all, nor had any returned.
I tell this tale to ask why some health practitioners build so much fear into a client? I might be that they really believe that the precautions that they convey to the client are real. The cynic in me feels that it is a guaranteed method of maintaining repeat business. Make the client so fearful of any type of re-injury that they keep coming back, if nothing but for reassurance that they are OK. That’s what I love about the work that I do and teach. Get them moving again and get them out the door. Miracles.
Walt Fritz, PT
5 comments August 11th, 2010
Here is an article written about the above research paper.
I spent many years as a home care physical therapist, and geriatrics were the bulk of my case load. Diminished balance was a common trait among my clients and it was often my duty to try to improve their situation. Intuitively, I often had them move outdoors onto the grass or other uneven surfaces and begin to walk, even if they needed to use a walker for assistance. As people age, our culture tends to move people into more supportive footwear and caution them from leaving very level surfaces, for fear of falling. What becomes of this is a loss of the physical and neurological stimuli that can maintain and even build balance and strength.
The results and recommendations of these two studies seem in absolute contrast. If a community sees crime on the rise, many will buy (or sell) stronger locks, while others will try to find the change the source of the larger problem. I believe that the first study is the “safety” model of medicine, the one that encourages “stronger locks”. It ignores the potential for change in all of us. I think that we are capable of more. There are many ways to build and maintain strength and balance as we age.
1 comment June 30th, 2010
The earthquake last month in Haiti caused me sadness and empathy, but truthfully little else. A country far away, another catastrophe, I guess I felt too removed to feel much more. But this past Friday, when my daughter posted this message to her Facebook page, that distance from disaster changed quickly:
“Backpacking for a few weeks! Bus to Santiago, Chile tonight!”
Suddenly an event that was far away was brought very close. The internet is a wonderful tool when it comes to instant news access, but when that news doesn’t narrow its focus to what you are seeking, it can be frustrating. As the death toll slowly rose throughout the day, news of how it had effected specific areas was still scant. Finding a bus schedule offered some solace, as the trip was a long one and hoped that the bus system was inefficient. I imagined the bus being slowed by my stereotypes of locals with cages of chickens and poor roads. It turned out that the bus was on time, but a long one. My daughter spent the time on her bus not aware of anything, arriving in Santiago in time for only a minor aftershock. They were swept off to a coastal city where damage was less.
So what does all of this have to do with Myofascial Release? Maybe nothing. It has to do with gratitude. I am grateful and feel like a layer of insulation has been peeled away. Whether in the therapy setting or in life, it is all about growth.
Walt Fritz, PT
Add comment March 1st, 2010
As a first entry into the blogging world, I want to share with you why I am here. I started my website(s), www.rochesterpainrelief.com and www.myofascialresource.com with two completely different visions. Rochesterpainrelief.com is the website for my physical therapy/myofascial release practice in Rochester, NY. Myofascialresource.com is a home base for the larger community of myofascial release and bodywork practitioners across the country (and, as the response has grown, around the world). What I hope to share here will interest both of those communities, with education and dialog for all.
Walt Fritz, PT
www.myofascialresource.com
www.rochesterpainrelief.com
Add comment February 26th, 2010
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