Surgery - Part Four

For this final part on surgery I'll discuss a great massage treatment both to soften superficial scar tissue and also to re-energise the pathways through the lesion. This must be done with oil, otherwise the client will be hovering a few centimetres off the couch. It is not subtle but does the trick, it falls into the 'no pain, no gain' category of therapy. I am talking about Connective Tissue Massage (CTM). This was pioneered by an Austrian physiotherapist named Maria Ebner in the late 1960's. I was fortunate to do one of her courses in the early '70's. I would strongly recommend that you purchase her book on the subject as it covers oodles of  other things as well- it really was the holistic massage of its day. CTM is performed with the radial border of the middle finger superimposed on the ring finger, and consists of three phases:-

1. Contact with the client to the required depth of their of their tissues and at the correct starting point
2. Take up the 'slack' of the tissues by putting them on the stretch
3. Carry out a short or long stroke along a prescribed line.

Clients will feel that you are dragging a sharp pair of scissors across the skin and, without using oil to buffer it, it can be extremely painful. Start by doing some short strokes of app. two inches (5 cms) long at right angles to the scar tissue until the whole length has been covered. You may then do some long strokes travelling with the meridian energy flow through the scarring. By the time you have finished the whole area will feel warmer and more energised. Let me know how you get on.

Surgery - Part Three

So what can we do about the negative affects of scar tissue? There are two main ways of effecting a better energetic flow through the scar tissue, with bodywork, to enable the commencement of self healing to take place. One is acupressure and the other is deep massage. Today I'll mention acupressure.

If scar tissue occludes the flow of energy either through one of the classical meridian lines OR in non meridian locations that may give trouble elsewhere in the body, it is obvious that we need to recreate a natural flow of chi once again to the region that has been affected. Scar tissue isn't always apparent on the skin - just take the example I gave in the last blog, so initially you have to gently feel around locally to find any tender or acute points. With some oil on the fingers start with some finger tip acupressure to all the tender points around the affected region. Do not initially put any undue pressure to the area as you client is very likely to hover above the couch - try and get your fingers to get progressively deeper in that you can tell, after a couple of minutes, that the area is more energized and hyperaemic. The second stage of the treatment with acupressure is stimulate energy flow through the lesion (scarring). For this you must know which meridian has bee affected. Place one middle finger tip on a proximal point of that meridian and the other middle finger tip on a distal point. In the case of the last blog, I placed the left middle finger on KI 23 (by the clavicle) and the right middle finger on KI 3 (by the medial malleolus). Initiate the flow by doing some gentle massage on the points and then just hold the two points for anything up to 3 minutes. You (and your client) usually feel a nice warm flow. In all cases of energy balancing you have to achieve a 'oneness' between the two fingers and a similar sensation under them. If the scarring is really deep it may take a couple of sessions or you will have to do some massage as well - next blog. Stay well and hope you are enjoying a late Summer - JRC

Surgery - Part two

As a physiotherapist, I have often had to deal with the effects of what scar tissue can do to the patient. Most surgeons don't know of the existence of energy lines, meridians and reflexes and often poo-poo the idea of anything that is 'more' that the physical body on which they have operated. Surgery has come on in leaps and bounds, though, from the butchery of 100 years ago. Key hole surgery has been a revelation and I personally can attest to a very successful key hole hiatus hernia operation. The scar tissue that is always residual from any surgery varies enormously in size and tissue consistency and quite often does not cause any problems. The therapist must be aware though during the initial consultation that if the patient/client utters those immortal words -'I've never been well since my operation', then you must start to think that deep or superficial scar tissue has effected the person's energy flow. Patients often describe being extremely tired and having 'brand new' symptoms to what they had pre surgery. Let me give you an example of a patient I saw recently.

Male in his mid 30's who had been suffering from depression, lethargy and anxiety. He had been diagnosed (apart from depression) with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Iris and tongue diagnosis told me that his kidney, bladder and spleen energies were low for someone of his age. I then asked him about any surgery he had had- he told me that as a child he had surgery on his scrotum (hydrocele), he had also had the 'snip'. That would explain how his kidney and spleen energies were depleted as both meridians would have been affected. I gave him a couple of treatments (explained in next blog) and he is feeling  much better.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to re-establish meridian harmony following surgery and also how deep and superficial scar tissue affects meridian flow. It is very real!!!! Next blogs will show how to resolve this through acupressure/reflexology and massage.

Surgery - Part One

I saw my consultant neuro-surgeon last month in Edinburgh. It was a 14 hour round trip with and overnight stay for a 10 minute chat! Apart from him showing me the latest MRI findings of my cervical spine post decompression and fusion and suggesting that no further surgery was required, the amusing topic of the day was that he was  a doctor who called himself 'Mr' and I was a 'Mr' who called himself Doctor (I don't do that very often as it is extremely confusing for all concerned to have a doctorate in medicine and yet not be a medical doctor). The surgery seemed to have gone OK and there was no reason why it should not have been successful - but there never had been any guarantees that there would be any pain reduction following surgery.

It set me thinking that I must have encountered hundreds and hundreds of patients over the years who had not benefited from surgery - even when they had embraced it with eyes wide open (as I had) as a last resort once all conservative treatment had failed to produce results. I am NOT anti surgery as I feel that it is an essential part of medicine that has altered improved the lives of countless people with organic, musculo-skeletal and neurological conditions. However, nothing can be guaranteed and it should always (except in emergency cases) be carried out as a last resort when conservative treatment has failed. It can never usually be reversed if its not been successful - there's no going back - it is a one way route! There's the rub.  How many patients really and truly appreciate that. Most of still think that 'doctor is always right' and that the surgeon 'must' be right. If conservative therapy didn't do the trick pre surgery - it sure won't post surgery. When I was practising, the hardest thing that was asked of me was to treat something that had been surgically treated beforehand. One of the hardest things to cope with is the effect of scar tissue formation (next blog), but when treating chronic lumbar pain (for example) I knew the lumbar anatomy backwards - but after surgery it was such a difficult job as the anatomy had changed.

It remains a huge bone of contention with me that, sadly, these days surgery (especially with musculo-skeletal conditions) is often carried as a first resort before therapy (of any kind) has had the opportunity to exhaust all the channels. Wearing my 'really big head' hat, I know that I've saved scores of patients from having the knife. Patients with acute spinal or knee cartilage conditions were all 'cured' (the word is ALWAYS used advisedly) before the dreaded knife. On a few occasions that physical therapy took several sessions, I wasn't always successful in achieving the surgical stay of execution - but you can't win em all. Next blog - the effects of scar tissue.

Hello Again

I am back blogging, sending regular pieces on the various aspects of complementary therapies. I decided to take a few weeks off over July and August as there are only so many hours in the day and the grass grows at an alarming rate during our wonderful summers. We have had two sets of visitors (our 4 grandchildren) which was a delight. Now the autumn (fall) is almost upon us and the NW Highlands is back to its usual wet and windy weather. We have to put the heat back on at tea time whilst London is basking in high temperatures. Still its great for the last few days of the Paralympics. Hope many of you managed to watch the Olympics and Paralympics, not just to see the sport but also to marvel at what London can offer. They have put on a great show and I can't see it being bettered next time round.

I am back to lecturing and giving workshops. I start in November doing a refresher Chakra workshop at Chilterns MS Centre near Aylesbury on 17/18 November. I am already working out my Spring 2013 schedule and hope to be going across the pond as well as Sweden and a few parts of the UK. Check the web site on these details. Although the Light Touch reflextherapy book was published in May, it has only just been advertised and has started to sell quite well - Ive had a couple of very good reviews and lots of questions about it via email.

So I'll be starting the next round of fascinating and scintilating blogs in a couple of days on the subject of surgery and its effects on the energy body. Trust you all had a great Summer. - JRC