Medical massage can greatly improve the quality of life for fibromyalgia patients.  Fibromyalgia pain usually affects several areas of the body, and feels very achy.  There are tender points in muscles throughout the body.  Other symptoms of fibromyalgia include debilitating fatigue, headaches and sleep disturbance.

As an experienced medical massage therapist, I have helped many fibromyalgia patients get back to work and resume normal living.  Medical massage helps fibromyalgia patients reduce dependence on drugs and live with lower levels of pain.  Typically, good results can be achieved with weekly treatments over a six-month period.

Medical science has not been able to discover a definitive cause for fibromyalgia.  Over many years of providing medical massage therapy, I have discovered a common causal picture for the onset of many cases of fibromyalgia.  This picture includes unhealed soft tissue trauma combined with high stress challenges.  I will describe a typical case history.

Case history fibromyalgia recovery

I am a physician dedicated to assisting my patients in gaining the highest level of health possible.  I love my work; I love the people I serve.  I have been in the profession of medicine for over 4 decades.  I’ve tried to grow and learn new approaches to helping people heal.

Fourteen years ago I finally made the decision to practice holistic medicine.  I discovered homeopathy, a most amazing scientific method of healing, and have been practicing homeopathy ever since.  I have not been able to help everyone who comes to see me.  A few months ago I wrote a blog about the obstacles to healing.  Like any dedicated physician, I want to find those obstacles and help my patients remove them.

The body’s means for healing physical injuries is marvelous and reliable.  Occasionally, things can go wrong.   Abnormal, dense and adhesive formations of fibrous scar tissue may form during the healing process.  Medical massage offers a cure.

Scar tissue can form as part of any collagen-based tissue such as skin, muscle, tendon, ligament, fascia and nerve. Scar tissue develops as a result of:

• injury
• repetitive strain
• surgery
• prolonged immobilization of a structure
• burns and wounds
• advanced osteoarthritis and inflammatory processes.

Scar tissue can interfere with normal patterns of movement by gluing together sections of collagen-based structures.  Dense scar tissue can cause pain during movement.  Worse, scar tissue can lead to peripheral neuropathic pain, and/or impaired circulation when surrounding nerve tissue and blood vessel tissue is captured into the scar.  Medical massage restores hardened scar tissue to a softer state.

I will give two case histories of pain caused by scar tissue and healed by medical massage.

Poor posture is not a laughing matter, unless you can laugh in the face of chronic pain.  Slumped and rounded shoulders lead to chronic headache, neck tension and upper back ache.  The usual compliment to slumped shoulders is a head that drops forward and downward.  Almost all Americans stand, sit and move with this combination of deadly postural habits.  These habits are deadly because, over time, they cause degeneration of cervical discs along with inclination for rotator cuff and shoulder injuries.

Postural slump has been linked to poor mental performance, fatigue, and even depression.  Circulation of blood, lymph and other body fluids improves when posture is more erect and normal.  Osteoarthritis advances more quickly when more compressive force affects the joints.  Good posture literally decompresses joints and thus slows down wear and tear within the joint capsule.  Erect posture also helps maintain good alignment of spinal vertebra (less visits to the chiropractor), and protects spinal discs.  This daily protection decreases likelihood of ever needing surgery to correct degenerative spinal column problems.

Therapists and patients need to learn how to work with the mind-body so we can heal chronic muscle and joint pain. The mind-body creates health, resists disease, withstands stress and continuously renews itself when it is supported with healthy living and holistic therapies.

Patients need to develop self-awareness, self-responsibility and self-support.  Positive psychology boosts our ability to heal and become whole.  Therapists need to observe the body closely and this means relying on information garnered from thorough palpation of soft tissues.

We need to pay attention to our bodies, to discover how we are limited and stuck in negative habits.  You become imprisoned in your body when its muscles and connective tissues thicken, shorten and stiffen.  These negative tissue states distort body mechanics and interfere with normal movement.

As a homeopathic physician, in spite of due diligence in finding the most helpful homeopathic remedy, sometimes the patients I see don’t have the healing response that I expected.  I ask myself why?  According to Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, in the Organon of Medicine, “…if the physician, in each case, knows the obstacles to cure and how to remove them, so that recovery is permanent, then he knows how to treat thoroughly and efficaciously, and a is a true physician.”

In our modern world, the list of “obstacles to cure” are growing fast.  Let’s take a look at a few of these:
•    Unrelenting stress
•    Toxicity
•    Beliefs and attitudes
•    Poor nutrition
•    Unforgiveness
•    Sedentary life style
•    Addictions to substances such a nicotine, alcohol, drugs
•    Overuse of pharmaceutical drugs

The health of the body relies strongly on the movement of the body fluids through all the tissues and systems.  Research has proven that massage does assist the movement of the body fluids.

We are learning more about the creation and transfer of energy in the human body.  Energy moves in both directions, from macro levels to micro levels and back again.  Scientific manipulation of the skin, muscles, connective tissue, organs and nerves does influence the movement of energy through the body.

What medical massage can do

• People with deformities  live more comfortably in their bodies
• Surgeries are averted
• Medications are eliminated
• Chronic pain diminishes or disappears
• Degenerative diseases slow down or reverse
• Anxiety, stress, depression subside
• Joyful creative living re-emerges
• When we move around in our same old bodies we get the same old cues …bodywork helps you experience new states of being…oh my goodness I haven’t breathed this easily in years…my body hasn’t felt this good in a long time  …this is facilitation…giving new information to the mind and body

(From the book, “The Homeopathic Revolution”: Why famous people and cultural heroes choose homeopathy” by Dana Ullman.)

In the beginning of this book, there is a quote I will share with you:

“I believe what prevents men from accepting the homeopathic principles is ignorance, but ignorance is criminal when human lives are at stack.  No honest man faced with the facts of homeopathy can refuse to accept it.  He has no choice.  When I had to face it, I had to become a follower.  There was no choice if I were to continue to be an honest man…Truth always demands adherence and offers no alternative.”  From Sir John Weir, physician to six monarchs, including 4 generations of British monarchs.

There are many people around the globe who have embraced homeopathy as their healing modality.  Please read Dana Ullman’s wonderful book.

Millions of people around the world for the past 200 plus years have been healed with this wonderful scientific system of healing known as Homeopathy.  Take a look at just a few.

Patient with chronic sinusitis: This man had suffered from chronic sinus infections for years, and had to take antibiotics almost constantly.  After the initial consultation, I studied and found a remedy that best matched his whole being.  He took the remedy several times over months and gradually the episodes of sinus infections began to subside.  After about 9 months, he no longer had recurrences.  He has gone about 2 years now without needing an antibiotic.

AN EXCITING RECENT ARTICLE IN HUFFINGTON POST: “DR. LUC MONTAGNIER, A FRENCH VIROLOGIST AND WINNER OF THE 2008 NOBEL PRIZE FOR DISCOVERING THE AIDS VIRUS, HAS SURPRISED THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY WITH HIS STRONG SUPPORT FOR HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE”  Posted Jan. 30, 2011, Huffington Post

In a remarkable interview published in Science magazine of December 24, 2010, (1) Professor Luc Montagnier, has expressed support for the often maligned and misunderstood medical specialty of homeopathic medicine. Although homeopathy has persisted for 200+ years throughout the world and has been the leading alternative treatment method used by physicians in Europe, (2) most conventional physicians and scientists have expressed skepticism about its efficacy due to the extremely small doses of medicines used.

“I can’t say that homeopathy is right in everything. What I can say now is that the high dilutions (used in homeopathy) are right. High dilutions of something are not nothing. They are water structures which mimic the original molecules.”

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician, is the founder of homeopathy.   While the fundamental principle of homeopathy, “Like cures Likes,” had been used by Hippocrates and others before him, Dr. Hahnemann brought this principle to practical application.

I think it is important that you know a little about this amazing man. Hahnemann was brilliant, as are so many people in the history of scientific discovery and development. He began his medical career at a time when “modern medicine” was using very toxic methods on people.  He gave up the practice of medicine because he claimed that the medicine of his time did as much harm as good:

“My sense of duty would not easily allow me to treat the unknown pathological state of my suffering brethren with these unknown medicines. The thought of becoming in this way a murderer or malefactor towards the life of my fellow human beings was most terrible to me, so terrible and disturbing that I wholly gave up my practice in the first years of my married life and occupied myself solely with chemistry and writing.“

Something happens to distune the vital energy of the person.  It could be a belief system:  “My father had a heart attack at age 40 so I am afraid I will, too.”Stress, either mental, emotional or physical can distune our energy system.  Infections, injuries can also cause an imbalance in our system.

I deeply believe the cause of almost all our illnesses is Thought.

In my previous blog I introduced the idea of holism and individuality because it is vital to understanding homeopathy.   It is not necessary that you understand homeopathy as a scientific system of healing, but it is important that you understand that when you take a homeopathic remedy, it is affecting your whole being for the purpose of stimulating your body’s innate capacity to heal itself. Conventional medicine cannot do this. Prescription drugs suppress symptoms and cannot stimulate the healing response. Most of the prescription drugs are anti-something…against something.  Listen to the words you hear from conventional medicine:  war on cancer, attack the infection, kill the cancer cells, battle the disease…etc.  I’m not sure why anyone would want to go to war against his or her own precious body.

For many years I have wanted to practice a more holistic medicine.  I knew something was missing in my conventional pediatric medical practice.  I was writing prescriptions but not taking the whole person into consideration.  I grew more and more dissatisfied with medicine…enough so that I sold my practice and went to seminary.  After 4 years of ministry I felt this tremendous call to return to medicine, but this time, it had to be in a more holistic way.

I met a homeopathic physician, and what he told me about homeopathy astonished me.  I knew I needed to learn more about this amazing scientific system of healing.  I searched for a training program that would prepare me for the practice of homeopathy.  I flew to Minneapolis monthly for 3 years to attend the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy… and began my homeopathy practice here in Lakewood in 2000.

Why is homeopathy so powerful as a healing therapy?

Manage Stress with Mind-Body Communication

By Joan Sloss, Ed.D. LMT

Let’s use the four-color archery bullseye target as a model for stress management options.  The outermost black ring represents the situations you have no control over, such as death of a spouse or a catastrophe. The blue zone represents difficult situations that can be improved by acquiring new skill and knowledge.  Examples are: training for a new occupation after suffering a disability, or restructuring debt after a bankruptcy.

The red zone represents areas of your life where you have a lot of control over quality of life, state of personal health and success of endeavors.   For example, you can learn to communicate more effectively and by this means reduce stress and meet goals more successfully.

The inner yellow bullseye represents the one thing in this world that you potentially have the most control over … yourself.  Think of the inner yellow circle as your mind-body connection.  As you practice staying aware of your basic life processes, you improve health and performance.  Measurable changes in physiological functions correlate to changes in thought, emotion and behavior.

All physiotherapists and patients should be on the lookout for trigger points. Very painful and persistent muscle and joint pain will not resolve when an active trigger point is causing the pain.  What is a trigger point?’  What makes a trigger point form?

Trigger points are small, hard, irritable nodules that form within a taut band of muscle tissue or its fascia. Trigger points can be difficult to locate because of their tiny size so it is easy for a manual therapist to glide over one without noticing it.  Whenever pain is severe, persistent, and limits movement, the therapist should palpate the muscles carefully to discover possible trigger points.

Trigger points tend to form in shortened muscles that are lacking sufficient blood supply due to prolonged muscle tightness.  They are likely to form in muscles that lack sufficient, proper exercise.  They can also form in overworked muscles that are not properly stretched after vigorous activity, and in muscles or fascia that have been damaged by injury.

Many people suffer from a type of peripheral neuropathy that can be easily cured. The cure consists of a combination of the right kind of manual therapy combined with the right kind of exercise.

Typical symptoms of peripheral nerve disease include:

• tingling
• numbness
• loss of sensation.

Other signs can include:

• loss of strength
• balance problems
• pain
• vascular changes
• Severe dysfunction can include decrease in motor function.

The medical diagnosis, “peripheral neuropathy” is so alarming that people assume there is no help except whatever relief prescription drugs might provide. The nervous system is important in transmitting messages between the brain and the body. Most people have experienced nerve pain, if only from a dental injection or from an electric shock, so everyone knows that nerve pain can be very sharp, unexpected and unpleasant.

200,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010.  Research indicates that with better lifestyle choices this figure could be radically reduced.  There are four lifestyle areas that each woman can improve to reduce risk of breast cancer: nutrition, exercise, gut health and lymphatic circulation.

Foods that boost breast health include fresh green vegetables, fresh fruit, omega oils, garlic and green tea.  Substances that increase risk factors for breast disease include smoking, sugar and refined foods, trans-fats and hydrogenated oils, food additives and excessive alcohol.

Healthy breasts depend upon good circulation and a clean fluid environment to support the breast tissue cells.  Exercise, deep breathing and lymphatic drainage massage help circulate the lymphatic fluid through the 600 lymph nodes distributed throughout your body.  Lymph nodes are garrisons of B, T, and other immune cells.  Lymph nodes act as filters or traps for foreign particles and cellular waste.

As a pediatrician I am committed to, not only protecting but also helping our children, lead a happy and fulfilling life. As a medical professional it has always and will always be my primary concern: First do no harm. When we look at the medical environment for our children, we see that many drugs are being prescribed that have not been adequately (or not tested at all in children) evaluated for the safe use in children. Many drugs being prescribed today are for reasons that are called “off label.” That means the drugs have not been tested for efficacy or safety for our children.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, some 64 million Americans suffer from sleep disturbances: the inability to fall asleep, stay asleep or waking too early. Poor sleep dramatically affects your life, and can lead to disruptions at work and home. Inadequate sleep can lead to a disturbance in your metabolism and your physiology. Not getting a restful night of sleep can affect your ability to think clearly and to focus your attention. It also causes irritability and an inability to be fully present to the daily activities of your life. We need to sleep: to rest, to give time for our cells to renew and repair; and to be refreshed and ready to be creative in all our endeavors.

If insomnia is fracturing your life, think Homeopathy! Homeopathy is a safe, natural and effective holistic remedy for your sleep problems. In every homeopathic consultation, your homeopathic professional will inquire into your sleep habits. Listening carefully to how you describe your symptoms, your homeopath will pay attention to every detail of how, what, when, where you experience the disturbance in your energy system.

You may not be aware of the negative impact on your mind, body, and spirit when you hold unforgiveness towards any person or group of people.  Human life is filled with moments that cause hurt and emotional or physical pain, and can create a spirit of unforgiveness within our heart.  In my homeopathy practice, I often see this spirit of unforgiveness underlying the person’s whole state of being and have a direct impact on their health.

Let’s address some of the negative effects on the body when unforgiveness is long-standing.  Unforgiveness can take many forms, from grudge holding, bitterness and resentment to irritability and stress.  The anger behind unforgiveness can increase your risk of dying at an earlier age.  That ought to be a wakeup call for us.

Anger triggers the body’s flight-or-fight response and overstresses the adrenal glands.  The stress hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, mimic the effect amphetamines would have on the body:

• Increased blood pressure

Integrative medicine is the current trend and the prevailing answer to our enormous healthcare crisis. The recent buzz words on how to over haul our health care system rarely mention prevention, true prevention, as the key to the overwhelming epidemic of chronic disease. Prevention means we have to look at the fundamental or root cause of the diseases that plague society and make necessary changes to correct the problem.

Costs are escalating beyond our wildest imagination, along with the rising incidence of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It all boils down to this: we are in trouble, and must implement a solution to the rampant escalation of chronic diseases. Our country ranks 37th in the quality of its health care system according to the World Health Organization, however we spend twice as much per person as any other developed country. A phenomenal number of Americans, 48 million, don’t have insurance and those who do realize they don’t have enough.

Poisonous Toxins Are Everywhere

Recent studies by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have found toxic residues in our human tissues, especially fat. Umbilical cord blood analysis found 217 toxic chemicals that affect the brain and nervous system of infants. This is scary. We are floating in a soup of toxic substances that is making us sick.

Researchers have studied the link between chemical toxins and obesity. The pollutants are stored in our fat cells and poison our metabolism, preventing us from losing weight. The more obese a person, the more toxins are stored. Thyroid hormone levels are lowered, disturbing your metabolic rate and interfering with the hormonal signals that control your appetite. Toxins block the mechanism that tells your brain you are full.

What’s important about this research is that the role of a scientifically- based detoxification program is vital to restore your metabolism and your overall health. We all know that we live in a toxic environment. We must learn to live differently if we expect to be healthier, happier and full of vitality, strength and energy.

Sugar is America’s number one food additive. Even our children are consuming between 120-150 pounds of refined sugar each year. Parents know that soda, candy and all sweets are not healthy choices for kids. What parents need to know is that neurofeedback evaluations of the brains of children before and after the consumption of sugar show dangerous and abnormal changes in brainwave activity. So we have scientific evidence of why so many ADHD children have been helped greatly just by eliminating sugar from the diet.

Over two-thirds of the refined sugar used in this country is added to manufactured food products. Parents need to become educated about how to read food labels; and more important, they need to read those labels! Cereals are loaded with sugar; that is why it is smart to buy the older, original cereal brands like Raisin Brand and Cheerios. All processed foods contain generous portions of sugar including otherwise healthy foods like peanut butter, canned fruits and veggies, soups and cured meats. If you really want to protect your child’s brain and your child’s health, learn to prepare and serve natural foods that have not been processed.

Several years ago I bought a book called, Biochemical Individuality, by Roger Williams from 1956. Yesterday, I searched for this book in my library only to find it missing, but that’s not what’s important here. There is a new era of individualizing nutritional supplementation that I believe will eventually become the norm. There is no “one size fits all” prescription for what each individual needs in terms of nutritional support. I may need a certain amount of Vitamin E, and you may need something totally different.

I just googled Biochemical Individuality ( wow! The power of the internet) and found the book on Amazon. I had this book in my library for all these years, but did not understand what the author was saying. Now I am beginning to get it. We know we are all unique, but how many of us have thought about our nutritional needs being unique?

All my life I wanted to be a doctor. I was fascinated with science and how things worked. The desire to help people was foremost in my young mind. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. As I dedicated myself to diligent study, the intention to enter the medical profession never left me. In medical school I was drawn to children so the choice to become a pediatrician was a given.

When I finished my residency in Pediatrics, I started a solo practice in Plano, Texas. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was just “putting out fires”, and not really making the impact on the young lives that I so longed to make. I finally got to the point where I could not write one more prescription for Ritalin. I knew something was missing from my doctor tools. After years of searching for that “missing” healing tool, I made the decision to leave medicine and explore other options. I went to seminary and became a minister.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated, curious, in wonderment about what goes on inside this amazing human body.  We live in a society that believes we are victims of a harsh universe that visits illness, accidents, infections, diseases on us randomly…that we are like sails in the wind…with no control over what happens in our physiology.

Even with the most technically advanced medical system in the world, we are probably some of the most unhealthy folks any where on the planet. With the rising cost of health care in this country AND  the escalating incidence of chronic diseases, we are facing a critical time to understand what the causes of our pitiful state are,  and then make honest and committed decisions about what we can and must do about it.

In ancient Greece the Temple of Aesculepius was a center for healing. People of all ages with all manner of diseases and sufferings came there to be healed….and they didn’t leave until they received their healing. That’s the vision that inspired us to develop and create a unique and special place for you and your family to come to be blessed with healing therapies that are gentle, safe and effective.

Imagine what it would feel like to be free of pain, to be able to create an awesome experience in your life, to fulfill and live from your heart-felt passion. Imagine coming to a place that feels like home, a safe, caring environment that fosters healing. For many years, we dreamed of having the time to sit down with you, taking all the time necessary to deeply understand your health. We believe that you are already whole, and together we will explore amazing therapies that will begin to remove those conditions that keep you from shining and sparkling with vitality, energy and enthusiasm…mentally, emotionally, physically and especially spiritually.

Is it possible to achieve wellness, wholeness and creativity by growing in just one or two areas of life?  The answer is “no.”  Can a person learn about and change how they eat, exercise, communicate, and play all at once?  That would be hard.  Yet there is a simple way to make sure that improvement in one area of life spreads to other dimensions of life.  This simple way is by doing a “spin on the wheel.”  The “spin on the wheel” technique was developed by the creators of The Wellness Inventory System.   Healing Unleashed® offers this wonderfully complete system to Denver area residents.
So what is a spin on the wheel?  A spin occurs when a person explores how making a change in one area of life can benefit many other areas of life.  Here’s an example.  Let’s say that Larry wants to improve the balance between working and playing in his life.  Working with a wellness coach, Larry creates three simple, doable wellness steps to achieve the balance he seeks between work and play.  Before Larry launches his new plan, he does a spin on the wheel to discover how balancing work and play might benefit other areas of his life.
Larry immediately sees that balancing work and play will increase his commitment to self-love and self-responsibility.   By reducing his work hours he will be able to eat more healthy meals and lose some weight.  Larry realizes that if he loses weight, he may be able to jog again without damaging his knees.  As Larry examines himself deeply, he admits that his marriage has been stale for some time.  He hopes to include his spouse in some of the new play activities, and this will help make the relationship exciting again.  Making more time for play will allow Larry to return to his favorite hobby, music.  And Larry knows that when he plays music his creativity goes up so his business will prosper.
So there it is.  Making just one positive change in life is like tossing a pebble in a pool and watching the waves of benefit flow outward in ever-wider circles.

Last fall as we were creating a logo for our new business, Healing Unleashed®, the idea of “releasing the imprisoned splendor” (From Robert Browning’s beautiful poem, “Paracelsus”) came to me as I awakened one morning. There is indeed a light within us that is waiting to be released. This imprisoned splendor is our God-given, innate capacity to create.

TRUTH is within ourselves; it takes no rise

From outward things, whate’er you may believe.

There is an inmost centre in us all,

Where truth abides in fullness; and around,

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,

This perfect, clear perception—which is truth.

A baffling and perverting carnal mesh

Binds it, and makes all error: and, to KNOW,

Rather consists in opening out a way

Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,

Than in effecting entry for a light

Supposed to be without

I recently received a phone call from a former patient, someone who is giving up on life because she can’t find her way out of the “conveyor belt” syndrome that is so typical of our current “disease-centered” medical care system. It makes me weep to know that the resources for healing are right within reach…right inside this most amazing body that we have been given, and our system of medicine has either forgotten this or chooses not to recognize the numerous studies that support the inherent integrity of the human body to self-correct and heal itself.

In a recent report of all causes of death in our country, 106, 000 were from adverse drug reactions. We have developed a reliance on pharmaceutical drugs that ultimately cannot heal. We are told that these drugs have been tested and deemed safe, but then we pick up the prescription at the pharmacy and read about all the side effects…some very dangerous and even deadly. For a new drug to be approved for public use the drug companies have to run at least 2 tests and prove that it is more effective than placebo.