Thursday, December 31, 2009

We're hearing daily about the controversy of health care reform. While none of us are quite sure what it all means, one thing is clear. Healthcare practitioners who treat musculoskeletal pain need to reform their treatments to be more time & cost effective.

Physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc. were oriented during their training to see patients up to several times a week for a number of weeks and sometimes months.  This must change if we're to have cost containment in health care.  

Finally, there's a breakthrough therapy that will answer the call.  It's called Primal Reflex Release Technique™.  The brainchild of John Iams, P.T., from Poway, CA, it's unique in many ways.  PRRT must achieve results of a decrease in pain and increased mobility on the 1st visit or it's not likely that patient's answer.  Up to 80% of patients do experience some lasting improvement on their 1st visit. PRRT blends seamlessly with all other therapies once it has either improved the patient's condition or not.

Exam and treatment takes less than 10 minutes so it's very time-efficient.  Maybe You Don't Need A Splint For Your TMJ.  Nowadays, it seems many people wear a splint at night for their jaw problem. This is called TMJ or TMD. Up to now, the splint has been considered one of the only ways to relax one's jaw muscles. That's about to change.

John Iams, an internationally renown physical therapist from Poway, CA has discovered a much more effective way for the patient to relax their jaw muscles. What he has found is based on jaw reflexes. That's right. Your jaw has reflexes just like your knee when the doctor taps it with a reflex hammer. Iams has evolved a maneuver he teaches his patients. Both Iams and the nearly 1500 practitioners he's trained worldwide are able to offer patients an option to wearing a splint if the patient so chooses. The irony is noted when many patients describe more muscle clenching activity when wearing the splint, the very thing it is touted to prevent. Overly excited jaw reflexes and the trigger points in muscles they cause can manifest as headaches, neck, shoulder and upper back pain.

Is Your Pain Really Just Stored Energy?

If you've had an injury which involved a transfer of force, i.e. fall, auto accident, etc. this may be the source of some or all of your pain.  Remember the 2nd Law of Physics: Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transferred. What I've found in hundred of patients with a history of trauma is the phenomena of protective reflex muscle splinting. What's amazing is how this phenomena can involve areas of the body distant from the actual trauma.

Once found, using Primal Reflex Release Technique™ exam, these areas of stored energy can be released in the 1st session.  Often, the relief of pain and increased mobility is dramatic. What's equally impressive is that results are usually lasting. Here's what critical about this information.

Virtually no other approach to treating musculoskeletal pain is able to find and release these areas of stored energy. This may help to explain how often we hear people who've had various therapies with only limited and often not lasting results of pain relief.

Could Your Rotator Cuff Symptoms Be Coming From Your Jaw or Ribs?

The Simple answer is yes and here's why. Let's start with the jaw. Muscles in jaw have many knots in them called trigger point. This is often cause by clenching and grinding one's teeth at night. Even wearing an appliance or splint at night won't release these knots. The ongoing presence of these knots can cause muscles and the neck and shoulder girdle to become excitable and painful. The upper ribs can surprising be a pain generating source for the shoulder. This usually happens when someone has an injury involving their neck such as whiplash. Another mechanism is breaking one's fall with their arm. There are many other ways the upper several ribs can become restricted. The upper ribs are designed to elevate when you lift your arm. If they're restricted and you attempt to lift your arm, you may notice pain in your shoulder which would be referred from the ribs being restricted. Fortunately, a simple maneuver called Primal Reflex Release Technique™ can usually

correct in a session or two.

Why Many Knee Surgeries Fail To Provide Long Term Pain Relief



An unresolved pain in the knee frequently leads to exploratory arthroscopic surgery. There are several reasons many of these surgeries fail to provide long-term relief. One of the most common reasons for undiagnosed knee pain is a previously unexamined sacro-iliac joint restriction. The sacro-iliac joint frequently refers pain to the leg. Often, a single session of examine and treatment of the SI joint will resolve the knee pain surgery didn't. A second reason is the presence of previously unexamined trigger points in a portion of the quadriceps muscle called the vastus medialis. Once again, a single session of treatment with Primal Reflex Release Technique™ will relieve the knee pain.

Why Do You Still Have Flare Ups of Your Pain



It's quite common to hear people talk about having "flare-ups" of their prior pain issues. Seems like they think it's only nature. Problem is, it isn't natural if the problem has been resolved with adequate therapy. One of the most common reasons for a flare up is the presence of overly protective reflexes which were generated at the time of injury or surgery. These reflexes can be dormant for a period of time and then manifest as stiffness aching and pain. Unfortunately, very few practitioners of any discipline are trained to evaluate their potential to be the source of pain. Primal Reflex Release Technique™ is an approach which is designed to root out and release any remaining overly protective reflexes. Once successfully treated in a couple sessions these reflexes seldom ever return.