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A typical experience

I had a new client the other day for an 80 minute massage. I asked him if there is anything that he wanted me to know.  He told me that he suffers from a herniated disc that he has had for a few years. He has constant low back and right hip pain that at times radiates down the back of his leg to his knee. He told me that he has had two injections in his low back and has to stay on anit- inflamtory medication.  Anything to avoid surgery. The pain is always there. I asked him if he ever saw a chiropractor for his pain.  He said yes.  But the adjustments hurt his hip so bad that he could not continiue.  So here is a guy that thinks he is on the verge of surgery. I knew that there was a very strong probubllity that was not the case. The vast majority of pain people experience is nocioceptive pain( soft tissue- muscle, tendon, ligament, facia).  MDs and Chiropractors see pain as neuropathic pain( nerve pain).  With that asumption they give the wrong treatments and therapies.  Now there is no denying that at times injections and surgery is needed. Not denying that.   But most of the time - NOT.  70% to 85% of all pain comes directly from trigger points.  Anyway I showed my client a testimonial from a client that I was able to help out of a very painful condition that she had delt with for a couple of years. I showed him that testimonial because all pain has a psychological eliment too it. I wanted him to start thinking maybe he is not on the edge of surgery.  I palpated his entire back upper torso, both hips, and right leg. I found a very painful spot on his right L5 erectors.  Another very painful spot on his right greater trochantor.  A painful spot in the middle part of his lower right hamstrings.  And also a tender spot on the right spinous of L3.  I knew that if Iwas able to eliminate all those painful palaptory spots that I would most likely eliminate his pain problem.  Because a healthy body had no painful spots even with deep massage.  Ive been hunting and eliminateing trigger points for thirty years now.  He walked out of the massage room pain free. He was pain free for the first time in years. All those other professional people misdiagnosed him because they assume neuropathic pain over nocioceptive pain.  I assume the other way around.  I'm a Massage Therapist.  

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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 6:45am


Gary, what you said in this paragraph says a lot. Nobody gets it. Gary W Addis, LMT said:

sigh.  we have to wait for the science to catch up with the need.

That chiropractor I've started working with?  I'm thinking it won't last.  Told you we visited some businesses; he talked while I gave chair massage to 30+ people.  Well, based on that, he had 80% signed up for free chiro evaluations / first adjustment.  On Tuesday I have six 1-hr massage sessions in his office; not one has signed up with him for an adjustment, they've all put the session off. 

Gordon, Therese, I have already told the guy if I encounter pain, I am going to attempt to take it away.  No way I could stand myself if I skipped over a TP and told somebody who is hurting she needs the DC instead.

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on January 25, 2015 at 10:58am

I'll look at the pics and video in a bit, will comment on them later. 

But right now, I wanted to make this point.  I  think the worst burden we MTs have to bear is not the charlatans who sell fake therapies for scds of money as much as it is the spa industry's emphasis on "the spa experience"...the selling of massage for relaxation and beauty.  How can it be therapeutic and indulgence simultaneously? I go to the chiropractor or MD when I need fixing, I go to the spa when I want to feel like a pampered princess! 

Gordon J. Wallis said:

Well, 20 years ago, when I worked in a chiropractic clinic. I made three times the money I make now. There are good Chiropractors out there. But they are VERY RARE. And I mean VERY. I went to three chiropractic clinics with a FAKE shouulder injury.. I got Xrays , and each one of them pointed out my problem on the Xrays. I had NO Problem. So... Everybody has right to make a living. But, need I say more? I'm sure there are better massage therapists then me... But. MUSCLES move bones. And they need to be teaching that fact in Massage School. Instead of how to fit in. I mean look at the income difference between chiropractors and massage therapists. It iis because of the training massage therapists get... BUT.. Muscles Move BONES... its not the other way around... And the best Chiropractors.. guess what? They are doing Soft Tissue Work. I know what I know,. But what they are teaching massage therapists, is not what I know. My whole deal in here was or is to empower our profession. OUR PROFESSION HAS NOT MET ITS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL. Not even close. I'm goiing to try and down load a video or two and a picture( that means a thousand words). Watch it carefully.. Think on things. Forget what you know.
Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on January 25, 2015 at 11:17am

so, in a real way, Shiatsu developer, Master Myamoto Mushashi is saying not to blindly follow in even the 7,000 yr old footsteps of TCM's dvelopers but to, after absorbing their teachings, cut loose and use our own minds to find our own path.

Master Gordon, you ARE teaching us.

Gordon J. Wallis said:

The purpose of today's training( not that I'm teaching you) is to undo what we learned yesterday - MIYAMOTO MUSASHI
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 11:44am
Musashi was a master swordsman. But the meaning is the same.
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 12:15pm
I accidentally deleted my video. Here is one. If it loads
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on January 25, 2015 at 12:19pm

ok, I confused the name with that of the "big thumb" Shiatsu guy, Namikoshi (?)

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 12:23pm
Yea. Namikoshi. Actually, that was the first system I studied. Namikoshi Shiatsu.
Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on January 25, 2015 at 1:58pm

His shiatsu differed from previous versions, the next guy's version differed from Namikoshi's version, and today's practitioners make their own changes to ancient protocols to suit themselves.  Yet they insist that it's all ancient knowledge, and therefore unassailable TRUTH. 

Reflexology foot and hand maps were invented by Eunice Ingram in the 50s, but supposedly based on ancient medicine.  By what means can a point on the sole of the foot affect an internal organ?  Nerves report to and from the CNS, circulation traverses from heart to body to heart again.  Yet if I am skeptical of the claims made by reflexologists, I am told that there are things we humans just don't understand...to refrain from criticizing the treatments provided by other massage therapists and bodyworkers; that Reiki practitioners can control Universal Chi.  Sorry, my logical mind cannot make that leap of faith.  Ethical modern professional magicians no longer pretend to bend keys with the power of their minds: they admit that theirs is the art of creating illusions; that if we choose to believe it truly is magic, it is on us as individuals.  At the time of their founding, nerves were thought to deliver energy (Universal Chi, they labeled it) throughout the body, and in a sense, they do.  Unlike Reflexology, Shiatsu and its grandparent Tui Na are based on actual, proven connections to the CNS.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 3:33pm
Gary, a point on the foot can influence an internal organ. A tender spot along the paraspinals might be negatively influencing an internal organ. Not saying you cure cancer by touching a point on the foot. But subclinical and clinical stress in the inernal organs show up on the surface of the body in many ways. In my short video clip I touched her foot and took out a trigger point in her back. That trigger point is related to a spinal segment that inervates an internal organ. The inside often shows up on the outside. All I advertise is to get rid of the pain. But sometimes you are doing more then just deactivating a trigger point.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 3:34pm
Won't let me load but one clip at a time.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on January 25, 2015 at 3:34pm
This is a good one.
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on January 25, 2015 at 6:50pm

the back and foot are connected, via nerves.  the paraspinals are connected to internal organs, also via nerves.

I argue against palpating a spot in the foot directly affecting an internal organ.  And by what flash of brilliance did Eunice decide this spot for this organ, etc.?  I think she said, hmmm.  The heart is on left side upper body, so its logical to place it here in my Reflexology map..this shape on the foot coincides with the spine, so voila! the spine can be accessed here on the foot!  The neck of the great toe sorta looks like the neck and above it the toe itself sorta looks like the cranium.  In other words, an invention of convenience.  No expensive schools, just study her little book, anfd become a reflexologist!

Apologies if I've offended anyone.  But, sorry, I just cannot accept the entire premise of reflexology.

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