Sciatica

When I got to the office on the first Monday morning after my Bowen class the very 1^st patient needed the treatment. She had a sciatic nerve problem in the past and she was certain that it had reoccurred because she had been performing floor exercises for long periods of time and now her left foot felt a tingling like the previous bout with sciatica. I informed her about the new therapy I had just learned and offered it to her. It did not take a nanosecond for her to say yes. I escorted her into my operating room and placed her on the surgical gurney which I had minutes before converted into a temporary massage table. I quickly checked my notes from the seminar and began the treatment. I only performed the moves below the waist in the legs and feet because that is what my Podiatry license allows me to do. When I ended the session and she got up and stood on her feet she said,” it sure feels better. Not all the way but at least 50%”.  The next day she called to report, “That by noon Monday all of the symptoms had disappeared, and the next time she got the sciatica back she would call me for treatment”. I said, “to be sure she had a foot problem”. And, thank you”.

Arthritic Large Toe Joint

Later the same week, one of my more interesting experiences occurred with a patient and his response. Another Podiatrist down the road who was not able to help him referred Bernard to me. Bernard had an arthritic large toe joint, which he did not want to have surgery on. He told me that he was favoring the toe and this was making his hip and back painful. He was hopeful that some type of shoe modification would suffice to relieve his problems. His joint was red, swollen, tender, and with movement grated like sand paper [crepitus]. I informed him that I could accommodate his shoe and for him to leave them over the weekend and I would get them done. Then I told him about the Bowen treatment, which might relieve the pains in his hip and back. He begged me to also perform the upper back and neck moves and promised he would not tell anyone. I felt comfortable with him, so I did a complete treatment from head to toe. When I saw him in the waiting room Monday morning prior to appointment times I said, “Hi Bernard. I’ve got your shoe ready”. He said very emphatically, “I don’t care about the shoe. I want to know when I can get another treatment.” I said, “That’s right I gave you a Bowen last week. How did it work?” He said, “How did it work? It changed my life. The past 3 nights have been the only full night’s sleep I’ve had in years. My back does not hurt. The pain in my hip is all but gone and look at my toe!” . He commenced to remove his shoe and sock and bend the toe up and down and said, “See. Look at this”! I could not help but walk out into the waiting room and look at his toe up close. The swelling, redness and crepitus were completely resolved. There remained a little stiffness but the toe flexed at least 50% more than it did on Friday. I told him that he could make an appointment for Friday. He did, and continued to do very well. The last I heard he had moved to Costa Rica to open a restaurant. I will cover that part of the story in a subsequent chapter.

Meridian Blockage

One Monday morning, a few months following my 1^st Bowen class, a patient presented with a lump the size of an almond beneath the arch on the right foot. She told me that there was no pain involved however, she was favoring it and this was causing pains in her hip and lower back. She was also concerned due to the fact that we are all suspicious when a “lump” appears. I reassured her that the lump was a classical benign plantar fibroma. Only if it grew rapidly or became painful should she consider having it removed. I informed her about the therapy that I had recently discovered and she immediately took me up on my offer. When we were all finished she arose from the table and said, “Oh my, I feel so good”. “Can I come back tomorrow for another treatment?” I told her that we should wait one week before another session and for her to make an appointment. When she returned the following week the lump had reduced to the size of a pea and she said that she couldn’t wait for another Bowen treatment. She scheduled another check on her foot and Bowen session one week later. I began the therapy prior to looking at her foot. During a point where the muscles are released on the inner thigh area she asked, “Is there any connection between that lump on my foot and my stomach?” I said, I don’t think so. Why?” She replied, “On the 1^st visit when you released those muscles in the inner part of my thigh and left the room for me to rest, I immediately felt like a gush of worms crawling around in my stomach. All day long I had a queasy feeling in my stomach. And, when I got home from work that night my stomach and gallbladder pain completely disappeared. I have not had to take any of my stomach medications for the past 3 weeks. And, I flushed $200 worth of prescriptions down the toilet this morning. When I get to work I am calling the gastroenterologist who has been taking care of me the past 2 years and canceling my appointment for next month. I won’t need him any more”. I begged her not to mention my connection with any of this, as I do not want to be in any trouble with the medical community. She assured me that she would not and, she said, “Look at my foot”. As I looked for the lump it was almost completely gone. It was about the size of a grain of rice! I found an old foot reflexology book and opened to the foot chart. Sure enough, the lump was right in the middle of the stomach and liver zone. I told her about that and she laughed, left the office quite happily, and has never returned. 2 years later I was studying Acupuncture and recalled the incident. When I looked at the meridian chart I saw that 2 of the 4 meridians that pass through the inner thigh and groin are the stomach and liver meridians. I could chalk it all up to coincidence or spontaneous remission. Or, I could believe that there was some kind of obstruction in that muscle tissue which was blocking the flow of energy. When the blockage was released she then felt the “Gush of worms into her stomach”. Then, she healed herself. I tend to believe in the later. What is most perplexing is that the pathology reports following biopsy of these fibrous lesions in the plantar foot area always state, “Benign fibroplasia. Multiple fibroblasts and swirls of collagen”. I am not sure as to how this tissue could recede in 3 weeks. But, it did.

Post Trauma

Ethyl was referred to me by her chiropractor. She was hit by a car 9 years ago and suffered major trauma to the right leg and foot. Following multiple surgeries and rehab, she was stuck on morphine and other narcotics, until one day she decided to get off the drugs. Then her back and foot became more painful, so her chiropractor wanted me to make orthotics for her foot with hopes that her back would stay in longer following adjustment. She walked with a noticeable limp, she was unable to rise up on her toes, and she had a mass of scarring in the lower leg. She spoke very rapidly with a slight stammer, and seemed quite hyper. On her initial visit I gave her an abbreviated Bowen session due to time constraints, and taped her arch for temporary support. She noted immediate improvement in her foot as well as her back pain. The following week she was a lot better and was looking forward to a full Bowen treatment. When she returned the following week I saw her standing in the waiting room near the hall door, and I asked her, “How are you doing”? She smiled and said, “Come here”. As I crossed the threshold she put out her arms and gave me one of those “warm fuzzy hugs” and said, “thank you. I am a brand new person. I can get up on my toes, my foot doesn’t hurt, and my back is 80% better. I worked in my vegetable garden for hours without getting tired and sore. And, everyone at work noticed that I’m walking normally now”. Later on during her treatment she told me that on the day of her last treatment, when she got home afterward, she went into the bathroom and threw –up for ½ hour. Immediately afterward she felt much better. I believe that the excess narcotic residues were being stored in the fascial and myofascial tissues, and the therapy quite often will cause this type of reaction in present and former heavy narcotics users and abusers. This does not seem to occur in the other methods of fascial / myofascial therapies that I have discussed.

Another Post Trauma - 20 Years Following

Another case that I was involved with early on in my Bowen Therapy career came to light two years hence. Big John came to my office for his initial visit. He said, “I need one of those Bowen treatments you do. My friend Peter says they are a miracle. You fixed his back pain with one treatment and my back is killing me, so can you fix me too”. I replied, “first of all I am a Foot Doctor and I do not treat back pain. Secondly, who is Peter?” He said, “I can’t remember his last name, but he brought me here, he’s waiting in the car out front.” He went on to say, Now I remember, he came to you with a foot problem and when you treated him for that his back got better. I have a pain in my foot right here, as he pointed to a spot on the top of his arch, you could give me a treatment for that, right mate.” I then said, “all right, lay on the table with your feet on the pillow and your head in the face cradle, and I began a session.” When I returned to the room after the customary 3-minute rest between moves to the muscles, He said, “I remember Peter’s last name mate, it’s Hubbard.” After I completed the next series of moves, I went to the chart files and pulled Peter Hubbard’s chart. When I glanced at my chart notes I remembered the Patient and the incident. Peter had been in a car-motorcycle accident at age sixteen. His right ankle had been badly fractured. He had many surgical procedures, 2 years of physical therapy, a set of custom foot orthotics, and done home therapy exercises over the years. He was told at age nineteen that what he can see is what he’s got and he was stuck with a permanent clubfoot deformity and posttraumatic arthritis. On the day of Peter’s 1^st visit he told me his story, and was concerned about his orthotics not fitting properly as he had them for many years. His leg muscle was in spasm, and he was walking differently due to these problems. I do not remember, nor did I note in the chart anything about back pain. But, it is very frequent that when one favors a foot deformity or pain they will experience back pain. I gave Peter a Bowen treatment for the muscle spasm and the other postural pains he was experiencing. I kept his orthotics for a week in order to refurbish them, and he came for a second appointment a week later. I gave him a second Bowen treatment, placed the orthotics in his shoe and reappointed him for one week for a follow up visit which he failed to keep. When I finished looking at his chart my curiosity got the best of me and I walked out of my office to the parking lot and saw him sitting in the passenger seat reading a book. I said, “Hi Peter. Thanks for bringing Big John for a treatment. What is going on?” He looked up and replied, “Oh, Dr. Mosher! I’m sorry I never came back to thank you for taking care of me. I know that you’re very busy and I didn’t want to bother you and I am lousy at writing letters.” I inquired as to what had transpired and he told me the following. He did not return for the follow up visit because he did not notice any difference in the symptoms and pain he was experiencing. However, 4 weeks after the treatments, while retiring to bed one night his ankle started to itch quite badly. Not in the skin, but, “way down deep”. It had kept him awake for a couple of hours, and the subsided enough for him to dose off. During the night the itching would wake him up, but then he would go back to a light sleep. When he got up the next morning his foot and ankle were noticeably more limber, and slightly less painful. The same thing happened 4 weeks later, and 4 weeks after that. He said that, “About every 4 weeks for about 14 months his foot would itch at bedtime for one night only, and each time he noticed better range of motion and lessened pain upon arising the next morning. Presently, he had no further foot deformity, no leg muscle spasms, and no more back pain.” I have seen Peter off and on over the years for minor “Tune-ups” and he remains just fine with regards to his ankle. He recalled on one occasion that when he told me that afternoon at my office that he was all better, he really was only about 90% better. It took another year to a year and a half to get all the way well. Also in is interesting that the majority of his recovery took 14 months since he was 14 years post injury. That’s 1 month for every year?

 Surgical Trauma

 Shortly after, a lady came to my practice with a postoperative bunionectomy, which resulted in sesamoiditis, [inflammation of the small bone beneath the large toe joint]. She was 4 years following surgery that she was not sure she should have undergone. She said that, “the surgery never healed right, and I have had stiffness in my joint, aching, swelling in my 2^nd toe, and now this pain under the joint.” She also complained of pain in her hip and lower back from favoring the painful foot problems. Examination revealed restricted joint motion, fibular sesamoid pain, and sub 2^nd metatarsal capsulitis. Not wanting to do more than one thing at a time, otherwise I wouldn’t know which one was doing what, I gave her a Bowen session that 1^st visit in order to relieve the back and hip pain. Guess what she told me when she came back the next week for follow-up? She noted off and on itching down in the joint all week long and most of the pain had resolved. The 2^nd and 3^rd weeks she did not experience any pruritis / itching, but the range of motion improved, the aching resolved, and she was discharged totally asymptomatic.

Comment: We have electrical currents flowing throughout our bodies. As evidenced by Electrocardiogram, Electromyography, Encephalography, and measurement of the D.C. currents in the human body by Robert Becker, M.D. These direct currents (D.C’s) are responsible for many events at a cellular level and with tissue repair and regeneration.

I had an experience many years ago with a nurse who worked at the hospital, which I was on staff. She was one of my first Austin bunionectomies. As the months went by postoperatively she had persistent swelling, pain in the interspace and sub sesamoidal area and joint stiffness.  X-rays showed normal healing and alignment. Physical therapy, home exercises, strappings, orthotics, immobilization, NSAIDS, and steroid injection all were wasted time. Radiographs were normal with regard to alignments and osteotomy union. I felt really badly for her, and I saw her at the hospital frequently on my rounds. Then one day, she came to my office without an appointment. My receptionist told me she wanted to tell me something interesting. She had a recent inner ear infection and went to the ear-nose-throat doctor in town, and he gave her a prescription for some kind of “cillin”. During the 1^st 24 hours on antibiotics she had a profound tingling and itching in the 1^st interspace and sesamoid area. Following which, the pain, swelling, and stiffness all resolved. Now her foot was perfect and she was happy. I believe that she had a low-grade infection from surgery and the positive cations were holding the infection in check however, the healing process needs negative anions and it just couldn’t happen until the “cillin” took care of the infection and the body’s defense mechanism could shut down. I have witnessed many similar events following ingrown toenail surgery. Patients come back 4 to 6 weeks following surgery with redness and swelling around the proximal nail fold [cuticle] area and non healing and drainage along the nail margin where the edge of the nail was removed. I place them on an antibiotic and have them back in 1 week. Almost every time their comment is about the same. “I took those antibiotics and a couple of days later my toe began to itch. Now look at it. It’s almost healed’. Sure enough, I would note that the side of the nail margin was all closed over. Again, the D.C. must have been stuck on positive to keep the bacteria from multiplying and as soon as the bacteria were taken care of by the antibiotic, the currents shift to negative, perceived as itching, and then there is the subsequent healing.