Blogs - POSTURA PRESS

The body has a building code

The need to modify my technique was made clear to me with my first patient in my new office in 1987. She was 36-years-old, walked with a cane, had persistent swollen legs and ankles, had not liked the “cracking” type of manipulation and was now giving up on the Activator Technique as ineffective.

Before I went to the chiropractic college, I was in the residential remodeling business. I was a superintendent of construction for a large firm. I knew all the trades, having worked my way up the ladder (ahem), so although I no longer had my tool belt on, I was telling people what to do. I had critical thinking skills, and it was now time to apply them.

Going into an older home to do renovation and upgrading is quite different from new construction; a different approach is required with different tools and skills. Delicate work is needed to work on older homes. Not that 36 is old, but having had 20 years of instability and dysfunction made her a complex case. Everyone in her past had ascribed her problems to the spine, but they hadn’t even evaluated her knees and ankles.

I had taken a series of Extremity Adjusting classes in the College curriculum but also had gone to a number of weekend seminars on the subject. I felt none of them had prepared me for someone with chronically swollen lower legs with an obvious joint dysfunction of the ankles and feet. Big yanking and distraction-type manipulations were not an option for her, since she was too sensitive.

I was trained in Chiropractic Biophysics, which does not offer extremity protocols. All the extremity protocols are done to the mirror image of the subluxation to restore alignment. I could see her lower limbs were deformed and inflamed and in need of intervention. I knew there was a building code to the body and my goal became to reduce the building code violations (reduce the subluxations). So that is what I did. She taught me a lot, as did all the patients that have followed. I seem to collect patients whose stories are terrible except for their will and drive to keep working and get better. Hip replacements gone bad, failed back surgeries… you name it, they have come through my doors. I am forever honored and grateful for their willingness to let me help them achieve better functioning and quality of life.

That first patient was off the cane in three weeks, but she needed it again, 23 years later, in her final days when she was in chemotherapy, to keep herself steady as she walked with terrible weakness.

Every so often I hear the words, “It’s a miracle! Thank you, Doc!” to which I reply, “I don’t do miracles. That’s God’s job.” The body wants to heal. The body has a building code. I simply find the building code violations and correct them.

The body has a building code Read More »

Knee Alignment Is More Important than You Think. So why isn’t it being taught to our medical professionals?

Knee Function

Knee problems can lead to major health problems for a person. Not just in terms of pain (that would be enough, thank you very much), but the limitations of activities that have the most negative effect on the body. Lack of activity eventually leads to deconditioning, depression, possible weight gain and increased degeneration. Almost every organ system is challenged as we go down this path. Heart, lungs, colon, bone density… nothing gets better with inactivity.

I ran marathons in college and continued to run on asphalt for several years after college. In my later years I began to suffer from unhappy knees. It was a drag to say the least. I found myself suffering from knee and leg pain and was unable to continue my very busy lifestyle. I find it frustrating to have limitations of activities and pain with work and daily tasks. I found that if I keep my tibias aligned I am much happier because my knees are happy. I can work all day, which keeps me busy and gives me the sense of satisfaction that I crave in order to feel like a useful member of society. My activities aren’t limited, so I can do “stuff” instead of sitting by watching others do it for me. I can remain independent, which makes me very happy overall.

If you have pain in your knees, you probably have a displaced tibia. If you have heard these words to describe your knee(s):

meniscus
cruciate
collateral
osteoarthritis
patellofemoral syndrome
chondromalacia
osteochondritis
dessicans
patellar tracking problems

then you probably have a displaced tibia. If you have pain in your legs, then you may have a displaced tibia.

Healthy Knee — **Normal Knee:** The tibia should be squarely aligned with the femur.

Aligning the tibia is not being taught.

Luckily it isn’t difficult to adjust a knee. In fact, with the proper knowledge it only takes a few minutes to adjust your knees. My book, “Got Knee pain? Where is your Tibia?” goes through the process of lining up your own knees. I go over in detail how to find where your tibia is relative to your femur. We want them lined up. The best weight bearing happens when the tibia is squarely under the femur in the neutral, standing position. You, the knee pain sufferer, have the most motivation to get these two bones lined up. And you are the most convenient person to intervene, your knees are always with you. Once that has been determined then you initiate the self aligning maneuvers you need to get your tibia lined up. This injury is an injury to the ligaments of the knee. Ligaments do not heal quickly, especially if you are older. (If you know who Gene Kelly was you are in trouble.)

I do not know why the orthopedic/physical therapy profession do not line the tibia up with the femur post injury. I have been in practice for 33+ years and I find no one with aligned tibias that have a history of care with any of our professions. I know why it is not occurring: it is not taught.

I have the textbooks, been to the seminars and have colleagues that teach. I cannot find any evidence that they are teaching this information. Therefore I have written this book to help the lay-person adjust their own knees for more mobility and decreased pain.

Knee Alignment Is More Important than You Think. So why isn’t it being taught to our medical professionals? Read More »

A Simple Change in Behavior can Help Stop Knee Pain

Knee Function

image of bad sitting habits which cause knee pain

1 in 4 adults suffer from knee pain. Our kindergarten students can squat without limit and our fifth graders cannot. Sitting in school shortens the muscles and ligaments of our hips, thighs and knees.

This shortening and tightening can cause injury later as the inflexibility causes injury to the joints from improper mechanics. If your knees are bent all the time, in the long term, you will have trouble straightening your knees. In my book, “Got Knee Pain? Where is Your Tbia?” I mention the Cartesian monks, who pray on their knees 16 to 18 hours a day (Into Great Silence, a documentary by Philip Gröning). After a few years they cannot walk properly. They cannot straighten their knees.

More than 20 years ago I had a 65-year-old morbidly obese woman come into my office with terribly swollen knees. She denied trauma, but they were very painful to touch. We wrapped her knees in ice for 20 minutes just to do the evaluation. She had significantly posterior tibias. I asked if she had a history of falls; she said no. I asked her she had a history of motor vehicle accidents; she said no. So asked her if she did any gardening or kneeling and she said she was a Catholic nun, and had been kneeling to pray daily since she was 16. I said, “I am not a theologian, but I’m pretty sure that this is not required. Can you do your praying seated instead of on your knees?”

After two weeks of adjustments along with this small change in behavior her legs and knees were normal. If you have knee pain, take a look at what you are doing on a daily basis to cause the injury. It seems like such a simple thing, but I constantly find that few people stop to think about it.

A Simple Change in Behavior can Help Stop Knee Pain Read More »

catholicism, knee pain, posture