Pictured here is the Archangel Raphael who is the Archangel for Healing. On January 13th CVWC will open its Spirit room where one will be able to come for prayer and mediation. This idea came to Marge during her recent incident and over the past few months she has gathered together the information to start this room of peaceful solitude. Please join her this coming Monday as we celebrate with her the miracle and dream she has experienced.

Healing is an internal process that takes place when the mind, body and spirit align themselves one with the other. Our true focus over the last 27 plus years has been ultimately on the mind and the body, and with Marge's help we are now adding the spirit. People often ask me where I received the vision to develop Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and my response has always been that I was inspired many times over to truly understand the workings of the human body in movement. I have been blessed with this knowledge, although you won't find much of it in text books my 27 years of development and practice has shown that it has worked for many.

I have also been blessed with a handful of people who have learned and are now practicing the theory and application. We are presently finishing up a class for certification and are setting up continuing education webinars that will enhance their practice. Within the next few weeks we will have the Fall schedule for the next certification class. Because we have many from out of state that take the class there will be a restructuring of how we do it. The majority of weekends will be performed through online training with an intensive hands on weekend inserted periodically to practice and ensure proper understanding. Please call 216-364-0152 or email Kathy@chagrinvalleywellness.com for more information if you are interested.

Now on to my little rant, recently I have seen on Facebook many therapists complaining that Massage Envy does not pay their therapists' appropriately. I neither agree or disagree with this as I am not sure what they do and do not receive. I do know from talking to a few therapists that they feel it is unfair and my answer to them is they need to change their circumstances. One item that cannot be argued though is they are receiving the compensation that they agreed to. This brings me now to the rant, we have so many of you who use these discount advertisements such as Groupon, Amazon, etc. and they steeply discount their services. The sales pitch is that they will have all of these new clients that come in and be able to build a practice over night. What has happened in this is that daily you will see a new Massage offer and the customers have become shoppers of deals. They shop and buy these coupons for ridiculously low prices and use them when they see fit. The retention rate is terrible and in reality the practitioner is making less than if they were working at Massage Envy.

At CVWC we have a club that our clients are able to join that is comparable to Massage Envy. These are also clients that use our other services as well and as a courtesy to them we offer this form of General Massage for their convenience. The retention rate is much higher as the client is already familiar with our services. It has also introduced many others to our office and the services we do offer.

There are many offers of continuing education with either Laura Allen, Megan Holub and others that will be able to give you classes on practice building and I assure you, giving away your talent is not one of them.

Back to the new classes being offered, we will be presenting Anatomy of Movement courses where the practitioner will learn more of the functional movement components to the body. This takes away many of the mysteries of both chronic and acute pain symptoms and allows the practitioner a much more educated assessment avenue in their treatment protocol. We will also be offering two forms of Anatomy and Physiology classes, one for the lay person where general information about the components and how they work will be taught. The other class will be an advanced class for people that already have a background in A & P and want to learn more. We will also offer some online Pilates instruction so that our clients who go to distant places for the winter and/or summer can learn more and make sure that they are doing it correctly. Remember, we can watch you live! There will also be some free informational classes that I will do in conjunction with Josh Trentine, PT, the owner of Overload Fitness and developer of Renex equipment. Please watch for these announcements and look in your mailbox for the invitation.

Till next time, remember....there is always

a REASON to HOPE!

Dennis

On the second day of 2014 we are experiencing a winter storm named Hercules and I find it somewhat amusing that we are now naming our winter storms. 

This is also a great time to talk about some of the pitfalls of winter and its contribution to both acute and chronic pain syndromes. Whether it be a slip on the ice, shoveling snow or just the cold weather, winter has a definite adverse affect on the human body. 

A question I am often asked is why do I feel more aches and pains at this time of the year? What can I do to help prevent this? Although I am sure there is some form of research on this, I will give my take on it. 

Since I profess that movement, or the ability to do so, is what drives everything within the body I will take you down that path. The body is made up of four layers of tissue that works in unison to apply the proper amount of tension to generate movement in the skeletal system. The Fascia system which is a continuous fiber that starts in the skull and ends in the toes.It is primarily a non-vascular tissue, which means it has no blood flow directly associated with it. It is fed through the fluid that provides your cells with nourishment. This is thick, syrupy type of fluid that often on what I describe as Jello. The ligaments and tendons are direct extensions of the Fascia system so they are also limited to actual blood flow. Muscles make up the fourth level of tissue and are nourished directly by blood. 

What does all of this mean? As we move or lack thereof, the muscles contractions produce heat which keeps the fluid in a more liquefied state and allows for easier movement possibilities. When we are cold our movements are smaller and therefor do not produce the same amount of heat. Also, our body temperature is lowered by the cold temperatures which will contribute to the fluid thickening. So as you make jello the boiling water changes the powder to a liquid form and once placed in the refrigerator the liquid turns into a solid state. If you were to take that solid state and say place it in a microwave oven you could return it to a liquid state. 

The same hold true for the Fascia and its extension, the cellular fluid goes from a liquid form to a thicker and slow moving fluid. This restricts the tissue to extend and retract to accommodate movement. This restriction also tightened the tissue in and around the joints of the skeleton and now we have what is commonly referred to as arthritis. The restriction in movement, the tightness in the joints and the slowing down of circulation because of the cold all contributes to that lethargic feeling we experience. This is what contributes to that feeling of pain we experience. 

Whats a fella to do? Move as much as possible, move slower and smarter but move. The pain limits me and that makes everything worse, now what? This is a time when you should come in and have a nice, stimulating massage that will relax you and let you sleep better. What a massage will do is passively exercise your tissue enough to stimulate muscle contraction which will increase the amount of blood to that area. It is those contractions that will raise the temperature that will liquidize the cellular fluid in the Fascia and in turn will reduce the abnormal tension on the skeleton and its joints. Ask about the CVWC Club, the best value in town.

This would also be a great time to come and do the Fundamental Movement Pilates that we offer at the Wellness Center. You don't need to sweat and burn to enjoy a good, full body exercise, this also gets the blood moving and energizes the muscle tissue. 

Cranio-Sacral Therapy, as passive as it may seem, truly works the Fascia system, moves the Cerebral Spinal Fluid and forces the tension in the body to neutralize itself, therefore creating an internal combustion that allows for freer movement. 

Acupuncture, get the chi energy moving and that will also create the balance in the tissue that allows for better movement patterns as it removes many of the restrictions. Reiki also has similar effects. You can feel relaxed but that is often because all of the tissues are more apt to want to move when we have good energy running throughout the body.

Structural Integration works directly to break up the adhesion in the connective tissue that limits functional movement.

Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® works directly with that tension on the skeleton and frees up the movement aspect that encourages a healthy and happy body.

Yes, these are the services we offer here at the Wellness Center and this is how they can help you get through these cold, long winter days and help you enjoy the winter instead of dreading it. When we reduce pain we also increase the feel good hormones and that change in spirit will keep us much more optimistic. My wife reminded me that in less than two months the Indians open up Spring Training.

On January 14, 2014 we will be having an open house where all of these great therapist will be present to explain to you how you will benefit from their services. Also, we will be offering 20 minute chair massages for $10.00. The one and only Pat Carroll, LMT will be here to provide his golden touch on the chair. For further information please call CVWC at 216-364-0152 or email appointments@chagrinvalleywellness.com. I hope to see you all!

So if you do suffer from the winter blahs or other cold weather related aches and pains, please know there is always a REASON TO HOPE! 

Dennis

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone a very blessed, happy, and healthy 2014. May it be a year filled with hope and abundance for all.

This is probably more of a rant than a blog, but I feel it is important to explain the physiological effects on what really happens during a Massage. You will feel comfortable and relaxed, or your should if performed correctly, but the body does not truly relax by definition.

What do I mean by this? When an individual receives a massage there are a multitude of actions that are taking place all at the same time. Massage is actually passive exercise, and that is a primary reason you need someone that is truly educated on the workings of your anatomy. The body actually goes into a shut down mode because of fatigue, and therefore the person is tired from the activity and that is the sensation being experienced.

Lets walk through the process of this activity. After a brief interview, especially if you are a first  timer with that therapist, you will go over any issues you may have at that time. As you are laying there the therapist will start with a body part and perform what is called passive touch. This touch will activate the body's awareness system or propriocpetion. When this system is activated the body shifts into its fight or flight protection until it becomes aware and comfortable with what is taking place. This will cause an increase in heart rate and breathing and your nervous system becomes hyper-irritable. The therapist will engage the skin, connective tissue and eventually the muscle that lies underneath.   

What this means is that you are passively exercising by definition. To exercise is to move with a purpose and reason. During your massage session all internal systems of the body are working. So for approximately one hour all systems are go and by the end of the hour, if not sooner, your body is fatigued which gives the sensation of relaxation.

Why do I tell you all of this? Recently there have been many different people saying that they can perform "relaxation" massage. I am a member of the Massage Therapy Advisory Committee to the State of Ohio Medical Board who governs Massage Therapy in the State. In the last 15 years there has been great discussion as to what Relaxation Massage is and the need to define it. The major problem is the political agenda of many of the legislators. Now with the topic of human trafficking so prevalent and many of the under educated performing "Relaxation" Massage the subject has received more attention. Together with the Ohio Council of Massage Therapy Schools and the MTAC, the Medical Board is in the process of developing a true definition of what "Relaxation Massage" is. 

The medical board requires 750 hours of study prior to being licensed in the State, there are some who are performing massage with only 8 hours of education. I presented the above information to help many knowing the importance of understanding the internal workings of the human body and the many contraindications of receiving this approach to wellness. It is definitely not a luxury to be taken lightly. Deep pressure over varicose veins could be deadly, because it increases heart rate, someone with high blood pressure needs to be treated differently. What about someone with kidney problems or is pregnant? These are all topics that are covered in massage therapy school and the student is tested on this information.

So I ask you to be very careful of who you receive your "Relaxation" massage from and ask to see their education background and in the State of Ohio they should be licensed by the Medical Board. If you have questions or any concerns please feel free to contact myself or the other licensed therapists at our office; Jennifer, Krista and Leah. 

Always know there is - a Reason to HOPE!

Dennis

First of all I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

I have begun to write the book on Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh(R) and have begun with the its history. I am a firm believer that in order to truly understand a theory and technique there truly needs to be a history protocol to it. Twenty minutes a day, and hopefully by this time next year we will be ready to publish.

This blog post is about two bony structures that act in conjunction with one another. This is one reason why it is important to understand functional movement patterns when determining pain patterns. The picture is of the Zygomatic bone and its counterpart bone is the Clavicle. The Zygomatic bone acts as a keystone structure of the cranium and in Cranio-Sacral work has a specific release. The Clavicle supports the integrity of the shoulder joint; and that is only the beginning of their commonality.


In your typical Anatomy class you learn regions of the body, in reality there is no escaping that the human body is one entity, controlled by one brain. Although many professions would argue that the suture lines are fused together as we age, I am sure Dr. Sutherland, D.O. and his disciples that teach Cranial Sacral work would disagree as vehemently. Through my many years of developing specific release patterns to aide the dentist and orthodontist help align bite, help with sleep apnea, snoring and occlusion issues, I have found out that by getting movement in the suture articulations good things have happened.

So how do these two structures compare? It is a long story so hang on! One muscle that is common is the Sternocleidomastoid, which as any Massage Therapist will tell you is often a difficult one to get to stay in a neutral or relaxed posture. The common point of attachment is the mastoid process of the temporal bone. It's distal attachments are on the Sternum, or breast bone, and the Clavicle. That is how it gets its name, its points of attachment. It's action is to assist in skull rotation through the interaction of both SCM's.


The Zygomatic bone is basically your cheekbone and helps give your face its symmetry. There is a direct connection to the Temporal bone and any shift in this bone will cause the Temporal bone to become stuck which will neurologically shut down the SCM to prevent injury. When this happens the Clavicle has unnatural tension applied to it and will be rendered immovable. In my practice individuals will often come in with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, an inability to raise an arm over their head, and chronic upper back pain.

What the therapist must do in this scenario is create a synchronized movement between the two structures. This balancing in tension not only brings about a natural balance between the Zygomatic and the Clavicle but also permits the Temporal bone to become the wobbling wheel it needs in order to help balance normal body movement.

This is a brief description to show how commonality in structures that need to be balanced for proper movement. This is how Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh(R) assesses at the body and how it aides in proper tension on the skeleton. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

We will be offering online continuing education courses that address these type of issues and next fall Angel Velotta will once again present the Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh(R) course. For more information please contact Kathy at Kathy@chagrinvalleywellness.com.

From all of us at Chagrin Valley Wellness Center and The Gibbons School of Massage Therapy and Integrated Medicine we wish a Happy Holiday season.




Dennis

First of all I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone that offered prayers, thoughts, good wishes, and support to Marge and our family over the past four plus months. For those that didn't know my wife, Marge, experienced a brain aneurysm on July 27, 2013, and is presently recuperating and everyday we see improvement, we thank God for this blessing.

Next I want to apologize for not writing but with the circumstances my time was definitely tied up. We have also been conducting a Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® certification course that is being taught by Angel Velotta, LMT~ who has been certified in Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® for five years now and has a practice at Southwest General Hospital. We will once again be offering this course in the Fall of 2014. In addition to this course I have also been teaching an Anatomy of Movement course that has detailed the different movement patterns of the body. 

I would also like to announce that beginning in January 2014 we will be offering on line continuing education courses for both the professional and lay person. These courses will be live and interactive so there will be actual demonstrations and the ability to ask and have questions answered at that time. They will also be recorded for future viewing. Watch for announcements on these courses over the next few weeks!

Now for the topic of this blog, recently, I gave a class on the "Core" group of muscles. For anyone that knows me, I am not a fan of how we perceive that word "Core". With that being said I do want to talk about the importance of what I refer to as an initiator muscle that engages all of the other 30+ muscles that make up the center of strength for movement. The Serratus Anterior muscle wraps around the side of the rib cage and, attaches' along the front side near the breast bone and on the back side along the border of the shoulder blade~close to the spine. This muscle performs the function of moving the shoulder blade and the rib cage in breathing and movement of the shoulder joint.

Recently, I showed two long time clients how they could use this muscle to improve ones' tennis game, and the other to be able to play her violin in concert without her shoulder hurting. We don't often think of the ribs or the shoulder blade to move in flexing and extending pattern but for this conversation we will use this definition. Any time a bony structure moves to the center that is flexion and away from center extension. In an upcoming web training that I will be teaching, I will go into greater depth on this topic. 

With the tennis player we needed to help strengthen his forehand delivery. The first item on the agenda was to cue the brain that we needed to extend the upper extremity to its maximum length without putting stress on the shoulder joint. Most causes for "tennis elbow" is the abnormal tensions placed on the joints with too much emphasis on the shoulder which places the elbow under duress. So how did we do this? By the way the same advice was given to the violin player! We taught the individual to learn to engage/disengage the tendons of the fingers, especially the middle finger. When the tendons are disengaged it permits for a much smoother extension of the forearm and arm by removing the unnatural tension that is placed on the forearm extensor muscles of the forearm. When striking the ball the tension is re-engaged which now creates a dynamic tension on the forearm, and removes tension on the shoulder which allows the elbow to complete the follow through. His immediate report back was that he hadn't hit his forehand that well in years. Oh, by the way the violin player reported that she had no pain after her concert!

Where does the Serratus Anterior come into play on all of this? Prior to engaging any of your muscles one must learn to engage, not contract, this muscle. As this muscle engages it cues the brain into centering the entire body and prepares it for movement. On engagement it works with the Rhomboid (the muscle along the spine in the picture) and positions the shoulder blade properly to support general movement. The positioning sends the proper neurological information out to the body; no matter where the movement is being generated from, to create the proper tension to be applied to the right part of the skeleton. Remember all movement is just a readjustment of tensions on the skeleton, that is Tensegrity.

In closing, if you are exercising and they have you doing your back muscles the primary muscles that they are going to work on are these Rhomboids. Once again these muscles are to engage not contract and should not become dominant as your shoulder blades will then move off center and distort the proper centering and tension that is necessary for co-ordinated movement.

Please have a happy and joyous holiday season and remember there is always....
a Reason to HOPE!

Any and all questions and comments are appreciated.

Dennis Gibbons, LMT

The picture on the left shows you the difference between five pounds of fat and five pounds of muscle. What does this have to do with building muscles? How will this help me better understand how to better build muscles? Great questions, and I will attempt to answer each one for you. I think it is important to state that these pictures are normally touched up for effect  but we aren't concerned with that as much as the importance of building and strengthening the muscle fiber within our body.

Let me also clarify and state that exercise is not a ways and means to weight loss.  What proper exercise will do is help you build muscle, which helps use excess fat deposits for energy post exercise, which will help alter the shape of your body. Starvation will also burn fat for energy but also deplete the body of necessary minerals and foods it needs to survive. 

Many people follow a fad, or what the experts call "healthy diets", and lose weight, normally 5 to 10 pounds the first week. They get excited and now they start one of the fad exercise programs or just walk, which can be very good for you. The problem with most of these diets is that they end up losing muscle and not fat. What metabolizes fat best is strong, lean muscles, and when you lose muscle fiber you don't burn fat. 

Now if you starve yourself, once you burn fat and don't substantiate caloric intake with caloric output you will eventually deplete the fat storage of the body. What strong healthy muscle fiber does is increase your metabolic rate, which in unscientific verbiage means you are able to burn more calories at rest because the muscle requires more energy and the body will proceed to the fat bank to make withdrawals. 

By burning more and more of the fat deposits in our bank we start to produce stronger and leaner muscle fibers. How do we do this with efficiency? Most individuals feel that they need to get their heart rate up and racing at a high rate, wrong! If I don't sweat then I am not really "working out"! What you do when these occurrences happen is you place your nervous and hormonal system under great stress. What do most individuals want to remove from their lives? Stress, so why do we add that component. When exercising properly the body should be under minimal duress, while focusing on using the proper muscle fibers and creating a healthy environment of blood and oxygen, that is what builds muscle and burns fat. 

In the practice of Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® and Fundamental Movement Therapy (SM) your breathing patterns is what the therapist and instructor look for and correct initially. In order for the muscles to fire correctly they need to have proper blood and oxygen. The body moves in a vertical and rotational pattern to overcome the dynamics of gravity. The breathing pattern of the body is truly from head to foot and also includes the hands. This is how the body directs the flow of blood and oxygen to the necessary areas. 

Without getting into the specific forms of muscle fibers, there are four, as the brain  determines the movement pattern it intends to travel, it prepares by bringing proper nutrition to the area. If there is not enough "sugar" the body will go to one of its safe deposit boxes and withdraw some fat from it and use it where needed. As the muscle fibers begin to fire and create the necessary tension and dynamics that will fatigue and deplete themselves. What happens next is where your strength comes in, it recruits from within itself when the body is positioned and stabilized properly. As you build these additional fibers, you increase the body's internal metabolism and that is when you properly burn "fat". 

Fundamental Movement Therapy (SM) uses Pilates based movement equipment to assure that you stay supported and in the proper position during movement. It is based on maintaining the proper tension on the bones of the body while using the proper muscle fiber. Pilates based movement, as mentioned previously was called Contrology by Joseph Pilates, and was meant to be SLOW and DELIBERATE not fast and furious. It truly was meant to change movement patterns and as a result strengthen the correct muscle fibers. 

How does this relate to the topic of burning fat? As we build proper muscle fiber strength, and continue to use that muscle in movement, we will need to access our fat bank and therefore build muscle and reduce fat. Improper movement does not build muscle strength but in actuality will weaken the muscles because it will fatigue them and force the brain to recruit from other areas of the body. 

Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® was developed so that the brain will fire in the proper pattern and allow the brain to make correct choices. It performs this task by balancing the muscle tension on the skeleton and allows the ligaments to place the bones into proper alignment for movement purposes. 

Please send us your questions and comments right on this blog page. Next week I will talk about bone density and osteopenia and how to prevent osteo-arthritis by using these techniques.....

Remember there is always a REASON TO HOPE!!

Dennis

PS The essential oil that I have been rolling on has reduced the inflammation in my Thyroid area. I must also admit I do believe my energy level is picking up, now we will patiently await the metabolism.

It seems over the past few weeks that this question has come up in casual conversation; I guess now that the Summer weather is with us people are thinking more of outside activities.  This is a very controversial topic, and I am sure if you ask ten people you will probably get ten different answers! But this is how I describe it as it relates to movement and relief of chronic pain. -  Muscle Strength vs. Muscle Tone?!

Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® was developed to enhance Muscle Tone so that the muscle would be able to add Muscle Strength. They are two separate entities and you can't have one without the other. Muscle Strength provides the dynamics necessary for proper movement. Muscle Tone provides the ability of the muscle fiber to be in the proper position to be strengthened. 

What is meant by this, muscle fibers must be aligned properly with the skeletal structure or bone that they are meant to move. Through any form of trauma or injury fibers often realign themselves in a posture that accommodates the misalignment, and therefore are no longer in a positive position of movement. The brain does not recognize muscles but does control movement patterns so even when exercising the proper muscle fibers do not have to "fire" because the brain is trying to replicate a movement pattern not have a particular muscle fiber work.

That dilemma forces the body to recruit other fibers and this is what often creates future problems in the pain cycle. People often continue to "strengthen" muscle fibers that are not properly aligned and this will cause the wrong fibers, or the ones that are holding improper posture, to become stronger than the ones that should be working.

What Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® does is find the improper tension in the muscle fibers by determining the improper movement patterns, releasing the protective posture and allowing the individual's brain to "release" back to a natural position and tension. This is proper muscle tone!

With proper muscle tone the movement patterns used in strengthening will function at a higher level and this access will force the muscle to recruit from within itself. This is a very complex topic to wrap yourself around but it is an important one to try and understand because one can actually make their discomfort worse by moving in an improper pattern. 

What does Fundamental Movement Therapy - FMTh(sm) / Pilates do for you? There is a major misconception that Pilates is meant to be an aerobic exercise that produces much perspiration and supposedly strengthens you. When Joseph Pilates developed his theory of Contrology or controlled movement it was with the purpose of using the proper muscle fibers to move and strengthen in the proper movement patterns. He would position the frame to work accordingly with the overall structure, much as any mechanical structure needs to. 

As you are taken through the process of proper movement the brain will encourage the proper fibers to work and thus strengthen. The objective of forcing the body to perspire is contradictory to what needs to be done as this forces the body to work under stress. This stress forces the brain to diversify itself and the hormonal imbalance is overworked therefore limiting the efficiency of the body and brain.

As you can see this is a complicated process that I will attempt to simplify over the next few weeks. If in the meantime you have any questions, please call us at 216.364-0152 and speak with anyone of us to help you understand better what will give you......

a Reason To HOPE so that your pain can be eliminated.....


Dennis

PS Essential Oil update for my Thyroid, the inflammation has gone away and i do believe I am now starting to get more stamina. Thank you to Marge and Stacey for finding and putting together this remedy. I will keep everyone posted.
Stacey Abbe will be at the Wellness Center on Tuesday 6/11/2013 from 10:00a-2:00p with the Zyto Scanner. Compliments of Stacey, if you sign up for the Zyto Scan, purchase an oil, - you will receive a complimentary oil blend. Call CVWC at 216-364-0152 t

On May 9, 2013 we will be having an expert in the field of Essential Oils coming to our office. Stacy Abbe has been here before and many of you may have seen her but wondered, "what is it she is doing?" I hope this will help answer your questions.

In creating a Wellness Center it is imperative to offer products and services that compliment one another. Essential oils for many years have proven to have healing effects on many different dilemma's that occur in ones life. Stacy Abbe is our Doterra Oil representative and will be here to help you determine what oils would best suit you. She just brought me a combination of oils to rub on my thryoid to help heal it. I will keep you posted on my success. 

How does Stacy know what I need? Well besides being well read on the topic, she will recruit the aide of a Zyto machine (http://www.zyto.com/). Being a skeptic I needed to try out this machine that would be able to tell me about myself, to my pleasant surprise it hit the nail on the head and Stacey was able to help me with oils I needed. I began taking the oils and did notice the improvement. As in any natural pathway to Wellness it is a methodical process and subtle changes begin to happen. So I do personally recommend the use of the Oils and I highly recommend Stacey to help you. 

The $15.00 fee for the use of the machine is a reasonable amount because it gives you the information you need and takes the guesswork out of it for you. 

Essential oils have been used throughout recorded history for a wide variety of wellness applications. The Egyptians were some of the first people to use aromatic essential oils extensively in medical practice, beauty treatment, food preparation, and in religious ceremony. Frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh and cinnamon were considered very valuable cargo along caravan trade routes and were sometimes exchanged for gold.

Borrowing from the Egyptians, the Greeks used essential oils in their practices of therapeutic massage and aromatherapy. The Romans also used aromatic oils to promote health and personal hygiene. Influenced by the Greeks and Romans, as well as Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic use of aromatic herbs, the Persians began to refine distillation methods for extracting essential oils from aromatic plants. Essential oil extracts were used throughout the dark ages in Europe for their anti-bacterial and fragrant properties.

In modern times, the powerful healing properties of essential oils were rediscovered in 1937 by a French chemist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, who healed a badly burnt hand with pure lavender oil. A French contemporary, Dr. Jean Valnet, used therapeutic-grade essential oils to successfully treat injured soldiers during World War II. Dr. Valnet went on to become a world leader in the development of aromatherapy practices. The modern use of essential oils has continued to grow rapidly as health scientists and medical practitioners continue to research and validate the numerous health and wellness benefits of therapeutic-grade essential oil.

I am presently using a combination of oils that Stacey put together for me for my Hypothyroidism and Hasimoto's Autoimmune Disease. I will keep everyone posted. So don't hesitate and give us a call here at the Wellness Center and Briana and Rebecca will be happy to book your appointment with Stacey. The number is 216-364-0152 or email them at appointments@chagrinvalleywellness.com. 

Yet another reason to HOPE for your overall Wellness.

I hope all are enjoying the great Spring Weather and remember Mother's Day on May 12, 2013. 

a REASON to HOPE!

Dennis  

I recently wrote about our CLUB CVWC, our Fundamental Movement Therapy (sm), and most recently what will help keep you from the need of using a walker and creating better balance. The following are some random thoughts and just how all of this ties together for your overall Wellness!

This picture is one that depicts stress in our daily lives. There are many different forces that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. How our bodies and most importantly our brain deals with them is what will drive our overall feeling of health and vitality. The drug companies keep on coming up with prescriptions that will make us sleep better, not wet our pants, have better sex, make sure that we have good blood pressure and as you all know there are many more. What I do find amusing, as many others do, the commercial is a minute long with about 15 seconds devoted to the benefits and 45 seconds to the side effects. I do find some of them amusing and frightening, especially the one that says it may cause death. 

I have recently signed up for Medicare and had the prescription drug plan explained to me and why I should sign up for it. Research has shown that as we get older we are supposed to take more and more prescriptions so that we may feel better and help us age. This program allows us to better afford these prescriptions. Do not get me wrong, as in the case of any issue, some prescriptions are necessary for us to heal and help abate some issues that could be potentially dangerous to us; therefore you do need to listen to your doctor and if you have questions about a prescription you are taking, contact your pharmacist, their education has given them that knowledge.

What I am purposing though is an aide in preventing the everyday stress from overtaking your body. My main proposal is that we stay healthy in our movement patterns during our day to day activities. By maintaining a proper balance of tension on the skeleton, our movement qualities improve exponentially. This reduces the brains need to create both a neurological and hormonal balance. This is what we perform here at the Wellness Center. We have many forms of therapy that we use here to help individuals with their structural balancing. 

Our main therapy is Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh® which I have worked on developing over the past 25 years. Of course we have traditional Massage Therapy by our licensed Massage Therapist and if you really want to commit to yourself join the CVWC Club. Another therapy we have here is Acupuncture and our Licensed Acupuncturist Allison has over 20+ years experience and individuals who have stated to me that they were afraid of needles overcame that fear, not only because it doesn't hurt but by the compassion and care that Allison shows. One other form is Structural Integration or a new format of Rolfing that is provided by our Certified Therapist Pat Gates, LMT. Pat has studied under Tom Meyers who was educated by Ida Rolf herself. What this entails is a series of treatments that looks at and re-creates a Fascia Reconstruction of the posture so the building blocks are "stacked" one on top of the other. One other new form of therapy being introduced is Ortho-Bionomy which use the position of the muscle and the lever to help reset the tension on the skeleton.

As you can see we offer many choices and  have many different modalities to help relieve the internal stress on your body and brain. Please call today for a free consultation or just to talk with one of our therapist or instructors.

a REASON to HOPE! - Wellness solutions for your relief of stress to your body!

Dennis

With all of the early Spring snow we are getting I thought this was an ingenious way to use a walker. I was not supposed to add to the blog this week but it seems the universe was beckoning me to espouse on this topic. 

In the practice of treating chronic pain there is often very similar issues that will constantly present themselves, and this week it seems to be the issue of an aging population that are experiencing leg pain. This week it seems to be somewhat epidemic.

I really felt the compulsion after one particular long time client yesterday came to me with a reoccurring problem that she has. Without getting into any personal information there is a pathological issue that this person deals with but with regular exercise, water aerobics, the issue has been controllable. My services are normally required two times per year but in recent months there seems to be more of a re-occurrence. As many know this disturbs me that the treatments are not holding for longer periods of time. 

What has been a common thread is the chaos that is happening with the Pelvic girdle. What I have also noticed the last few times is that there is a common thread to the chaos, and that is the upper thigh or Quadriceps are extremely tight and disorganized. When asked about her form of exercise the individual claimed that they were told to strengthen these muscles in order to prevent knee pain. As many of you know I find that these create an imbalance to the normal tension on the lower skeleton and thus creates a conundrum in standing and walking. Many also know that when I am teaching in the PIlates studio we often bring this subject up. The use of these larger muscles for dynamics creates more problems than they prevent. 

What will help prevent you ending up like the man in the picture? We all need to strengthen the ability of the lower leg or calf muscles to aide in the skeleton's ability to move. The body moves from the end point to the mid point and what this individual was doing was moving the opposite way. This forced the Pelvis into an awkward presentation and therefore distorted itself to adapt to the imbalance in tension integrity of the skeleton. If it did not, there would have been an unusual pull that when the concurring push happened the individual would have lost balance and fell. This becomes a larger than life issue especially when there has been so many snowy and icy days here in Northern Ohio and throughout the country. 

The question is "Well how should I do this?" My pat answer is learning how to reprogram the neurological connections in the body. Remembering that we move from the end to the middle we have to consciously, in the case of standing and walking, move the ankle joint first. This action will trigger the mechanism in the brain to use the correct muscles, this is the best way to create strength, and proper use of the muscles. Strengthening the upper thigh muscles will eventually compound the  problem and negative results will happen.

What needs to be accomplished is this re-programming of the nerve impulses to the brain so that an unconscious action takes place just upon thought. I often have someone place a one pound weight in their hand, flex the wrist and just focus on the elbow bending so that the weight is moved toward the shoulder. The hard part for most is that they want to perform the action instead of forcing the brain to figure it out and re-pattern the proper muscle movement. 

In our Pilates studio we create scenarios with the use of the equipment so that individuals will start to develop these patterns. The repeating of the process ingrains the message to the point that when movement is required the brain processes this information and not only allows for pain free movement but re-strengthens the muscles. 

One last item I want to address in this blog is the issue of, "it is hard and painful for me to rollover in bed!" People are always amazed that we can get them to roll over with no pain and great ease when done properly. Once again in the beginning you will have to think this one out to re-develop the proper pattern, but when rolling over you need to use your spine. Since the low back or lumbar section doesn't rotate start by using the shoulder that is in the up position and generate the ability to roll over from the upper spine to the lower, the rest of the body will follow. To many people want to generate the twisting motion with their butt muscles and they don't work like that. 

Hopefully this information helps and I would love to entertain any and all questions and concerns you might have. My recommendation is that you come in and try our Fundamental Movement Therapy(SM) that is taught in our Pilates studio to help in reorganizing your brains pattern of movement. This will help strengthen the proper muscles and help you drive away the demons that many call getting old.

Remember there is always a REASON TO HOPE!


~Dennis Gibbons LMT