On ABR and beyond...

A Curious Lesson of a Botched Shave

Over the last years I’ve made several attempts to get back to blogging, which weren’t very successful. Every time I tried I made rather big announcements in this blog promising to “get back”… only to see myself absorbed with a lot of other ABR activities that draw me away from regular posting. So this time I decided to do it somewhat more humbly – start little by little, give it a try – and see how it goes… And in line with this humbleness – my topic is going to be far less ambitious as well… I just want to show you that valuable lessons with far reaching consequences are all around us – we are just not used to paying proper attention to them.

This, my friends is the picture of my grayish stubble yesterday -- 4 days without shaving. Why am I looking so messy? – Not because I’ve got too lazy or decided to become a strange looking ‘style icon’. It’s a lot more simple – 4 days ago my routine morning shave went wrong – somehow I used an oldish dull razor and had to scrape my chin and jaw a lot harder than usual… The result? – a terrible itch. My skin is not overly sensitive – so this kind of trouble doesn’t happen to me too often – so I was in for a nasty surprise. My shirt’s collar, my jacket’s collar, my sweater – everything felt really uncomfortable and irritating…

By now you might be asking: “Hey, Mr. Blyum, I sympathize with your “troubles” – but aren’t you wasting my time telling this kind of mundane account of your hygienic woes?? There’s nothing unique in it – this happened to millions of people before you and will happen millions of times after … and it will be alright … there is no drama in this botched shave and ‘irritable skin’ story… you better tell me something more interesting and valuable next time if you want my attention...”

Well, and that’s exactly where it gets interesting …

We are so used to taking for granted that a small scratch, a small cut, a small irritation, a small bruise … and thousands of other ‘small’ micro injuries to our bodies – will simply disappear and will take care of themselves… I am no different… All I did was just to stop shaving for a few days. I grew a messy looking stubble but every day it was getting better. First, it was itching less, than it was hurting less against the collar of my jacket … and by yesterday … there was no irritation at all – even if I scratched my chin when thinking (which is one of those habits that you are not fully aware of until you can’t do it for whatever reason).

But upon closer inspection – isn’t it quite a miracle? Isn’t it the illustration of how fundamental and primal is the self-healing and self-repairing capacity that our body has ? But if we dig yet another step deeper – we’ll find out that this miracle of self-repairs of the micro-injuries has a number of elements that make it work.

The biomedical attention is naturally drawn to the information aspect of it – how does our body “know” what to do and how to execute these repairs – and modern science has all sorts of explanations on how exactly the local injury causes an inflammatory response and what exact mediators are released into the bloodstream and in what sequence the repair goes etc..

However, an even more important aspect of the self-repair miracle is not so obvious – but absolutely essential. Every repair has its costs and has its logistics. Which means that there should be a sufficient SURPLUS of metabolic resources within our bodies that allows to allocate those ‘repair teams’ to all the places where such repair is needed.

We take it for granted – but when it comes to a child weakened by cerebral palsy – we have to remember that this is exactly the challenge: having enough of metabolic resources and having good enough logistics for their delivery for each and every place where the daily repairs are needed. And that’s pretty much everywhere – it’s in the gut affected by reflux, it’s in the intestines intoxicated by the slowed bowel movements, it’s in the superficial muscles that are overworking, it’s in the bones that do not get the refreshing piezoelectric stimulation, it’s in the cortical brain has to service all these imbalanced muscles “manually” – etc.

Remember the basic energy resources distribution equation that our ABR team explained you on numerous occasions?

E = I + F + W

In other words, the daily metabolic production (E) is distributed among 3 avenues:

I – Investment –growth and tissue differentiation/ maturing

F – daily function and associated the repairs

W – waste, i.e. the cost of the overloads, overdrives and of the overuse plus the cost of internal logistics

And that’s exactly the challenge that a child weakened by cerebral palsy faces – the E production is lower than in a healthy child's body, while the costs of daily functioning (F) are much higher and where the waste (W) component is many times higher than in a healthy child. That’s exactly why your child’s body faces a much tougher challenge of juggling the limited resources – and what happens quickly and easily for a healthy person most often takes much longer to repair in a body of a child affected by cerebral palsy.

That’s why a little bruise might leave a mark that lasts for months, that’s why a cold might take weeks to get over and can easily ‘spill over’ into a fully-fledged bronchitis or even the lungs infection, that’s why a minor muscle overuse might lead to many days of soreness and stiffness and so on…

So these are a couple of simple lessons, that curiously follow a story of a botched shave.

Next time, when observing how your micro injury disappears within days – by itself, without you proactively doing anything – just say a little ‘thank you’ to those internal mechanisms of self-organization that run your body on its autopilot – both generating E resources and distributing it appropriately.

And, of course, next time – think twice before pushing your brain-injury weakened child to an extra overdrive effort and/ or interrupting their resting and internal recovery with some external demands or requests. Their bodies know best what is the right proportion. Even though you do not see – but their bodies are constantly busy solving a problem of how to feed thousands of ‘mouths’ that urge for repairs of their local micro-injuries with one small loaf of ‘bread’ of limited metabolic resources that they have.. Well, that’s pretty much it. And I hope that this little lesson will stick with you...

P.S.

And this is the happy end picture: I shaved today with the fresh razor – the chin is smooth again … no micro-injuries this time and no call for extra repairing resources … that’s why I had some spare ones to write this post for you :-)))

Dangerous Detox Scams and Nutritional Supplements Delusions for Cerebral Palsy Kids

Dear Friends.

I have been quiet on this blog this year – not publishing anything since April’s “thumb banging” video, which quite a few people told me “made a wrong, somewhat ‘crazy’ impression about ABR”.

Apologies for that but since the end of June – I’ve been mostly in a self-reflective mode doing more of the inside digging rather than the outside expressing.

On June 25^th at 1 am my sister and I were driving back home after visiting a family friend and whilst idly waiting at a red light our car was smashed from behind and jammed into the side of the lorry that was making a left turn. The guy behind us was driving well over a 100 km/h and … he … just freaking fell asleep. He didn’t even press the brakes. His SUV literally flew into ours. Our car was completely destroyed… however, absolutely miraculously, both I and my sister weren’t hurt at all – a couple of bruises – and that was it. At the same time surely it was a major shock – my body was shaking for nearly 2 hours with waves of myofascial tremors and jerks rising intermittently from every major bone in my body – in a very weird tone resetting symphony of sorts. Well, one really learns a lot about the myofascial connections and about the anchoring role of the bone this way … (Not that I am wishing on anyone to go through such an experience…)

Although I wascompletely intact physically – this accident made a lasting impression on me. I really can’t look at such accidents as “just accidents” – I’d lie if I’d say that I take those as a mere overlap of unfortunate probabilities. I can’t help but look for a meaning behind those omens.

And that really bothers me – am I doing something wrong? – Maybe with all the discoveries that I’ve been handed I am somehow screwing up and underperforming, so it has been a warning of sorts… Or am I doing something right – so I survived this fault line of overlapping probabilities so unbelievably smoothly because I still have some value left in me... Well, I do not know... and that bothers me really badly…

When I started counting all the ifs – what if he hit us a second earlier or a second later (because we hit the lorry transporting the semi-loose metal rods in the only safe spot that it had for us); what if he hit us a few centimeters off the center; what if weren’t sitting in a 2.5 ton car which managed to absorb this massive blow without flying too far forward? … All that gives you goose bumps… I really don’t know the answer to all these questions – so I spent the last few months either frantically working “in the field” or quietly self-reflecting – I don’t know whether it is called a depression or just an intense re-evaluation of one’s life … but that’s where I am at right now… not being much in a writing or a teaching mode for a while …

So that was a long preamble to the question that I wanted to address today – the matter that makes my blood boil so much that I can’t remain silent about it even at this reflective point of my life. 

---

Today’s blog post is about the Detox scams and the supplements overload.

Unfortunately the parents of children affected by cerebral palsy are easily misled and fooled by the zealous and unethical practitioners in the detox and nutrition field who seem to be everywhere nowadays.

Facilitating the Internal Self-Healing processes vs the Illusion of "Doing" the "Therapy"

Well, everyday life keeps bringing new lessons --the little things happen to illustrate the big meanings...

A couple of days ago -- I've cut my index finger quite badly whilst slicing a French baguet longitudinally.

This short video  tells you the story and the lessons that are valuable for all of you and the kids..

I've split it in 2 parts:

Part 1 (11 min) 'Actions' -- tells the actual story and the illustrates how I treat my self-inflicted wound.

Part 2 (13 min ) --'Conclusions' -- points why it is important to stay humble and not to fall for the fallacy of "being THE therapist" ..

I hope this helps ...

 

P1 Facilitating the Self-Healing vs the Illusion of Therapy 1500 from BlyumABR on Vimeo.

P2 Facilitating the Self-Healing vs the Illusion of Therapy 1500 from BlyumABR on Vimeo.

The Facebook likes and shares are the most welcome

Mercedes-Benz Accidentally Reveals The Secret Of Walking, Sitting And All Other Locomotions In Between

Few days ago I was travelling back from the 5th annual BioTensegrity Group meeting in Gent, Belgium – and whilst staying in the airport hotel in Dusseldorf – I accidentally saw an amazing commercial ...

It was by Mercedes-Benz ... but the stars of that video were... chickens ?!

I ran back to my room and found it on YouTube... and re-watched it again and again...

Is there a reason why you should pay attention to those chickens? – Absolutely!

This video is an excellent and compact illustration of how important is the proper head control for the rest of the movement & locomotor functions.

Actually, I should put this statement even stronger – head control is not simply important for walking etc -- head control is the single most important factor, the absolutely necessary condition and pre-requisite of ANY controlled locomotion where a human body is in the contact with the ground!

A puritanical pleasure of working for each and every point

This post is going to be one of my shortest and yet one of the most important ones. Sometimes it makes sense to look outside of the ABR and even outside of the domain of "therapies" to re-learn and internalize the most essential lessons.

US Open 2013 tennis  championship ended last  Monday and was won by Rafael Nadal – the hardest working man in pro tennis.

I am not a real tennis aficionado but I am fascinated by it as the most vivid and obvious display of the human work ethics.  Sure, all high level sports are about the work ethics too – but In many other sports there is either too much of the background grinding and sweat with too many tiny details that are not visible to the untrained eye.

For me tennis exposes the qualities of consistency and work ethics in the most elegant and easy-to-observe form. The rallies are visible and the points accumulate in clusters (games & sets) that are grouped in such a way that reward the effort over the sporadic  flashes of brilliance and lucky shots. What I find fascinating is exactly  this duality – on the one hand, the game of tennis looks "light" – like "one doesn't have to" keep the intense work rate all the time; but on the other hand – it is the consistency and tenacity that defines the winning ways rather than a pure talent & skill…

That was a pre-amble – but my message itself today is very brief. A couple of days ago I picked up a newspaper in the plane where the sports section reported about Nadal's US Open triumph and these are the quotes I really want to share with:

"[Nadal] plays by his own confession, not just to win titles but for the puritanical pleasure of working for each and every point " It is a process rather than a  destination for Nadal. "I am a positive player, not a negative player" Nadal said.

The Power of Super-Relaxation ['Relaxogenesis'] to Unlock the Healthy Developmental Potential of your Brain Injured Child. PART 1

In this post  I am beginning to introduce you to the idea of Super-Relaxation and how such Super-Relaxation allows to Unlock the Healthy Developmental Potential of a child affected by cerebral palsy even in the most severe cases.

We are going to do this introduction in a step-by-step manner – starting with a deeper look into the essence of 'ordinary' Relaxation and understanding how the  Relaxation is different from Anti-Tension. This will enable us to move further towards what Super-Relaxation is, and to see clearly why it is such a powerful approach. As the next step we'll look at  the difference between  two avenues of making the most of your child's developmental potential –  the 'Unlocking' strategy and  the 'Boosting' strategy. And finally we'll put the pieces together – showing how all these elements can quite easily and smoothly  fit into the daily life of your child and your own.

ABR Combines Miracle and Magic To Heal a Badly Broken Bone. Part 2. 'THE MAGIC'

The Magic...

Why have I brought such an unscientific category as magic into this conversation about something as tangible as the speed healing of a badly broken bone?

But is it really unscientific ? – In fact, what is true science if not something that dives into the deep unknown, into the non-obvious and surfaces up with a valuable trophy of something both beautiful and practical at the same time.

That's exactly how I see ABR technique – especially the 3Q.Until this day I am amazed by its magic.

At first glance, it is absolutely counterintuitive – because the very idea of "action at distance" when the impact somehow emerges behind the seemingly impenetrable barrier is really foreign to our brains that are accustomed to the consecutive action where reaching 'deep' requires the visible journey through the layers that are wrapped around it.

In fact, this magic is very much described in detail in the main descriptions of the 3Q ABR technique that have been available on this blog for a long time:

ABR 'Classic' Technique - 3Q Principles Illustrated

ABR Technique Essence Illustrated

However, on a very human perspective it is often quite difficult to make those abstract graphs and models to feel alive, and to skip the unclear details of how exactly it works by focusing entirely on the external template of the "How to do ABR 3Q" – contact, volume touch, compression, pause, return etc.

That's why I believe this example is so powerful:

 

When you look at this photo – there is no room for the mental escape.

There is rigid cast made of solid gypsum that has no elasticity and no 'give' in it. There is no way that you can "squeeze the arm inside the cast". The cast itself appears to be a boundary so  impenetrable that the very description of "Well, he put his hands onto my cast with some foam pads in between…" sounds like crazy outrageous bullshit… That's exactly how our athlete felt when the orthopedic surgeons and later his coach and the teammates were asking him about what was actually done to his broken arm to make it heal so fast…

On the one hand, I am encouraging you to re-visit the ABR technique essentials:

ABR 'Classic' Technique - 3Q Principles Illustrated

ABR Technique Essence Illustrated

On the other hand, I am inviting you to really appreciate how powerful is the tool that you have , literally, in your own hands when you do ABR applications/exercises for your kids.

And at the same time, I want you to really understand that to make the best out of this powerful tool, to make it really magical – you need the catalyst that makes this magic happen. You heard it from me many times – "Focus, concentration, awareness, attention to detail".

Yes, sure Alex is an extraordinary talent to begin with, who perfected his ABR craft over the last 9 years by daily practicing for 8 hours and more – but practicing in itself wouldn't deliver the level of  mastery that he has today without those powerful catalysts of focus, concentration, awareness and attention to detail.

I want to assure you each and every of you has this potential. No matter where you are today technically – there is lots of room for improvement. Why? – Because our depth & tensional gradient perception is the  most sophisticated and precise sensory quality of us humans.

I keep bringing the same simple example over and over again – all of us can easily feel when we accidentally flip at once 2 pages of a magazine, a book or a newspaper instead of flipping just a single page.

What does that mean? – The page is only 0.2 mm thick (1/100 of an inch) and yet an average person can feel it without any prior training or particular concentration.

How does that impact  your daily ABR work? – Directly.

The 'compression' range that you work within, when you deliver a 3Q or "egg" or "ball" exercise – is of 1-2 cm (0.5 -1.0 inch). So whilst most people intuitively consider this being  "very small" – in reality it is huge, because it consists of at least 100 of those incremental 'layers' of depth change impact. So even a small improvement in your concentration and awareness  has a potential to accumulate and to translate into a major increase of your ABR work effectiveness – within exactly the same hours that you are already doing. A small improvement in your concentration and awareness  – has the potential to make a huge difference in the progress of your kids.

And that's why next time when an ABR trainer asks you to practice the techniques further, to concentrate or to pay attention to the nuances of your positioning and setups – please do not brush it off as "Oh, again – I know all that stuff already.. Just give me my home exercises so I can be on my way home sooner rather than later".

I assure you – you as an ABR therapist for your child DO HAVE an incredible potential that your child can benefit from enormously. All you need for this is to improve your 'inner game' - your concentration, your awareness, you attention to detail, and your visualization… And, in fact, there is nothing ABR-unique to this.

Listen to any high performance athlete, read their interviews – what's the overriding theme there? – A high level 'outer game' of visible performance and outcome is only possible when based on the advanced 'inner game'… So the same is true for yourself – improve your 'inner game' and the 'outer game' of accelerated progress and achievement for your child is going to follow – sooner than you expect it..

The magic of deep myofascial & osteoarticular response will be put to work for you and for your child…

 

––––––––

Talking about the 'inner game' and about the refinement of your ABR  technical skills I'd be looking for some response from you on these matters.

TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL ABR FAMILIES

Question 1.

Over the recent years I have accumulated a lot of videos teaching the techniques and going into the specific details and nuances of positioning, setups, technical refinements etc.

We've been using those for the internal training of ABR team but the constraints of the ABR training sessions that we have today only allow to share a fraction of those with you during the trainings at the ABR Centers and Satellites.

However, at the same time – I often here the remarks both from many parents and from the Trainers giving feedback after the sessions – that "parents are 'at full learning capacity' with the technical training that we already  give" assuming that any further dive into the details is going to be an overload and overwhelm.

I believe that this is true for some parents but I hope that some of you do have some ''spare learning capacity'.

Such trainings will need to undergo some editing and setting up a membership site for accessing these video – so it is quite a lot of extra work & expense on our part. So I'd want to hear what's the level of interest towards it among the active ABR families.

Question 2.

Whilst my own style of training is very technical and detail oriented – after working closely with Alex for the last year – I can see that his training brings an entirely different perspective and dimension that I find very valuable:

His largest focus is on your 'inner  game' – on your ABR Mindset and on the Philosophy of expressing your relationship and deep personal connection with your child via your exercise. One of his favorite sayings is: "You have to make your ABR ball ALIVE… With every 'roll' you want to bring some extra life into your child's body through this ball – can you achieve that if your ball is dead in your hands?"..

Again, I am unlikely to come up with this perspective myself because my entire language and the worldview is shaped differently  but I am fully behind it and I think that there is a tremendous value to it for those who are ready to hear the deeper meaning…

So my question is quite straightforward – if I see enough enthusiasm from you – we'll then try to make these trainings available during the coming year, either via the membership site or some other video sharing form. 

I am  asking these questions for a very simple reason – we have plenty more to give but I want to see the volunteers who'd deliberately step up and say: "Yes, I am ready to do this extra learning work."

These levels of trainings is not something that I am going to simply dump on YouTube or Vimeo for the curiosity of the passing strangers..

You are welcome to leave you responses in the comments here but otherwise please write to me <[email protected]>

P.S.

In the next few weeks I am going to publish quite a lot in this blog – I've been silent in it for most of the past year – but there was a lot brewing with some fundamental breakthroughs and transformations to the entire ABR landscape – so stay tuned…

ABR Combines Miracle and Magic To Heal a Badly Broken Bone.Part 1. THE MIRACLE

I haven't posted anything to this blog for a long, long time – nearly 9 months. Not that I have ran out of the ABR insights to share – it is actually quite the opposite. There have been so many new developments and discoveries in the recent months that I felt somewhat overwhelmed with  the rapid pace of the new ideas and understandings. So, frankly I did not really know what I had to start with. The main idea behind this blog's postings is to help you to navigate through the information overload and to add clarity to your understanding of your child's development.  At the stage when so many new things sprang up within ABR all at once – I had a feeling that I was more likely to contribute to your informational overload rather than helping you with that extra clarity …

However, for the last couple of months I have been overflowing with the insights I wanted to share but experienced that infamous 'writer's block'. The trouble with writing is the same as with any other skill: once the routine was  interrupted – it is very difficult to get back on track.

However, sometimes life lends a helping hand to a struggling writer …

This time it happened in the form of ABR Miracle and Magic combined! I was provided with a true life story that is so incredible that it has to be shared regardless of whatever writer's block I face.

Alright, first of all WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE "MIRACLE" AND THE "MAGIC"?.

Often we tend to think of those two  as being very much the same, which is incorrect.

Miracle is about the outcome. Magic is about the process.

Miracle is the result that is radically better and faster than the one that is 'normally' expected by following the 'standard' course of action. 'Miracle' is the case when the 'impossible' becomes real.

Magic, on the other hand, is the process, which is mysterious and not readily understood by following the intuitive or scientific interpretation of how the things 'normally happen' and 'should work' .

In fact, most miracles in life arise not from 'magic' but from the deep understanding and systematic implementation.

Major developmental progress that your children affected by Cerebral Palsy achieve via your ABR work – head control, weight-bearing, expanded movement repertoire, sitting etc. – are true miracles because they are thought to be 'impossible' for a brain-injured child. But do you achieve that by magic? – Not at all. Those 'typical' ABR miracles – including the mind-blowing freaking ones – are the result of your systematic and smart work.

 

What is this? – That's a miracle, plain and simple. Because a GMFCS Level 3 child is not supposed to improve after the age of 5 … But he does – thanks to the ABR work of his parents.  The impossible – becomes possible…

But at the same time – the very fact that one needs to put dozens and dozens of hours of the routine work – somewhat blurs the magnitude of such miracles.

What I want to share today is a different kind of miracle – a more 'obvious' one. The one that happened quickly and unconventionally…

 

A couple of years back in one of my most popular blog posts: Mind-blowing-freaking-miracle-pelvis-transformation-in-quadriplegic-cerebral-palsy – I've introduced Alex 'The Great'  – the ABR wizard PT from Greece responsible for that incredible pelvic transformation of a severely affected quadriplegic child that gave the name to that post.

Well, it is time to bring Alex onto the ABR central stage yet again… With even more incredible stuff.

PART 3. The truth About The Walking for Cerebral Palsy -Ground Breaking Biotensegrity Perspective

Biotensegrity: The Legs Are The Weakest Link In Walking. In Cerebral Palsy – Look Upwards To The Torso And Stop Wasting Your Time At "Training" Them.

Well, finally we have reached the crux of "The Truth about the Walking" series.

Video 3: "The Main Paradox of Walking: The Legs Are the Weakest Link" turns your intuitive perception of what walking is "inside out". I encourage you to watch it with full attention. I tried my best to illustrate it well and express the key concepts in as parent-friendly language as possible.

"The Main Paradox of Walking: The Legs Are the Weakest Link" runs for about 37 minutes – hopefully you can watch in one go. If not – you can divide the viewing in 2 parts:

• First 17 minutes illustrate the difference between the intuitive  and simplistic interpretation of walking versus the advanced tensional understanding that stems out of the tensegrity-based approach to the architecture of fascia networks. This comparison is set in the visual context of the tensional "bicycle wheel" vs. hard-spoked cart [artillery]-wheel – so you do not need to cut your way through any formulas. 
• Next 20 min – the framework of tensional "bicycle wheel" vs. hard-spoked cart [artillery]-wheel is translated to the real life examples of the 'buckling legs':
  •  the example of a child with cerebral palsy – showing the way that the legs buckle and withdraw upon the contact with the ground ; and then proceeding to demonstrate how  the 'fake standing' works – the one that the rehabilitation and training are so keen on trying to achieve
  • the example of a young healthy child who is just developing the walking ability; you'd be able to see clearly how the legs are first a liability and it takes the evolution of significant upper body strength to counteract their  primary buckling tendencies.

Frankly, I have high expectations for  getting  strong responses from you after watching – such a response might range from: "Wow!" to "This can't be true" – but the difference between the consistently tensegral understanding of walking and the 'conventional' one is so great – that  if you will have watched the "The Main Paradox of Walking: The Legs Are the Weakest Link" with even minimal attention – you can't possibly stay neutral.

It's a clear call for you to define your position. Because 2 different approaches to the understanding of how the walking works – imply completely the opposite approaches to what has to be done in order to improve and  build the walking.

The word "the opposite" is the key here.

 

Unfortunately, all too often parents of children with Cerebral Palsy tend to try to  "play it safe" and "combine" what they see as 'different therapies' – reasoning that the more is the merrier and that the smart person never puts all the eggs into the same basket . Please -- do not fall for this naive mistake!

Whilst these "safe" philosophies of piling things up might be applicable to the cases where the "therapies" have only cosmetic differences but share essentially the same paradigm – say Doman's crawling mileage, conductive education's  training with blocked pivots within extremities; and Bobath's functionally aligned trainings – let me assure you that with ABR we are talking about THE OPPOSITES.. What happens when you add up the opposites? – They cancel each other, right?

That's why I really encourage you to give these matters a long hard thought, have your due diligence and commit to the chosen 'Cerebral Palsy Therapy' with consistency. Don't fall into the pitfall of trying to add up the opposites – because then you are just wasting your time and money.

Well, that's pretty much it. I encourage you to share this video with your friends – to ask them what they think and how does that influence their view of the way that human body works.

I am obviously open for discussion and clarification of any points – having several other aces up my sleeve.

It's time to change the very fundamentals of the movement science – fascia science discoveries and the tensegral framework are giving us a kick in the butt and absolutely urge and force us to get rid of the primitive and outdated beliefs that has been around for way too long …

 

Truth About Walking_Video 3_Paradigm Shift from ABR Central on Vimeo.

Please follow this link and download this video for your comfortable viewing independent of the online streaming speed.

https://vimeo.com/43357880

The Truth About The Walking_Video 3: Biotensegrity Paradigm Shift

P.S. My huge thanks to the models who made this video possible -- these wonderful kids are helping all of you to become a better 'cerebral palsy pro' parent for your own child...

The truth About The Walking for Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy PART 2:The Key Dilemmas_

Well, the summer is officially over -- so hopefully you had some nice vacations and developed some cravings for the transformational knowledge.

Today's post is probably one of the most important ones that you'll ever get from me -- I'd dare to say that it should really bring the transformation of your worldview -- of the way that you think about the most specifically human of all human movements -- the walking.

I invite you to challenge one of our most natural and the most intuitively ingrained beliefs -- "achieving better walking requires practicing ... the walking"... It seems so self-evident that even without the instruction from a physical therapist the parents of children with cerebral palsy happily expose their kids to do the "walking" celebrating the contacts that a child has with the ground with cheers. It seems so safe and rewarding...

I invite you to re-think this by first taking it to a bit of an extreme: imagine that you wanted to "teach" your child to fly by throwing him or her out of the window with the enthusiastic advice: "Flap your hands, darling, and you'll soar!" -- Sounds ridiculous, right?

Well, putting a quadriplegic child with cerebral palsy through "walking" is equally ridiculous and in the long run -- more damaging. Why? -- because there is no obvious harm that one would see right away. On opposite -- it feels "right": "Wow, we are making progress; we should do more of this.."

This video is the invitation for you to be smarter than those naive thoughts and actions. Walking is a crowning achievement of the human locomotion -- the pinnacle that requires dozens and dozens of elements to be in place in order for the contact with the ground made via the moving feet to be beneficial virtuous cycle. Otherwise -- you are enthusiastically distorting your child's body being enticed by loud cheers and "expert" advice of physical therapists.

Please, find those 40 minutes of uninterrupted attention and study this video intently. There are 11 points that are discussed --each lasting just a few minutes and they are relatively richly illustrated. So even with my monotonous voice you can surely manage to keep yourself alert.

At the same time this video is an example of the intelligent due diligence approach to whatever actions and therapies you lead your child into. THINK! Even the most intuitive therapies for cerebral palsy and brain injury are loaded with hidden dilemmas that you need to be aware of if you really want to be helping your child. Otherwise you'd be repeating the fate of thousands of other children affected by quadriplegia who ended up having their bodies profoundly distorted by dumb "functional training" and the walking in particular.

I hope that this video will raise your immunity to "intuitive claims" of people who lure and seduce you into the BS of "functional training" by talking about "teaching the brain" or "re-connecting the neural pathways"... This is the complete BS and your kids deserve better than the naive dumbness..

Be smart and be inquisitive -- don't let the 'intuitive' and 'self-evident' fool you.

Truth About Walking_Video 2_Key Dilemmas_YT HD from ABR Central on Vimeo.

I apologise for the use of the language that is stronger than usual -- but whenever I think of all those kids with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who were led into the horrific distortions and suffering by their well-wishing parents -- it is really difficult to keep the neutral tone.

Please leave your comments -- don't hold it. This is a polarizing video -- it's not one of those 'informational' ones where you can just make a little mental note and proceed further. I invite you to get engaged and argumentative. If you feel that my argument is too weak -- say it, articulate your position -- I'll be absolutely happy to push this issue as far as it takes in order to make sure that it "clicks".

Thanks a lot

An excellent post from Steve Collins -- a most distinguished ABR veteran :-)
This open letter to his MD supervisor is a great illustration of what is wrong with medical professions being put in charge of "neuromuscular disorders and conditions"... A doctor who didn't even bother to ask Steve to take his shirt off and to have a look at his upper body and pelvis ...
A sober read for those of you who still have some beliefs in the capacities of the healthcare system for kids and adults with cerebral palsy, brain injuries and spinal cord injuries

http://spinalroots.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/dear-mr-tromans/

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WALKING FOR THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

This post is somewhat of a re-start . I have made an announcement about starting these series THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WALKING FOR THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY  a good 2 months ago – but my full immersion into the depth of Salutogenesis matters kept me pretty much oblivious to the outside world for the past 2 months.  Those  were an extremely rewarding months for myself intellectually and I assure that all of you are going to be the major benefactors of these new ideas for years to come…

Anyway with the key pieces of the Salutogenic puzzle being in place – it feels like it is time to re-emerge and deliver on my previous promises – especially bearing in mind that all the videos for the "The Truth About The Walking" series have already been done back in May – all I need to do is to give you a little bit of a written context around them.

With "The Truth About The Walking" series we are going back to the story of Luca that I spoke about back in May Prevailing over tragedy -- ABR facilitates amazing recovery

First of all, that post illustrated the remarkable saving of the heavily damaged leg by the "simple" technique of Transfascial Viscoelastic Stimulation aka "Egg Rolling".

Back then  I included a couple of before/after pictures that shown the remarkable recovery of walking abilities in less than 2 weeks after introducing a set of ABR exercises.

So in this post,  you can see that walking transformation much clearer – in the form of a 3-minute video that plays simultaneously the 2 short videos  of Luca's walking taken on April 26th, 2012 and on May 7th, 2012 – so you can see the dynamic aspects of where we started from and how the situation have improved within just 12 days.

https://vimeo.com/43451820

Luca_Walking Tests April 26th vs May 7th_SIMULATNEOUS_YT HD from ABR Central on Vimeo.

 

Secondly, and more importantly – I wanted to use this opportunity to help your understanding  of what walking is – what makes it work properly or improperly – starting with this post and following into the series of connected ones: "The Truth About The Walking…".

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WALKING.

Most of the people – including professionals – have a very intuitive perception of how walking "works" – the legs support the body, muscles of the legs contract, move the leg  bones and so it goes – the legs carrying the upper body in space.

Well, I hope that by now you realize – that when it comes to human movement – intuitive is misleading.  I'll actually  go further and say – intuitive is not simply misleading – it's actually profoundly wrong.

Who pays the highest price for the intuitive misconceptions about walking? – You, the parents of children with Cerebral Palsy.

You are the ones who end up doing damage to your kids bodies out of your best intentions, you are the ones who are being guided by false perceptions of what makes the increments of progress, you are the ones who invest your efforts in the activities with the least of long-term rewards … This list goes on and on …

So I am inviting you to really follow the next few posts very closely, especially if your child has a quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy  – because for spastic quadriplegic kids everything "intuitive" about movement is a sure path to destruction and failure…

Please click to keep reading

On Discovering A Theoretical Goldmine Of Salutogenesis for Cerebral Palsy And Other Updates…

Dear friends,

I have been silent in this blog for a while – but clearly not for the lack of productive activities…

First of all – there was a lot of training sessions in May held by the  local ABR centers all around the world –from Hong Kong and Australia to Italy, Serbia, Denmark, Belgium, Austria and then, of course, in North and South America… Following our 3 weeks ‘ABR Trainers training’ in Montreal back in April a number of significant technical breakthroughs were introduced through all of the ABR satellite sessions… [For those of you who couldn’t attend in May-June – I really urge you not to delay and make sure you secure yourself a place at the next  training session in your area. If you’ve got a job to do – you’ve got to do it in the best possible way, right? ]

 Whenever the new things in roll in – I always face a lot of questions from our ABR trainers where we need to iron out all the aspects – strategic allocation of the new TransFascial Viscoelastic  (TFVES) applications, the teaching nuances, tactical smarts of maintaining stability and providing optimal area access for the parents… and lots more.

I am really looking forwards with plenty of excitement because the more we see the results of the TransFascial Viscoelastic  Applications – the more the “wow!” moments we all experience among the ABR Team – the responses from the dense and resistant areas, which used to take years now show major improvement within months , which is really rewarding and encouraging …

It is also a good opportunity to say thanks for the overwhelming response that my previous post “Prevailing over tragedy -- ABR facilitates amazing recovery” received.

It was a record number of the Facebook likes that I have ever got… Well, of course, the enthusiastic response massages the writers ego :-) – but obviously that’s not the most important aspect.

First of all, it was encouraging to see that most of the professional colleagues and members of fascia community responded with enthusiastic thumbs up – leaving comments like  that:

Robert Schleip PhD said...

Hi Leonid and friends.
I just saw this report for the first time. Very very impressive! I agree with you that learning to influence the interstitial fluid flow promises to be a very beneficial contribution to the therapeutic field. After www.fasciacongress.org/2012 I also started to work even slower with my hands in my clinical sessions; thinking about squeezing a sponge-like tissue and allowing it to re-hydrate with fresh liquids afterwards. I hope you continue this line of exploration, as well as the documentation of your results. Very impressive indeed!
Fascianatedly yours
Robert Schleip

But what’s probably even more important is that hopefully the posts like that are going to be of a good morale boost for your own day-in day-out work – clearly showing you that the TransFascial Viscoelastic  Applications really delivers the important transformational effects to your children’s bodies.

Another element that I can’t resist to mention – is what is probably can count as my middle name – the  appeal for your ‘focus and concentration’…

The recent upgrades to the ABR Techniques // TransFascial Viscoelastic  Applications are really powerful, however, that transformational power is unlocked to its full extent only if you really concentrate and pay full and undivided attention to what you are doing.

You don’t need to be superhuman for that – studies clearly show that an average person can easily and reliably distinguish depth variations of 1/5 of a millimeter – which would be 1/100 of an inch (When you can feel that you flipped 2 pages of a magazine or a book instead of one – you are that good!). So it is all very much  possible and realistic – but you need to keep your focus…

Imagine you were reading a book flipping 5 or even 10 pages at once – how much good would that do you? – But unfortunately, that’s exactly what often happens to many parents who let their minds drift elsewhere instead of keeping a solid focus on what’s going on under your hand..

But let’s get back on track – I am trying to deliver on my promises of the future post subjects – and whilst I have kind of postponed the completion of the “Reporting about Fascia Congress 3” posts – I am going to stick to the promise given in the previous post  where I announced that the healing of the damaged tissues in the knee area was the first step in Luca’s road to recovery after that tragic accident.

Another major transformation that we managed to achieve thanks to some smart ABR strategies/techniques and consistent work of mama Katja – was a spectacular breakthrough in walking abilities that took place within a space of less than 2 weeks.

April 26^th Luca was heavily relying on crutches and May 7^th he was already walking comfortably with a single hand support and began to walk without the support (or to be precise it was May 5^th when the filming took place – I received it on May 7th)

Based on Luca’s walking recovery case – all aspects of it: initial condition and troubles with walking;  the designed ABR exercise program; and the transformation achieved – I created the fully fledged series: “The Unconventional Truth About The Walking”.

These series are going to  be 5 Videos long (where the Video 4 is actually long enough to be counted as two videos) – and it have already been filmed – so I can pretty much guarantee that these are the posts that are going to appear weekly for the next few weeks.

Well, with all that being said – let me share my recent  find that really got me incredibly excited – Discovering a theoretical goldmine!

IMPORTANT: PLEASE CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

Prevailing over tragedy -- ABR facilitates amazing recovery

It's a small world... and sometimes the international news turn out to be very local.

On March 14th, an awful tragedy struck. A bus carrying Belgian school kids from a ski holiday in Switzerland crashed into a wall of the tunnel killing 22 kids, 6 adults and leaving the survivors seriously injured.

Belgium honors school bus crash victims

Belgian coach crash in Swiss tunnel kills 28

Belgium mourns 28 killed in bus crash

Belgium Switzerland crash: Eight survivors return home

That tragedy happened to be very local to ABR Team -- Luca, the son of Katja Schultz, a trainer from ABR Belgium, was on that bus... After several hours of terrifying wait -- she finally got the news that he was among the survivors. As she flew to Switzerland in the wee hours of the morning on a military plane dispatched by Belgian authorities -- she didn't know how bad were the injuries both physical and emotional.

Hip Subluxation in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy_Part 8_Finer nuances of alignment

Dear friends,

I promised further reports from Fascia Congress 3 and working on them quite closely. Since there were  restrictions on filming and picture taking -- I had to rely heavily on notes and audio -- which make the entire process of getting to through the material far from fast.

My current plan is to deliver the next substantial report video on Sunday -- meanwhile, please have a look at another installation in the "Hip Subluxation in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy" series. I think this would be number 8 and it covers the rather fine aspects of evaluating the femur head insertion.

Unfortunately, once again I have to draw your attention to the fact that you are really facing a major bias in the way that orthopaedic profession interprets the X-rays of Cerebral Palsy kids.

According to the statement of one of the leading orthopaedic surgeons specializing in Cerebral Plays who was the most prominent figure at the International Cerebral Palsy Congress in 2009 in Sydney -- "Maybe 30% of the mildest (GMFCS Level 1) kids with Cerebral Palsy are not going to require hip surgery..."...

With such a mindset -- it is not  a surprise that there is a heavy bias for any pro-surgery finding and equally heavy neglect of any facts that do not fit the "pre-designed path".

However, in this video I am showing how most simple geometrical tools provide you with valuable insights and allow seeing the important positive transformations.

It's relatively short and straightforward  --so it won't take you much time to pick up this nugget.

As always - please leave comments and Facebook "likes" to this video (IF you like it, obviously) as well as to the previous video with the report from Fascia Congress 3. I am going to make a separate post answering all the questions in details.

Cheers..

 

Well, I guess my blogging ambition went overboard... It's 1:30 am -- has been up at the congress since 8 am... The sessions finished at 5.30 pm ... but.. a prominent sports medicine specialist who resides here in Vancouver (he oversees Canadian track and field Team) invited me and several other colleagues to visit his practice, assess several young athletes ... test some new portable equipment for myofascial diagnostics... So we went -- and the entire expedition lasted for 7+ hours... That's what is quite amazing about the "fascianado" crowd -- people are incredibly enthusiastic and friendly...
Well, obviously I've got even more things to report back to you now ... But that will have to wait...
I am signed up for the whole day workshop that starts @ 8.00 am...

Fascia Research Congress #3 -- Day 2. I'll be superquick -- in other words-- I am too tired to produce a video tonight... But it has been an amazing day: 2 absolutely ground-breaking lectures on Fluid Dynamics. First one by Dr. Rolf Reed on fluid dynamics in connective tissue/ extracellular matrix, and right after that -- the one by Dr. Gerald Pollack on the new interpretation of collective superstructures of water -- "4th phase of water". The key ideas could be found in his ground-breaking book: Gerald H. Pollack "Cells, gels and the engines of life" -- but by now he and his team developed them much further... It's too amazing to give you a poor overview. I'll shift the presentation by a one day delay -- and return to the Day 2 contents tomorrow... Fascinating fascia :-)

Fascia Research Congress 3 - Field Report- Day 1

Thanks a lot for viewing the first video ...That was very encouraging.

Well, in  today's video" Fascia Research Congress 3 -- Field Report of DAY 1" there is way more content --  there were a number of very important presentations and although I tried being brief -- the total overview still run into  28 minutes.

However, every individual "eureka" realization is short enough (1-3 min) -- so I hope you'd find it well watchable.

• Connective tissue could be strengthened
• Hands-on work influences gene expression via mechanotrsnsduction'
• How the brain map shrinks in Cerebral Palsy
• How the wrong exercises in Cerebral Palsy could be extremely damaging

and a lot more..

http://vimeo.com/39396825

Please leave comments and Facebook responses ... it really encourages...

Thanks, I hope this helps you...

Fascia Research Conference - Field Report- A Day Before

Dear ABR Friends,

I am trying to step into the shoes of a real blogger -- the one with  the instant upadates and the news report.

Me, Mark and Sarah are in Vancouver at the Fascia Research Congress # 3. Busy time here.

3 days packed with super-relevant and most-up-to-date stuff from Fascia science. Thursday I am speaking in front of Rolfers on the subject of "Guided Stress Transfer as the common fundamantal priniciple behind all manual therapies" and on Friday we have poster presentation hours...

Today was the day before -- the day when everyone meets and greets... and to my surprise -- since I am far from the most friendly and extrovert person -- it turns out that I have quite a lot of friends among fascia colleagues already.. Today was really more about hugs and handshakes ...

So here is the short video that gives you a basic feel of how things are. I tried my hand in editing -- the result is rather amateurish but I hope that will suffice.

http://vimeo.com/39325848

Stay in touch and vist daily!

 

Hip Subluxation in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy_Part 7_How the femur head gets in

This post continues our explorations into the matters of hip subluxation in Cerebral Palsy.

I labeled it as Part 7 – but it might have as well been "The Part 1" since it addresses the issues that puzzle you the most.

"How will the leg bone get in if the "pelvic roof" is flat? " … In more appropriate terms it sounds: "How does the femur head find stability under the flattened acetabulum of the pelvis in cases of severe quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy?" – these are the questions that I receive probably most often.

In this video I give the entire context and reference the development of the pelvis in a healthy child through the transitional phases that it goes through.

The key message is straightforward – "it's not about the roof – it's about the wedging of the pelvic width by the triangle of sacrum". In this video you are going to find really clear illustrations on how it all works.

 

In case there are problems with imbedded video -- please follow the direct link:

Hip Subluxation in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy_Part 7_How the femur head gets in

 http://vimeo.com/38842795

As always, I invite you to ask questions , leave comments and click likes to share with your friends. Don't hesitate – speak out! Was it helpful? Have I managed to ease your worries? What image did you have in your "mind's eye" before and has it changed after watching this video?

I am very grateful to a mother of this boy who sent me her elaborate questions and encouraged the making of this video as well as agreeing to share it with the other parents-- probably she's  going to appreciate your feedback as well.

Thanks a lot.