Category: Writings

There is a certainty common to many of those who focus on manual means for pain relief: we are certain that the body naturally and perpetually moves in a way that promotes health and optimal function (called inherent movement). This motion is often easily observed, but at times is only palpable. We are certain that our methods of manipulation should… Read more →

I first came across the idea of neural tension while at dinner with the late David Lamb, one of the original architects of manual therapy education in Canada . He asked me if I’d ever heard of the work of Alf Breig, a Swedish neurosurgeon who had written a book several years earlier about his experience using surgery to resolve… Read more →

  In 1992 I did a presentation for The International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Therapists about the potential effect of manual care upon the therapist. I spoke of stretch activated ion channels in the therapist’s hands, reflexive effect and my personal experience of increasing sensitivity as I remained in the clinic year after year. Geoffrey Maitland, the highly respected founder… Read more →

  Occasionally we become conscious of something or someone and sense that these will remain with us until we are conscious no longer. I found two novels recently that have had this effect on me, each with a story and character that continues to haunt my thoughts in ways that have altered my perceptions and practice. I’ll talk about them… Read more →

The Presence of Ideomotor Movement Though it is rarely spoken of in discussions about human movement, descriptions of ideomotor activity are present in the medical literature beginning in 1852 when The Proceedings of the Royal Institution reprinted a lecture by William Carpenter. He identified ideomotor as a third category of nonconscious, instinctive behavior, which also included excitomotor (breathing and swallowing)… Read more →

  “My language has no words for hello or goodbye…there is no translation for ‘friendly’ or ‘ mannerly.’ People who live in artificially complicated situations call a life such as mine ‘simple,’ but everything looks simple when you leave out the details, the way a planet looks smooth, from orbit. None of this is simple, though it’s easy enough, when… Read more →

Physical therapy, like any other discipline, has its share of dearly held beliefs. Perhaps none is stronger than the notion that static and dynamic postures are directly related to muscular strength. This is not true. The following references and commentary from peer-reviewed literature support my contention that strength and posture are unrelated. Relationships between lumbar lordosis, pelvic tilt and abdominal… Read more →

Evolutionary Reasoning and Manual Care In 1990 I wrote an essay about a young boy who’d been sent to me with an acutely painful neck. After turning it quickly left he experienced a great deal of pain and found that any attempt to return it toward the front felt even worse. I described the boy’s dilemma and then wrote: “In… Read more →

The magus of the past was a devout, intelligent, well-read, thoughtful and compassionate individual, sincere in his or her quest to explore all the powers of nature, especially those hidden by our focus on reason and purely mechanical means of control. Thomas Moore in The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life I’ve been thinking about introducing a little magic into my workshops.… Read more →

  Okay, here’s the idea: Nonconsciously generated movement designed to reduce mechanical stress, also known as ideomotor movement, arises, obviously, from the unconscious. Dreams, last I heard, also come from the unconscious. And, there’s a school of thought that feels dreams are present in order to help us sort out the conflicts between our inner and outer lives. The notion… Read more →