Category: Writings

On either end of the front row at a recent workshop sat two therapists, each representing one end of a spectrum, the spectrum of physique. The young female, Diane, is tall and slim. She’s a powerful, competitive swimmer with excellent strength and endurance. Jim is thirty years older, short and rotund. There is little evidence that he is endurant or… Read more →

It is reasonable to assume that people in pain from mechanical deformation search for the movement that might relieve them. In fact, nothing less will do if there is to be any prolonged relief. This search is the underlying fundamental issue of each visit to the therapist, and when it remains unaddressed, therapy is often no more than palliative. There… Read more →

In The Tao of Pooh, (Penguin 1982) Benjamin Hoff describes the “uncarved block” as a basic Taoist principle referring to things in their natural state. Hoff feels that Winnie-the-Pooh himself is the epitome of this… “From the state of the Uncarved Block comes the ability to enjoy the simple and the quiet, the natural and the plain. Along with that… Read more →

Like many of you, I see patients that have been through care elsewhere before coming to me. I know that a certain percentage will leave my practice and end up with another therapist as well. This kind of movement does not, in my opinion, mean necessarily that some caregiver along the patient’s path was not doing their job properly. The… Read more →

Early in her illness, my mother would sit in her corner of the living room and move her fingers across a keyboard only she could sense. I wrote about this in an essay entitled “The Piano Lesson.” I realize now that what I was describing as therapeutic for my mother is called ideo-motor movement, a category of nonconscious movement first… Read more →

Evelyn’s feet had hurt terribly for many years. She’d had every imaginable intervention, including the bilateral amputation of her second toe. I was certain that my meager knowledge of orthotics would have long since been exhausted on her, and I wasn’t especially confident that I could help. Her new orthopedic surgeon had determined through nerve conduction testing that tarsal tunnel… Read more →

“Many layers of complexity cover both the integrity of ordinary people and the dissembling of cowards. In the most physical example, our relatively smooth skin hides a wondrously ordered intricacy within, from vessels and organs down to the “bare bones” of the framework. We then add cultural overlays, both physical and psychological, upon this biological barrier — by clothing our… Read more →

Fred wanted to take us to the Old Style Buffet to eat, so I drove through the West Side while my sister Laurel spoke of how she confuses the streets of Cleveland with those of the other places she’s lived. I don’t quite believe her. No one in my family could ever get lost here. My Aunt Alice’s angioplasty was… Read more →

The varieties of care recommended for the single diagnosis of spinal pain have not decreased in the 25 years I’ve been in practice. In fact, I’m pretty sure most things we no longer do have been replaced by two or three new procedures. New essential diagnoses implying specific dysfunction in certain tissues create more procedures and these give rise to… Read more →

Early on a cold morning in Northeast Ohio I head for the restaurant again to write for an hour. This is a ritual more powerful than my fatigue, and I rarely go a day without it. In a few moments I’ll take the thick china cup filled with hot coffee and place my hands just so, and wait for the… Read more →