Post
by Jean-Paul » Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:11 pm
I have some really bad hobbies for a classical guitarist, and my work doesn't really help much either. I have been an avid rock climber, played all sports, and today I do a lot of body work on my clients (strength coach/movement therapist).
The worst was my left pinky, which I had jammed and torn a ligament 3 years ago playing football with friends. This year both of my thumbs developed severe tendonitis from all the active release technique I apply to my clients, and I developed a strange but severe debilitating pain in the center of my left hand.
To make matters worse, I was working on Yamashita's transcription of "Pictures, which is very demanding on my left hand, and several of the chords I'm expected to do caused shooting pain through my whole hand.
Then, last April, I became licensed and certified in a new therapy modality for my athletes called ARPwave. It's an electrical modality that does many things, among which it accelerates healing and recovery. It did immediate wonders for my shoulders that had been in chronic pain for two decades, and it made a HUGE difference on my clients. For some reason it took me till this month to figure out that I could try it on my hands. Two treatments (called "search and destroy" sessions) and my hand felt completely recovered! I will probably follow up with a few more sessions.
Additionally, one of my clients is a non-guitarist who had total paralysis in his right ring and pinky finger for the last three years, and partial paralysis on the rest of the hand. He could not pick up a glass, couldn't shake hands, couldn't open a jar etc. I have done 4 treatments on him and his results have been nothing short of amazing. He actually shook my hand after the last session.
One of the things this happens during these treatments is that "electrical disconnects" in the body, which cause the compensation patterns that lead to the actual injury, are repaired. Also new information is fed to the brain in the various motor patterns that we already know how to do, but our muscles have "forgotten" how to turn on and turn off at the right time. Once those disconnects are repaired our guarding or compensating muscles are no longer required, so the area where connective tissue or torn muscles are given immediate relief from pain, and they are give space to heal.