Student and Therapist Newsletter Archive
   - Parkinson's Disease

+ Parkinson's Disease - July 07

+ Comments about Parkinson's disease from Vicky in Melbourne, Etienne in Belgium, Nica in Berlin and Joyaa on the Gold Coast in Australia. - August 07

Hi John                                                       July 07
Am loving the newsletter and really appreciate all the good work and the manner in which it is done.

I am a Chiropractor & Cranio student in South Africa and have recently started working with a 70 year old man with Parkinsons disease. He seems to respond positively to the gentle work I am doing
but the shifts are short lived. I would love to hear if you have worked with people with PD and hear any insights you wish to share?
Thanks again
JN

>>>MY COMMENTS:

My experience of treating people specifically for Parkinson's, is limited so I can't be of much help.

If someone else, who gets this newsletter, has some experience or insights I am sure they will pass them on to me and I will include them in a future issue.

I have found that generally as people get older the treatment program takes longer. Meaning they take longer to get better.

So the short-lived effects could be simply because of that. You may just need to see this person for longer or you may need to see them more
frequently in the beginning to help their system get some momentum.

***COMMENT***                                                      August 07

Hi John and JN

I have worked with a Parkinsons Patient for a short period of time.(6 sessions. I was standing in while his usual therapist was away.) This
gentleman has a CST treatment weekly and has been doing so for quite a few years now. He is also under the care of a Homeopath in Melbourne who specializes in Parkinsons Disease.
(www.returntostillness.com.au )

It was quite amazing working with this client because as soon as I put my hands on him his body "grabbed" me. After not too long the shake would cease and there would be a tremendous quiet within his system. This peace would last from a couple of hours to a couple of days. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

In answer to the question, I feel CST is a very effective management strategy for Parkinsons. In conjunction with the Homeopathic treatment this client had used CST to lessen the severity of symptoms and too slow the onset of the disease. (I would like to say "Halt" but I am not sure about this.) He had been given a pretty short time line by specialists in which to expect to live a what he would consider a full life but at the time I was treating him he was successfully running his own business.

The other thing I did was organize for his wife to come in and experience CST for herself and then to learn some simple techniques like Still Point
induction. Now the client gets treatment once a week from a CST practitioner and nearly daily from his wife. I have not seen him for over a year now but I will enquire how he is going at my next Cranio study group meeting. I hope this helps.
Warm regards from Frosty Melbourne
Vicki Saray

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Vicky. Lots of very useful tips, particularly the shaking and the inclusion of Homeopathy.

As you know I'm not a big fan of teaching simple techniques to family because I don't think there is anything simple about cranio sacral work.
In my experience it is complex, layers within layers and all that. . .

I know that after 14 years I am still trying to figure it out or maybe it is figuring ME out. One way or the other, the idea of teaching simple techniques feels like going to have your portrait painted and the artist encouraging you to paint the background of the painting while they get on with painting the more technically difficult parts like the hands and face. Images of the Mona Lisa against a Simpsons background come to mind.
Having said all that it sounds like in this case it is working so what do I know?

***COMMENT***

Hi John,
I had some excellent results with Parkinson's; however it is a long term commitment for therapist and client (nothing wrong with that - if you have the patience).
Parkinson's is not a disease; it is a simple question of waste management.
Too much toxic material has accumulated in the center of the brain (due to stress patterns around it), that simple Cranio (releasing the chronic
tensions all around) will already have a beneficial effect.
The fluids need to move!!!

Toxic waste accumulates in and around the substantia nigra (who produces dopamine) that its production becomes limited and its dopamine (who is the messenger that stimulates to the Basal Ganglia, Globus Pallidus and Caudate Nucleus) cannot reach its destination. It is the restricted function of the Basal Ganglia that creates the typical Parkinson's lack of movement control.
So, any CS will be beneficial.

Also I instruct my clients (during the sessions - so they can directly connect with them) about the functions of the different brain structures
involved and how they work and get blocked due to the accumulation of waste.

I introduce them to the glia cells who can help in the removal of waste products and I set up a home- work program, where the client works twice a day talking to his glia cells while on a still-point inducer or on a tennis-sock (if there system can take the pressure - rarely they cannot).
I also convince them (by asking their brain structures) that they need to drink more water (besides the coffee their used to) and I start them on a daily intake of flax-seed oil, what will soften the membranes of their brain cells (instruction also during the sessions).

In the beginning I work on them bi-weekly (or weekly - depending on your confidence)and after a few months, they come once a month, depending on their home-work.

It can become a months long program, sometimes for the rest of their lives and often (hopefully) they will get hooked on what you have to offer. Since they are usually quite old CS will benefit them tremendously with rounding of this life time.
The elderly are like baby's, they are so happy to ride the wave.
Have fun,
Etienne
Belgium.
www.craniobabies.com

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Etienne. I really like the whole waste management perspective. Very useful.
I also like the way you talk about getting the person involved their own recovery by telling them about the different structures you are both
working with. Top Stuff.
I'm not wild about the use of still point inducers for the reasons I mentioned in my response to the previous letter except in this case it is images of the Mona Lisa against a computer pixelated background coming to mind.

Personally I haven't found the elderly are like babies . . . at all. Hang on, maybe I am being too quick to say that. They are like babies, just babies that are locked behind 500 layers of compensation.

***COMMENT***

yes indeed I have some (small) experiences with my female cliente (82 years old). as you say john: take time for the treatment itself and be there every week, working on the same structures. maybe the client "really" feels any release just for a short time - but YOU will feel changes in each session. sometimes my cliente preferes to sit instead of lie on the treatment table.(sorry for my bad english-writing -- french is my mother
language!!) just be there.....
love and peace - nica Berlin.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Nica. More confirmation that treating Parkinson's is more of a long term proposition.
And Nica, compared to my French your English is outstanding.

***COMMENT***

Hi John,
I am only part-way thru' reading your latest missive (massive missive?) and am sending in this response in case I otherwise never get around to
it(!)
Parkinsons:
My experience is about the same as the South African cranio-chiro chappy.
The best results I have achieved with PD is by using gentle stretching / articulation techniques using the patient's (client's) arms and legs as
"long levers" - that loosens up their muscles to give them some ready relief. I believe that abdominal stretching (a technique that has been
coined the "tummy tug") is also useful with some of the abdo sx (e.g. bloating and constipation).
PD is a condition which, in relation to cranial work, I still find myself thinking "Can I do better?"
All the best, Joyaa
Gold Coast
Australia.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Joyaa. The main thing that stands out for me in your email is the last sentence. 'Can I do better?'
That is a courageous and honest question to ask? It's not an easy question to ask because of what you may have to live with if the answer is
'Yes.' But it is a question that we need to ask ourselves at the end of each session and the end of each treatment program.
Not in a beating yourself up sort of way but in an honest appraisal of how it all went.
Did the person get what they came for?
If not, why not?
Even if you arrive ate the conclusion that they didn't get what they wanted because their issues got in the way, it is still worth asking 'Could I have dealt with their issues better?'

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