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If you are 40 or older, it’s quite likely that you or someone you know has suffered through the excruciating pain associated with Sciatica. I can’t count the number of times that we have had people put their membership on hold because they were unable to function due to Sciatica. Knock on wood, I haven’t experienced it, but seeing the pain in the faces of those that have I would say it really sucks.
And that brings me to my story. Tom is a member and like most, he took the summer off. 4 days after his membership was up…bam! Working in his garden one day then unable to the next. Whether he bent the wrong way or didn’t bend his knees when lifting or maybe it was a sneeze? He has no recollection of any single movement but he sure recalls the pain.
I was just checking in with Tom towards the end off summer when he shared his news. He had been to the Chiropractor, the Physiotherapist from the Physical Therapy Clinic, the Massage therapist, Osteopath, had acupuncture and nothing was helping. His Doctor sent him for an MRI to see if it was a structural issue…nope. I could tell by his voice he was frustrated and felt helpless. He had been dealing with this for 4 months. I knew how he felt because I know so many others that have gone through the same thing.
Enter TMR. I love to learn more. If you know me, you know I love coaching baseball. I have studied the mechanics and subtleties of pitching and the strength and conditioning that goes with it from the very best in the industry. Yes this has to do with Sciatica. I was reading a study that Mike Reinhold (former Red Sox Physical Therapist) put up on his blog. A method called TMR (Total Motion Release) was being researched. More particularly, how TMR increased both internal and external rotation of a pitchers arm by doing a trunk twist and and arm raise with the opposite arm. It wasn’t just a couple degrees, it was visible to the eye! I mean it was like over 13 degrees of external and 19 of internal!. (increased external rotation is directly associated to an increase in pitching velocity and insufficient internal rotation is directly related to increased risk of shoulder injuries..that’s why it was significant) It seemed bogus but the research was peer reviewed. So I dug a little deeper. What the heck was TMR? (here is the study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127513/)
Well I found the source, read up on it and signed on the dotted line. There are 3 levels of TMR certification. I am just finishing level 2. I’m not going to get into detail about the method but I can tell you it’s unlike anything else. You never treat or work on the injured side or body part. Many times, “the fix”, is no where near the site of pain AND I don’t touch you. You just do some movements or stretches and almost immediately the client experiences really great results. By Christmas I will be level 3 certified (The only one in Canada).
Back to poor Tom.
Yesterday, October 3rd, 2018, Tom came to see me. I’ll let the video below tell the rest of the story. Keep in mind..4 months of chronic pain, treated by traditional methods with no relief..except some from the massage therapist. Listen to what Tom tells me when I ask where the massage therapist treated him and that is how the concept of TMR works(2:35min). The video is 6 minutes or so but you need to hear Tom’s story. That takes up about half of the video. The treatment was less than 10 minutes total time but condensed for the video (less than 3 minutes).