It saddens me that healthy ribs, collar bones and/or muscles are surgically removed by doctors to treat the symptoms that follow constricted nerves and blood vessels in the area of the “Thoracic Outlet.”

The complications of the surgery can be devastating and are irreversible! Doctors perform this gruesome procedure because they don’t understand that contracted tissues cause the condition.

The humane and effective treatment is to explore and normalize the contracted tissues so they release their grip on those nerves and blood vessels. The body then becomes healthy and symptom free.

How sad that doctors do not understand this.

The nerves of your arm and hand start… at your neck.

They make their way from your neck, out to your chest, pass through your armpit, into your shoulder, down your arm, forearm and finally to your fingers. Your nerves travel a long distance and pass through a lot of tissues!

Any or all of the tissues along their pathway may become contracted. When this happens, they squeeze the nerves (and blood vessels that accompany them) causing pain, numbness and a host of other symptoms.

Doctors give names to the symptoms at the areas of pain flare-ups, and ignore symptoms that occur elsewhere. For example, if symptoms occur where the nerves go out to your chest, doctors focus their attention there and call it “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome” and ignore symptoms occurring elsewhere.

If doctors focus their attention on symptoms occurring at your shoulder, they call it “Rotator Cuff Syndrome”and ignore symptoms occurring elsewhere.

If doctors focus their attention on symptoms occurring at your elbow, they call it “Tennis Elbow” and ignore symptoms occurring elsewhere.

If doctors focus their attention on symptoms occurring on your hand, they call it “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”and ignore symptoms occurring elsewhere.

Doctors don’t understand the global nature of tissue dysfunction because they don’t explore the tissues of patients-in-pain. The result is Medical Mistreatment of chronic pain.

FTH: (Frequently The Hamstrings)

Doctors attempt to treat knee pain with pain-relieving drugs, surgery and the replacement of natural joints with mechanical ones. However, knee pain is frequently caused by contracted tissues outside the knee joint. The pain is referred to the inside of the joint. Although the sufferer can swear the pain is inside the joint, it actually radiates from exterior tissues.

Knee pain is frequently caused by dysfunctioning Hamstrings. These are the muscles and associated tissues that bend our knees. Hamstrings are often contracted, thickened and fibrotic. I believe Hamstrings become severely affected because we spend so much time sitting with our knees bent for extended periods. This prolonged “bent position” sets the Hamstrings up for development of tissue dysfunction.

As the years roll on, Hamstrings become more and more dysfunctional. I suspect that dysfunctional Hamstrings, ignored by doctors, lead to large numbers of unnecessary knee replacements.

If you suffer Chronic Pain, ask your doctor to please explore your tissues.

When enough people with Chronic Pain ask enough doctors to do this, perhaps they actually will.

A Revolution in Medical Care will have been started!

50 years of treating chronic pain has taught me that it is essential to explore and normalize all dysfunctioning tissue, to enable an individual to become healthy and free of pain. Tissue dysfunction is global in nature. If tissues in one area of the body become contracted, it is inevitable that tissues in other areas are also contracted.

To focus attention on dysfunctioning tissues in one area and call it “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,” while ignoring another area that someone calls “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome” and yet another area that someone calls “Tennis Elbow” (and so on) is not proper treatment–it is mistreatment. All areas have to be treated and normalized.

In order to explore tissues, one must actually touch them… with the fingers. Looking at an X-ray of bones does not explore tissues.

In addition to touching tissues in order to explore them, I have found that a connecting agent must be used to determine the exact character of dysfunctioning tissues. Without it, fingers are blind; with it, variations of tissue systems (skin, fascia, muscles and ligaments) can be determined. Lotion acts as an appropriate connecting agent.

If the tissues of the neck, back, chest, shoulder, arm, forearm and hand become contracted, then all of these tissues have to be carefully explored and normalized. This takes more than one session. However, when finally achieved, the individual is once again healthy, and his/her Chronic Pain is a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, doctors don’t have the skills to explore and normalize dysfunctioning tissues. People-in-pain have to learn how to help themselves out of their Chronic Pain. If you doubt this ask your doctor to explore the tissues of your Chronic Pain.

When the tissues of the neck, back, chest, shoulder, arm, forearm and hand become contracted, they produce many symptoms, including pain–and cause a multitude of severe problems, neurologic and vascular, in the affected areas. Keep in mind this is extensive tissue dysfunction: from the neck down to the fingers.

The primary cause of chronic pain is contracted tissues that press on nerves. Doctors are unaware of this because they don’t explore the tissues of patients-in-pain. When you boil it down, doctors are very limited in what they provide patients suffering chronic pain. These are: drugs, surgery… and mechanical and electronic devices. None of these normalize contracted tissues.

Mother Nature provides us with a very important alarm signal (its called “pain”) that tells us when something in our bodies needs fixing. We should listen to the very important alarm signal and fix what needs to be fixed. Our bodies will become healthy, and the very important alarm signal will no longer be needed. Pain will go away and stay away.

We shouldn’t interfere with that very important alarm signal by dosing ourselves with “pain relievers.” When we hear a fire alarm, we don’t try to “relieve” it–we put out the fire. When we go to a dentist with a painful tooth, the dentist does not overwhelm us with pain relievers, she finds and fixes the cause of pain. The result: no more pain.

We shouldn’t interfere with that very important alarm signal by dosing ourselves with “pain relievers.” When we hear a fire alarm, we don’t try to “relieve” it–we put out the fire. When we go to a dentist with a painful tooth, the dentist does not overwhelm us with pain relievers, she finds and fixes the cause of pain. The result: no more pain.

Pain relievers, doctor-prescribed or over-the-counter ones such as Aleve, Ibuprofin, Advil, Tylenol and all the rest, are your enemies. They interfere with the alarm signal that Mother Nature, in her wisdom, gave us.

Mother Nature provides you with a very important alarm signal that tells you when something in your body needs fixing. The alarm signal is your friend–without it you wouldn’t know that something needs to be fixed. The name we give to that very important alarm signal is “pain.” When the alarm signal goes off for an extended period, doctors call it: “Chronic Pain.”
The primary cause of chronic pain is contracted tissues that press on nerves. Tissues contract when physical and emotional stress turns inward. Doctors don’t know about contracted tissues because they don’t explore thetissues of people-in-pain.
Because they don’t know about contracted tissues, doctors don’t know how to respond to that very important alarm signal. The result is that millions of people suffer chronic pain.

Ever heard of “Chondromalacia?” That’s the medical name for degeneration of cartilage.

Ever heard of “Osteoarthritis?” That’s the marketing name for degeneration of cartilage.

Degeneration of cartilage has two names! Both mean “degeneration of cartilage.” The only difference is in the name. “Osteoarthritis” contains the marketing buzz-word “arthritis.” This makes it easy to sell drugs and services.

Arthritis is inflammation of a joint. Degeneration of cartilage is not arthritis! It turns out that Osteoarthritis is notarthritis after all! And, yet, sadly — doctors tell us that “osteoarthritis” is the most common form of arthritis.

Chronic Pain that doctors say is caused by (not-arthritis) “osteoarthritis” is usually the result of contracted tissues that press on nerves outside the joint. Doctors are not aware of this because they don’t explore the tissues of their patients.

Think about this the next time you hear that “osteoarthritis” is the most common form of arthritis.”