Playing With Fire Workshop

I recently presented a workshop called "Playing With Fire" which was designed to teach people how to move ergonomically whether they are musicians, computer users or stay at home moms who make arts and crafts with the kids during the day.  There is an epidemic of repetitive strain injuries and the current treatment options presented by the medical community are flawed, destructive and unnecessary.

The first thing everyone needs to know is what causes the most common of repetitive strains: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  It's medical name is Median Nerve Entrapment.  If someone misuses their hands to the point that they inflame the long flexor tendons in the forearm and wrist, the inflamed tendons which now takes up more space, has no place to go.  There are bones on one side of the wrist and the traverse carpal ligament on the other.  So when the tendon inflames it presses on the only other tissue in the tunnel - the median nerve.  Much like sitting between two overweight people on an airplane.  The symptoms of a crushed nerve are pain, numbness and tingling.  The reasons for the inflammation are quite easy to understand.  The most common is a break in the wrist while performing repetitive tasks.  The other is dual muscular pulls. Obviously we can only move one body part in one direction at a time but we often move our fingers in two directions at a time.  We may flex one and either abduct or extend another. Even though we can do this, the extender and flexor muscles are still interconnected and we are using both at the same time. This act of tension usually puts all the strain on the tendons. In the piano world, our teachers either tell us to practice more, build up the muscles or relax.  That is all bad advice.  Practicing more bad movement, building up the wrong muscles and relaxing the wrong muscles will only create more problems.

When someone develops symptoms of median nerve entrapment they go to see their doctor who then begins to treat the symptom.  They may ask what you think caused the strain and may suggest that you stop doing it for a while.  This logic is greatly flawed.  If you are moving incorrectly and rest for a while, the inflammation may indeed dissipate however, the erroneous movement is still part of you and when you take up the practice again, the problem will still be there and the symptom will come back.  Symptoms are actually good.  They tell us that something is wrong.  Fix what is wrong, not the symptom.

Other treatment options may include anti inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections (which do a lovely job at dissolving tissue), splints which goes against everything we know about movement or, surgery, which is often totally unnecessary.

The actual solution and "cure" is simply movement re-education.  The patient needs only to learn how to move properly.  This could include not bending or twisting the wrist, not moving the fingers while bending the wrist, learning to not use tiny muscles to do some movements but instead use the larger muscles which are naturally designed to do that movement, learn the proper alignment of the arm and how it is the arm that must support the hand and not the hand moving independent of it, avoiding dual muscular pulls which can be crippling to the hand. 

Not everyone has the capacity, patience, intellect or determination to heal.  We've come to beleive that a doctor can fix our problems and we all want a quick fix.  Who wants to spend months or even years learning to undo bad habits when a doctor can make a slice with a scalpel and like magic, the issue seemingly disappears.  As I said, doctors tend to treat symptoms and not the problems. If the problem is we are moving incorrectly, we shouldn't be seeing a doctor.  My favorite analogy to use is if your wheels are out of alignment and wearing down your tires, you don't just get new tires, you have to fix the alignment.  If your body is out of alignment and wearing down the soft tissue in your wrists, you don't just make room for the inflammation by having surgery, you need to fix the alignment.

"Healing" with Marijuana

A friend of mine is suffering from cancer and, the treatment thereof.  She is in great pain and the medications she is taking are accompanied by debilitating side effects.  Surgery is out of the question because her platelets are low from the cancer and she has to watch her sodium intake.  She continues receiving chemo treatments but then immediately she gets a skin infection (cellulitis). Then her doctor gives her antibiotics which work against the chemo. Everything is working against each other.  Now she can't walk and she's gotten even weaker from lying in bed.  Since she is taking so many different drugs, they cancel out the good effects of each other and she can't eat.  It is too bad she won't consider cannabis (pot or marijuana) as a treatment but she has been brainwashed into thinking that marijuana is a "drug" and that the pills she is popping are treatments.  If only she would consider pot as a treatment she could not only re-gain her appetite which would be beneficial to her health and well being but she would also be relatively pain free and conscious.  The drugs she takes now renders her into a zombie estate and do not give her the benefit of sleep.  One of her drugs inhibits getting a good night's sleep which she desperately needs and marijuana could provide that.  But, she is a good girl and doesn't do drugs. 

NY recently passed medical marijuana laws and our next door neighbor, Massachusetts, is looking into legalizing it across the board which will of course destroy NY's medical marijuana industry and, bwahahahaha . . . all the wasted time and tax payer dollars that went into the planning for the medical marijuana industry.  Hah! 

Not only can marijuana be used for physical, mental, and emotional well being, it can be used for "healing."  First, consider the meaning of the word "healing."  There is a difference between healing and curing.  To cure means to make the disease go away.  Healing has to do with an expression of greater wholeness and acceptance rather than curing.  Healing is about discovering what is hurting us in the first place and helping us to come to terms with it. 

A long time ago a friend was dying of cancer.  She sought every treatment and nostrum available, draining her bank account and only getting physically and emotionally worse at the same time.  She was in denial.  I don't know what precipitated her change in attitude but when she accepted the fact that she was going to die, she "healed."  She was able to talk about it, make amends with friends and family whom she transgressed in the past.  She was able to live life a little more fully and finally be happy.  I beleive it was the edible pot that she illegally obtained from her son who traveled to Colorado and risked arrest and decades in prison for its procurement, but gave his mom a new outlook on life and death.  Healing is about discovering what is holding us back in the first place.  Pot helped my friend look at life differently and die with dignity and comfort rather than denial, failure and shame - and she had a healthy appetite, too. 

Diabetes, obesity, autism, anxiety, cancer, autoimmune conditions, thoughts of suicide and other expressions of imbalance are increasing in society as are prescription drug treatments for all of those ailments and the downward spiral which comes with them and their treatments.  A pharmacist friend told me that she believes all the cholesterol medication people take causes diabetes and the medication for diabetes causes weight gain and kidney complications leading to heart issues. 

Cannabis could play a much larger role in most people's lives by helping them maintain a balanced, healthy outlook and diet.  Dying with dignity, comfort and acceptance should be the primary focus of "healing."  It is time for doctors to incorporate medicinal marijuana into their regular treatment practices in addition to traditional medical treatment in order to spare people the harsh side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. 

I recently watched the History Channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution" and I discovered that cultivators of this plant are able create strains to achieve goals and outcomes far more advanced than the dangerous prescription drugs mired with side effects that profit hungry pharmaceuticals are creating and pushing onto doctors to prescribe.  I have no doubt that in the future, cannabis combined with other treatments will actually lead to a cure for many maladies which afflict us.  It is definitely a cure for alcohol and drug addiction because pot itself is not addictive but is an alternative to those other addictions.  Working on the suicide hot-line I had many callers who were in mental and physical pain because of their addiction to pain killers.  I'm sure pot would ameliorate their conditions on the first day of use.

Thank you to states like Colorado and Washington who of course are making billions in tax revenue each year but, are also providing people with the option to heal, even to their death.  It is very exciting that marijuana cultivators are exploring uses of various strains in an effort to find cures and treatments and these people are not even medical practitioners.  They are simply lovers of the plant.  Too bad medical science and pharmaceutical companies are overlooking what has been in front of us for centuries.  Ultimately, there is no profit in curing cancer and other diseases, there is profit however in treating  symptoms.  

If you are on the fence about this natural God given herb, watch the History channel's movie "Marijuana Revolution."  If you can't watch it on the history channel (http://www.history.com/shows/the-marijuana-revolution/about) or find it in the tv guides, you can probably find it on the torrent sites.  Write to your law makers and ask them to re-legalize this herbal drug and support the hundreds of companies already cultivating, infusing, testing, marketing and selling cannabis-related products.

Lyme Disease, Doctors and Scares - Oh My!

Last spring I was out hiking and at the end of my hike I detected a tick embedded in my leg.  I managed to fully extract the little beast and watched the site closely for a few days.  I didn't develop the telltale "bulls-eye" rash so I thought I was safe from any sort of infection.

Approximately one month later I developed a sinus infection that didn't go away.  After a month of symptoms I went to see my doctor and she said I had only allergies and prescribed over the counter allergy medication.  After a few weeks my symptoms did not abate and I also began to develop muscle aches and fatigue.

I went back to my doctor and again asserted the fact that I was bitten by a tick and she said that since I didn't have other symptoms, it couldn't be Lyme Disease and that she would not prescribe antibiotics without further evidence of infection.  She said that the irresponsible prescribing of antibiotics can create "super-bugs."  She suggested I try a different decongestant.

A few weeks later I developed a pain everywhere I have ever fractured a bone: a pinky knuckle, a finger tip, my coccyx, a toe and a knee.  I went back to my doctor and she agreed to run (sans antibiotics) a Lyme test.  If it came back positive, we would (sans antibiotics) run a second test to confirm the positive result because there are things called "false positives."  She wouldn't want to irresponsibly prescribe antibiotics, thusly creating super-bugs.  I asked what would happen if the result came back negative, would there be a second test in case of a "false negative" and she said there would be no need for antibiotics or a second test if the first one came back negative.

A friend of mine who is quite knowledgeable and experienced with Lyme disease told me that it sounded like I had Lyme disease.  She had an extra bottle of Doxycycline and gave it to me.  Within one week all my symptoms including the sinus infection (I mean allergy) went away.

I finished the 30 day supply of doxies and none of the symptoms reasserted themselves.  Can you imagine the money my insurance company could have saved if my doctor initially gave me antibiotics when I first told her that I was bitten by a tick? 

When I was a kid, I used to hang out at a friends house who father was my doctor.  I mentioned that my dog was bitten by a tick and my doctor immediately prescribed an antibiotic for me just to play it safe.  Irresponsible?  I don't know.  Of course, there wouldn't be this 500 pound super-bug following me around wherever I go.  I named him "Charlie."  He doesn't eat much.