|
|
 |
|
|
|
Complimentary Medicine and MD
|
|
|
Until a cure for MD can be found, traditional medicine offers us little help in our journey. While traditional medicine emphasizes our physical bodies, we are beginning to understand that we are so much more than this. Complimentary medicine focuses on the body’s energy system to balance and restore health. The following outlines the various approaches we use for Tristan.
This is not a desperate attempt to cure the incurable. We fully realise, as do the practitioners who use them, that these therapies cannot rebuild muscle or duplicate dystrophin. But my own experience with numerous alternative techniques over the years has taught me a great deal about how we can work to balance, energize and heal our bodies. It is a drug-free, non-invasive and gentle approach to health and healing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Chiropractic Care
|
|
|
Dr. Marc St. Denis:
|
|
|
|
Dr. Steve Ward:
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Steve Ward of Long Beach, California (www.chiroman.com) is a chiropractor and behavioural specialist who has worked with over 400 children with Duchenne and Beckers MD. From the moment we met Dr. Steve, we knew we made the right choice. Dr. Steve was warm, compassionate and well versed in the physical and emotional aspects of MD.
Dr. Steve and his father, Dr. Lowell Ward, developed the Systemic Chiropractic Technology, which looks at the cranium, spine and pelvis as one unit (many practitioners treat these units separately). Dr. Steve takes full seated and standing x-rays, and then measures how far, and at what point, the spine deviates from normal. This produces a kind of ‘spinal map’ that tells a story about a person’s physical and emotional well-being.
After working for years with children with MD, the Wards began to notice certain patterns. For example, these children almost always showed a left curve, which reflects irrational logic and an inability to move through life. A compression of the spinal chord is also often seen. But the most prominent pattern was a backward curving of the spine while standing. Dr. Steve explains that this means the child is going into withdrawal, which signals a surrendering of his willpower to the disease.
Dr. Steve’s work helped us to better understand the physical and emotional components of MD. He showed us how to perform various therapies like ankle and spinal stretches, and how to use support items like wedges and collars. He also
|
|
|
|
|
cautioned us on not getting swept up in the medical establishment’s often disempowering perspective.
“I would rather have doctors say ‘your son has a neuromuscular disease that we don’t have a cure for right now but there’s various things we can do’ rather than ‘your child has Duchenne and they will most likely die by age 16,’” explains Dr. Steve. “They also need to recognize that it’s not a child with Duchenne, it’s a family in a process, and families need to be supported.”
With the use of videotapes, my chiropractor has learned Dr. Steve’s techniques and he continues to adjust Tristan on a weekly basis to work with the shortening of tendons and spinal curvatures that result from DMD. Tristan also does his daily exercises as per Dr. Steve’s strict instructions, and he uses a wedge and heel lifts daily. But most important, he is learning to take action every day.
“Those kids who take action walk longer, live longer, function better and feel better about themselves,” says Dr. Steve.
While chiropractic care and physical therapies are important, I share Dr. Steve’s belief that the most important component of anyone’s success, including those working through MD, is in shifting our perspective.
“I have success stories every day,” says Dr. Steve, “and they come when you change a person’s reality and teach them a new awareness. That’s key.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Craniosacral Therapy
|
|
|
Dr. Tony Brunelle:
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Tony Brunelle runs the Kanata Holistic Chiropractic Centre (www.kanataholistic.com) in Ottawa. He combines a myriad of therapies which have one thing in common - to draw on the body’s wisdom and energy system to promote healing. These include nutrition, chiropractic care, Neuro Emotional Technique, Total Body Modification and craniosacral therapy. It is this last therapy, craniosacral therapy, which Dr. Tony felt could benefit Tristan.
Craniosacral therapy consists of the brain, spinal cord, and membrane system, which houses the cerebrospinal fluid. This system oversees the entire nervous system, and the brain’s all-important pituitary and pineal glands, which affect the body’s hormonal balance.
At the beginning of every session, Dr. Tony ‘asks’ Tristan’s body what it needs.
“It’s a knowing, a feeling or a voice that tells me it’s this or that,” says Dr. Tony. “I ask Tristan’s higher self combined with my higher self if there’s anything I can do to help the little guy, and I always get ‘yes’. So I go down my list - structural, ‘no’, nutritional, ‘no’, craniosacral, and I always get ‘yes’.
As Tristan lays on the bed, Dr. Tony uses a light touch on his head to feel the rhythmic motion of rate, amplitude, symmetry and quality of its the
|
|
|
|
|
cerebrospinal fluid - its wave-like motion. He then clears up any blockages by applying light pressure to move and free up the skull plates.
While Dr. Tony recognizes the severity of MD, he also recognizes the power of energy work.
“It (MD) is a genetic thing. You can’t repair muscle. But with energy, you can heal anything,” explains Dr. Tony.
Dr. Tony has helped numerous people overcome migraine headaches, chronic fatigue, immune disorders and other ailments. He cites one example of a female patient who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a serious degenerative brain disease. “She was supposed to be dead by now, but since craniosacral work, her energy has increased, and doctors are rethinking their diagnosis.”
Misdiagnosis? Perhaps. Or perhaps healing is occurring in deeper places, places not visible under a telescope or uncovered by a doctor’s scalpel.
Since Dr. Tony’s work, Tristan’s energy level has noticeably increased and his spirits are high. We are grateful for people like Dr. Tony who are willing to stay open to the possibilities and to use his skills and abilities to make a difference in my son’s life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some Therapies
|
|
|
Nutrition
|
|
|
|
Vega testing checks the body for various allergies and sensitivities to foods, metals, chemicals, pollen, household molds, animal dander and more. The premise is simple: the client holds a metal probe in one hand while a tip electrode is placed on an acupuncture point on the toe. This creates an electrical current through the body. Then, clean vials of different foods and such are placed in the Vega machine and in the current line that runs between hand and foot. A metre measures the strength of the current running through the body: the more the needle drops, the more of an energy interruption there is, thus the more sensitivity the person has to that particular food or allergen.
Allergy testing is nothing new, but the Vega testing approach (coined after the machine used in the testing) is non-invasive, and quick. It is more sensitive than other testing procedures as it detects sensitivities rather than just full-blown allergies. It is also more cost-effective. For Tristan, we found he was sensitive to certain dairy foods, fruits and wheat, so we steer away from these foods which can potentially tax his immune system.
|
|
|
|
I am a believer in affirmations, and so when I decided to incorporate them into Tristan’s life, I contacted Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life, and asked her how to best help my son heal. She offered her views on disease, healing, karma, and spiritual growth. She also offered some nutritional aid, and some affirmations to assist Tristan in working through his experience. And she reminded us of the importance of language, because the words we choose create our belief system and become our life’s self-fulfilling prophecies.
|
|
|
|
Currently, we are experimenting with various nutritional and herbal supplements as per various sources. As we come closer to creating Tristan’s nutritional regime, we will post the results.
|
|
|
|
As always, prayer remains a cornerstone of our daily practice.
|
|
