Just before Valentine's Day, 1979, I was
four days overdue on a solo ski trip from White Pass and nearing
Atlin, British Columbia. But with the temperature at -30F and the
wind at 30 mph, I wasn’t quite home-free. When a RCMP Twin Otter
flew up my back trail and started circling, I stamped a large heart
in the snow to show the crew just how glad I was to see them. If you
could use a ‘Sgt. Preston of the Northwest Canadian Mounted Police
and his dog King’ type miracle, help and health might be closer than
you think. Here’s why…
Mobility and Motility
Though medicine has taught us to think chemically, many health
problems are essentially mechanical. All internal organs have to be
able to move passively to accommodate the movements of neighboring
structures. We call this mobility. Furthermore, all internal organs
also need motility, an inherent, active movement around their own
individual axes. Organ function and vitality depend on motility.
Most internal organs have paired, or synchronized, motilities. Both
members of the pair move simultaneously, typically at rates of 6 to
8 cycles per minute. Pairs include left and right lungs; left and
right kidneys; liver and stomach; ascending and descending colons;
etc. Motilities are substantial: an unrestricted liver moves three
centimeters in each direction on each cycle — or 600 meters every 24
hours! Given that adult livers weigh about 7 pounds, there must be a
good reason for motility or the body would invest the effort
elsewhere.
We’re going to focus on the heart because it’s so important, but
what applies to the heart generally applies to all other organs. The
heart isn’t paired; it doesn't have a partner organ. Heart motility
resembles a pendulum’s in a grandfather clock. The motion should be
symmetrical in each direction. We can manually palpate (with our
hands) heart motility — and treat any associated anomalies — through
the thoracic wall.
Heart motility is independent of the pulse and breathing. Anomalies
can stem from a number of directions: from restrictions within the
heart; from restrictions between the heart and neighboring
structures (the pericardium, lungs, esophagus, mediastinum, liver,
stomach, spleen, sternum, ribs, and spine); and from restrictions on
blood vessels and nerves. Regardless of origin, restrictions tax the
heart and shorten its life. All can be released manually. With the
help of the immune system, damage can often be repaired quickly.
Hierarchical Organization
The body is highly intelligent, and it is not a democracy. Some
functions and functionaries are more important than others. Job
number one in the body is keeping the lights on upstairs. With the
assistance of the lungs, liver, and kidneys, the heart delivers
oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood to the brain and keeps it — and us —
alive.
The body routinely sacrifices less important structures and
functions to protect — or minimize the impact of restrictions on —
more important organs and functions. The body recruits the muscles
and bones to minimize the effect of restrictions on internal organs.
If a restriction impedes one of the arteries serving the brain, for
example, the body will tighten neck and shoulder muscles and
compress and distort the cervical spine to minimize effect of the
restriction. The heart must also work harder to force blood through
the restriction.
Anyone who has had an improperly guyed tent or tarp understands the
process. In a strong wind, it’s only a matter of time before a
grommet pulls out or one of the poles fatigues and the tent fails.
It’s the same with the heart. But, how common are these
restrictions? At least as common as tight necks and shoulders!
Vascular restrictions and dehydration are probably the two most
common causes of hypertension, too. While vascular restrictions
dampen mobility and motility and force the heart to work harder,
they can be released by manual therapy and dehydration can be cured
by drinking more water. Medication, on the other hand, often
exacerbates the underlying problem.
Fascia surrounds all tissues. This cellophane-like packaging has an
elastic component that telegraphs tension from the site of any
restriction throughout the body. In this way, a restriction
elsewhere can exert a drag on the heart and accelerate heart's wear
and tear. Fortunately, this elastic aspect of fascia also allows
manual therapists to locate restrictions.
Repetitive Motion Injuries
Repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome have garnered
a lot of attention in the past decade. Typically, they afflict those
who repeat the same task/movement over and over, day in and day out.
Sound familiar? It is: the heart and lungs repeat the same motions
over and over. Hearts average 33 million beats and 4 million
motilities per year. Both bring the potential for considerable wear
and tear when tensions are abnormal. Similarly with the lungs,
though the number of breaths per minute are a fraction of the number
of heartbeats, the distance moved per breath are greater.
Because so few people understand the mechanics, few people mention
the heart's or lungs' risk of repetitive motion injuries. However,
if the heart weren't continuously repairing itself and our bodies
were not able to compensate, we'd probably all be dying decades
earlier. While aging and the accumulated mileage increasingly slows
the repairs and consumes the compensatory ability, both of these
aging-consequences are, to a remarkable extent, reversible, with
manual therapy.
There are 65,000 miles of arteries in the body, with equal amounts
of veins and peripheral nerves. Every inch of these 195,000 miles
has the potential to impede heart and/or brain motility. Given the
frequency of respiratory and emotional restrictions in our chests,
one rarely has to search very far from the heart for significant
restrictions.
Manual therapists can find and release these restrictions, even if
the patient is unaware of any symptoms and regardless of what the
restriction was caused by (including physical, chemical, thermal,
surgical, emotional, or spiritual trauma, or some combination
thereof). When done years before any symptoms arise, this is true
prevention.
Therefore, whether you are up to your haunches in a health challenge
or just want to keep sailing blithely along forever, you owe it to
yourself to investigate manual therapy. What you experience may seem
like a miracle, but that’s just what happens when you eliminate
mechanical restrictions.
Mike Macy, CST, frees up
mechanical restrictions from the body’s most critical systems. You
can reach him in Anchorage at (907) 258-7261 or via e-mail at
mmacy@acsalaska.net
