Dan’s Physiotherapy Journey
Dan grew up a very active kid playing soccer, hockey, tennis, and fast-pitch softball in addition to school activities like cross-country running and volleyball. As a result, he had a number of injuries which put him in contact with physiotherapists. Injuries to his neck, shoulder and elbow all required treatment for prolonged periods of time. One physiotherapist in Kingston, Ontario, Martin Blazer, led him into physiotherapy school.
While in physiotherapy school at UWO, Dan was hit by a car as a pedestrian and suffered a back injury that required further therapy and helped shape the method of treatment used in the early part of his career. The back injury responded to repeated movements, in particular, extension and repeated movements were part of the McKenzie style of treatment called Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT). This method was helpful in establishing appropriate exercises particularly for a physiotherapist that was a little wet behind the ears. The problem was it did not help enough people, especially ones suffering with long term or chronic pain, which was the main patient population Dan treated from 2000 to 2017 at Health Recovery Clinic in Mississauga.
The outpatient orthopaedic physiotherapy environment in Ontario at the turn of the Millennium was such that physiotherapists treated with exercises, modalities, MDT, manual therapy, or a combination. Within 4 years of graduating physiotherapy school, Dan had worked his way through the manual therapy courses but did not feel he was ready to challenge the first manual and manipulative physiotherapy exam. So he took a preparation course taught mainly by Dana Clark and Heather Gillis which increased his knowledge and skills, helping him to pass the Certificate Exam in April 2002. The next step was to learn spinal manipulation and challenge the Diploma exam. The biggest struggle was finding enough patients to practise on given that very few patients were being seen who could have spinal manipulations. It was so difficult that Dan thought he might have to leave Health Recovery Clinic to be able to pass the exam. However, in the fall of 2006 he passed the Diploma of Advanced Manual and Manipulative Physiotherapy.
Dan continued to build on his knowledge by reading articles, taking courses and attending conferences. His method of practise did not change much over the course of the next 8 years. In 2014, he decided it was time to take another course on fascia (the connective tissue of the body) because the techniques he had learned were not particularly effective. So, he looked into John Barnes’ Myofascial Release (MFR) and while several colleagues did not really give favourable reviews, he thought he would see for himself. The first course, Myofascial Release I, was a structural course which laid the foundation for the philosophy of treatment. So, coming out of the course he thought he would use the structural treatment and see how the results compared to what he had been doing. The surprise was that the treatments were more effective than anything he had done in the past and he did not have to manipulate anywhere near as many patients to get these results! Why put the joints through the stress of a manipulation to achieve the same results when it’s not needed!?
On his next MFR course he had a more profound and eye-opening experience that convinced him that there was a whole lot more to this way of treatment than he could have ever imagined. This happened when they were doing a technique to release the upper part of the jaw – the maxilla. His partner had her hand in his mouth exerting gentle pressure when he started to laugh. She pulled her hand out and he stopped laughing. She thought something was wrong, but he assured her that it felt good. So, once again she started to work on his maxilla. Again, he started laughing but after a few minutes he stopped and he could feel his body releasing. By the end, he was tingling from his ribs to thighs down through the pelvis, his hands and feet were shaking and he had difficulty moving. It was like his whole body had been sensitized and he could feel the air touching his skin and every single hair on his body. One of the assistant instructors, Dawn, helped him into the recovery position and then to sitting while John continued to teach. When they partnered up for the next technique, Dawn told him that doing the treatment would help to “ground” him and further the recovery. His hands were visibly vibrating and his partner told him that it was “energizing.” Over the course of the next 12 hours, the tingling through his body settled and some of the more acute health issues that he was experiencing at the time of the course when into remission. Since that time, his hands continue vibrate during treatment with MFR.
The Myofascial Unwinding course was even more of an eye-opener. After having been through an unwinding on the previous course, he wanted to learn how he could help his patients achieve the same results. It was surprising how easy it was to teach anyone how to do it. Within the first day, everyone on the course was experiencing things – often pain, emotions, and memories – that we have carried through our lives and only healed on a superficial level. He experienced and re-experienced several significant events in his life, including the pain for previous injuries, memories of having surgery and difficulties with expelling the intubation tubes out of his throat from surgeries and other procedures. Going through these experiences helped him to heal on a more complete level that John Barnes calls “authentic healing.”
Dan is on his journey to “authentic healing.”
Are you ready to start yours?
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