At 31years of age the last thing a strapping young male would be thinking of is ...
A STROKE
GC was only 31yo when he experienced an ischemic stroke in 2013.
He spent almost 3 months in hospital recovering and receiving rehab to enable him to walk again. However, not much time was spent on trying to regain improvement in his right arm/hand movements.
Now 4 years on GC has landed at my clinic after conversations with his wife who is also a client of mine.
We discussed the treatments GC had received to date. Since release from hospital, back in 2013, there has been no follow-ups or ongoing rehab made available to him.
In fact, like I have written in many of my previous Blogs, he is a young male who hates going to the GP and this is a worrying trend with younger males.
GC’s stoke had occurred in his sleep and, upon waking the next morning, he could not move. Unfortunately, by then, the affects of the stroke had been occurring for several hours which would see a greater impact on the outcome and recovery.
So we started with me documenting a full health history from right back when he was a child to his present status. We discussed how just prior to the stroke GC had registered high blood pressure – cause unknown. However, nothing was put in place to monitor or manage his blood pressure.
GC’s right-side body balance, ability to open and close his right fist (independent of the aid of his left hand) have all been affected to varying degrees. GC can close a fist but not reopen the fist. He can lift his right arm out from the side of his body but requires the elevation of his shoulder to perform this task putting great strain on his shoulder, neck and upper body muscles, and can only do this action with a bent elbow. The message to straighten his arm at the elbow, as he elevates it, is not getting through.
Walking is not a fluid motion, it occurs straight from the hip – lifted and rotated forward - which is a common movement we see in many stroke clients. There is also muscle contracture in the foot giving his toes the appearance of ‘hammer’ toes.
So we began his introduction to Bowen Therapy.
I assessed his body for full range of function and motion noting his areas of pain, strain and resistance. I then had him lay on the table and palpated these same areas.
One significant restriction was the hand which I previously mentioned he could not rotate without the assistance of his left hand (GC’s arm hangs to his side with a 200 bend at the elbow and his palm facing backwards).
After completion of the body assessment, and with GC’s consent, we began the Bowen Therapy procedures.
GC had never participated in Bowen Therapy before so I explained to him that I would only be delivering minimal procedures on his first session to determine how his body responded to the therapy. We began with the initial Body Relaxation Moves moving from his lower body, through his trunk and up to the head.
It only took 10minutes to witness GC’s body go into a state of relaxation literally looking like his body had melted into the table. The ‘freeze – frozen – free’ cycle had commenced. GC’s body had given over to the therapy and was responding calmly. Little micro twitches could be seen occurring from head to toe as I worked on his body and his body system integrated the moves (between sets of procedures wait times are observed. Usually these wait times are approximately 2 mins but I was observing anywhere between 5-10mins for GC’s body to integrate the moves).
Towards the end of the therapy I had GC sit up on the side of the table and addressed his shoulder through to his hand. Again we observed the wait times a little longer than usual.
When finished GC stepped down from the table and said he felt good – “that’s really relaxing hey!!”
I asked GC to perform just one small task for me – “let’s see what range of movement we can get with your right arm now”.
GC lifted his arm out to the side away from his body, only this time there was much less dependency on the shoulder and his elbow had gained a result of 150 in straightening.
This blew him away!!!
I then asked him to see if he could move and rotate his right hand without using his left hand for assistance.
GC gained a 90degree rotation which saw his thumb now facing forward AND THIS WAS WITHOUT THE USE OF HIS OTHER HAND!!!! (See video results).
GC’s wife was present for this and stated “that’s crazy you couldn’t do that before and haven’t been able to do that since the stroke” .... GC was just standing there with his mouth open and a big cheesy grin.
It was a lovely group hug and a couple of high-fives ... Bowen Therapy had done its thing once again ... aided the body to self-heal.
GC returned the following week for a second session and whilst the independent hand rotation had only lasted approximately 24hours after the first session we again achieved the same result and look forward to seeing the affects potentially last longer over time. GC also presented with ‘hammer toes’ during the second session and after working on his lower body his toes were straight again when he left. (See video results).
I saw GC again today. Well all I can say is he can maintain the independent rotation of his right hand to 90degrees. He didn’t have hammer toes this week, AND, the straightening of the arm has seen his elbow now sit approx 2-3cm from the side of his body. This is a massive outcome for this young man who is eagerly looking to get back to work in the coming weeks.
I will see GC one last time next week before he heads back home up far north Queensland way and then when he returns for the occasional holiday back in Brisbane will come for some maintenance.
Body’s truly are better with Bowen
If you would like to experience Bowen Therapy yourself and see what it can do for your body give me a call at SumetBodyworx on 0417 005 510 or check out my website www.sumetbodyworx.com
Until next time
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