A Weekend with Dr.Leon Chaitow

Me with Dr.Chaitow

I yet again had the pleasure to be taught by Dr. Leon Chaitow at National Training Centre here in Dublin this past weekend. This weekends module covered the European version on neuromuscular therapy (NMT) for the upper extremity. I throughly enjoyed the entire weekend. Dr. Chaitow was in fine form and share a lot of his knowledge with us.

Saturday 9-5:

As stated above, the upper extremity was our covered topic for this weekends module. We started out with some breakout assessments of upward rotation, looking for an early firing of upper tapezius and levator scapula. We then went onto some more assessments of the pecs, lats, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, and subscapularis, just looking at muscle lenght.

Dr. Chaitow then discussed skin palpation as an assessment tool. He talked about using skin draging, Lewits skin stretch (which I find very good), Skin rolling, and also using c-bends, and s-bends. The great thing about these assessments is that they can immediately become the treatment. The skin can tell you an aweful lot with what is going on with a patient.

After lunch we went into our third breakout of the day and used Muscle Energy Thechniques (METs) on the muscles we had assessed earlier in the day.We then perfromed some Integrated Neuromuscular Inhibation Techniques (INIT) on one another on are posterior shoulder.

Sunday 9-5:

Sunday morning began with assessments of the sternoclavicular joint (SC), and acromioclavicular joint. After these assessments we then went into treatment for restricted SC and AC joints using METs.

Then we moved onto a quick discussion about the spencer shoulder sequence. This is a method use to increase mobility at the glenohumeral joint. This is a method I had previously tried from just reading Dr.Chaitows Positional Releases book. It was great to actually have him show and guide us through this technique in the breakout. I along with a few others found it to be very effective.

After lunch we then went into some skin asssessments of the forearm and upper arm, using the same skin palpation techniques we used previously the day before. Then from there we went into treatment of the forearm after are assessments using position release, MET, and INIT.

Near then end of the day Dr.Chaitow showed us a good test to rule out thoraic outlet syndrome (TOS). He also on request from me and some others showed us some of his MET techiques for restricted ribs, both elevated and depressed.

During the weekend Dr.Chaitow also talked about his views on High Velocity Thrusts (HVTs), as used by chiropractors. He though process is METs have been shown in a variety of cases to be just as effective as HVTs, with a lot smaller risk element. He still thinks that HVTs have a place in treatment, but would recommed exhausting others options first. This kinda sounds like Coach Boyles risk:benefit ration idea.

Another thing Dr.Chaitow spoke about was when using HVTs is that they may take more time to recover from, them METs. He stated that therapy is a stress just like anything else. This is very similar to what Dan Pfaff takes about with his sprinters. It is trying to find that balance of just doing enough to get a response, but not too much to cause to much stress to the system.

I love when you here many great people talk about the same ideas, and thought processes, even though they are involved in two different disciplines.

Review:

I throughly enjoyed the entire weekend with Dr.Chaitow and my classmates, who are all extremely sound people. The assessments, and techniques we were shown will definitely find they way into my toolbox!