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Dan Monahan
Jul 30, 2008 - 6:23AM
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Don't need surgery!!
Hi Everyone
Those of you who know me I was considering having a Microdiscetomy after my Neuromuscular Therapist felt that after 3 months I had not made significant progress.
Well yesterday I went for a re-assessment with the NHS Physio before she was to send my report to the Neurosurgeon for an appointment, I saw her 7th February this year after the MRI confirmed a large bulging disc at L4-L5 and she was practically begging me to go for surgery, because back then I had tingling in my left leg, and numbness and also weakness in the left leg. But I was adament I could fix it with exercise, trigger point therapy and shear hard work and determination.
Well yesterday she assessed me, and I was awaiting for her to say "I'll schedule you in asap to see a consultant" but she performed the straight leg raise on me..........It was Negative!! Slight tension in my hamstring but able to get my leg about 2ft+ off the couch, back in February my leg wasn't able to go any higher than about 6" without intense nerve pain in my leg, and my left hip flexor contracting extremely hard!
Also refelxes were much better, she was really impressed with the hard work I had put in the past 5 months, and she said there is no need for surgery a Microdiscetomy will only get rid of numbness and weakness in a leg, it will not address back pain or muscle pain, which is what I still get in my left QL, piriformis and illiopsoas.
It was a great feeling to here her say this, 5 months ago, she was begging me to get surgery yesterday she was saying I don't need it, it just goes to show if you put in the hard work and truly believe in the power of the human body, and remain positive you can do anything if you put your mind to it.
Monday 4th August I am seeing an Egoscue Practioner to start work on Egoscue, I am a true believer in Egoscue, it addresses Muscle Imbalances and reminds your muscles their original function and awakes dormant muscles that have stopped working, and brings your body back into balance. It is very similar principles to Al meilus' therapy, basic biomechanics but unfortunately it is not as quick as Al's robot, and requires alot of time and effort, but I am up for the challenge!!
I am also still trying to save up to go over to Florida to see Al Meilus, but it's going to be a long old time before then, keep spending me money!! lol
I hope this gives a ray of light to at least one person, just because a specialist says you need surgery there not always right, maybe I will relapse and start to get numbness again, but that will only happen if I stop moving and stop performing my exercises, we need to move more, kneel, sit, jump, cruel, climb, become a kid again and that is where true relief will be found.
All the best.
Dan
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Lak
Jul 30, 2008 - 7:32AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi Dan,
It's great to hear you don't need surgery and are on your way to making progress. However it annoys me that so called experts are so adamant sometimes to insist on surgery, when as you have proved, it is not necessary.
I know you are saving to see Al and I don't know what your financial situation is like, but have you tried asking family, friends for the money? Or how about getting a credit card deal where you pay 0% interest for 12 months? Might be worth a shot.
Also, did you contact / visit Solihull Back Pain Clinic?
Thanks,
Lak
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Dan Monahan
Jul 30, 2008 - 8:23AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi Lak
Yeah I am very happy about not needing surgery, I am very far from being fixed, but from needing surgery to no longer is great news.
As for financial side of things, I don't like borrowing money from friends, or family members as it can cause problems, I would rather save up and do it on my own. Credit cards are not an option as I have used too many in the past to pay for pHysio and chiro's and also emotional spending, whenever I was in pain I used to find I would buy things to make myself at least feel better, when in reality all it was doing was getting me in more and more debt. Oh well we learn from our mistakes.
I have spoken to John from Sollihull and they are based in Birmingham I am in Essex, about a 2 1/2 hr drive, which is a fair old way. Also he doesn't believe that muscles move bones, or that muscle imbalances can cause a bulging disc, which I know they can, LTBP, Meilus, Egoscue, CHEK all prove that muscles cause bones to move, and will change your alignment, he even suggested that a sneeze can cause a prolapsed disc if it is weakened!! The body is not that weak, and if it is, then it was muscle imbalances that caused the weakness in the first place.
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Dave Hutchieson
Jul 30, 2008 - 11:24AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi Dan
I'm so pleased about your results.
Go on the internet an look for a "StretchRite" stretching rope.
It doesn't look like much, but has very clever plastic beads which act as handles which will help with your hamstrings when you use it.
I'v read the Egoscue book from cover to cover and agree with everything he says there.
Have him check your quadratus lumborum muscles, as you probably have a high hip, which is causing the scoliosis.
Also have him check whether ONE hip bone is more rotated than the other.
Dave
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Weight Training Paul
Jul 30, 2008 - 1:23PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
My Egoscue book came today
Just had a look though, will be reading more later
Everone should probably have this book
Paul
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Dan Monahan
Jul 30, 2008 - 2:44PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hey Paul
Well done in getting the book mate, which one did you get? Pain Free or Health through motion? There both fantastic books, so well written, and makes so much sense.
Post on here afterwards or email me let us know what you think of the book, I read mine in a day as I couldn't put it down....lol
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Weight Training Paul
Jul 30, 2008 - 5:18PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi mate
Health Through Motion is the one I've got
It will take me quite some time to read it all, if I read to much at once some of it doesn't go in
Then there's the exercisers to do, stretching, walking, rolling around on the trigger point gear ect it's all none stop stuff lol
Paul
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Paul
Jul 30, 2008 - 10:38PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Guys---
I just drove 5 hours back home from seeing Al Meilus for 2 days....
All i can say is WOW!!!
Here is my story:
Power athlete ...totally unbalanced
1984 low back pain and huge calf burn
1988 cyst removed...still pain
1989 - pain goes away after i balance out and swim to get in shape
bulk back up...tons of sit ups.....tight psoas, hips, and flexors hindsight.....Lots of weightlifting
Pop the back throwing logs and now the burning again...2 MRi's negative.....steroids...weigth gain...2 years out of work.....can't walk for a month more than 15 feet...
All the while i am getting tighter and tighter.
Find a CHEK practitioner and mget some relief....Find dontigny and get more relief from SI joint....but still have leg burns.....Been told it is not sciatica....but what the hell is it.
I go see Al Meilus....within 5 minutes he tells me that my right hip is overbuilt...my right calf is much bigger.....thigh....and notices a muscle behind my knee is bulging....also notices my leg is cold....
So i am thinking....yeah right...
Well he puts me on the table and my right knee is 2" off the table as is my right hip up and my low back has a 3" gap...
Then he runs me through the robot on my illiacas and my leg quivers and drops to table and now my leg is warm....my back drops to the table....no more burn....
He said my pelvis being torques comprimised my femoral artery and the muscle behind my knee because i was so leaned to the right spasmed out of control easy and sent the calf into a burn...
Fast forward to 5 p.m. i was now 3/4" taller and perfect posture. 1st time in my life i could put my heels to the wall and my back shoulders and head also touching.....without trying. I almost cried and felt i was in a dream.... For 4 years i could not raise my knee to my waist. I kicked my foot over my head...I was a muay thai fighter and just felt like i could do it. He then asked me what i do for excercise and i said walk...but i hate it. So i went for a 3 mile run....yes run....(except i had to walk part ways because i was gassed)....no pain.....just sore at the pressure points from the robot....
today he even got me better....hit my chest muscles in 3 areas and under my armpits and it ended up bringing my neck and chest back....no more rounded shoulders...
I was skeptical.....All i will say is if you are in agony.....buy a plane ticket and go. he got me a cottage on the gulf of mexico for $60 a night.....and 2 days of treatment (about 12 hours) was $1000 and covered by insurance. I even bought a robot. I have been paying $125 a week to a NMT and it felt good but no human get get to these points and with as consistent pressure as these robots. In fact they have so much data back that it can identify tissue and then when the tissue relaxes it toggles down. My initial psoas could only go in 1/4".....when it was done in 15 minutes it was in almost 2 3/4"....that is a supple muscle.....
A little over 9 months ago i was told by no less than 5 therapists i had the tightest psoas, Ql and quads of anyone...
If anybody needs more info e-mail me
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Dan Monahan
Jul 31, 2008 - 6:57AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
WOW Paul, I am so jealous!! lol
It's just amazing the stories we here about the Robot, as Dave says Al is a genius.
How much did your Robot cost you, if you don't mind me asking?
Also keep us updated, let us know if it is a long term relief or not?
Cheers
Dan :)
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Weight Training Paul
Jul 31, 2008 - 12:58PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Holy smokes
Agreed the things we hear about the robot is amazing to say the least
You must feel so good
So you spend around 6 hours one day with Al and 6 hours the next day
So was the robot working on you all the time then
What does it feel like, on the video's on Al web site it doesn't look like press down much even
I think Al told me the portable robot cost $ 3000 is that right
How does the portable robot compare to the main robot
Paul
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brian
Aug 1, 2008 - 11:28AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Glad to hear you don't need surgery, I feel ok so long as I don't have to sit for any length of time. Problem is I can no longer work outside and do lifting but neither can I sit in an office all day.
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trish
Aug 1, 2008 - 7:29PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Paul, How are you feeling now that you are a couple of days out from Al's muscle therapy? I am very close to making that trip to see him myself. I have been following this forum since April and doing the LTBP exercises and stretches as well but it hasn't been enough. I have also been using inversion table and doing some TP with the Fenix system. I have a twisted pelvis, chiro didn't help much either. MRI shows bulge at L3-L4, protrusion at L4-L5 also a protrusion at L5-S1. I have always been a very athletic person and have sensed muscle imbalances for along time. Al's robot sounds like a dream come true...Please let us know if you are still feeling great as I am sure that others are watching this forum as closely as I have been,even though we haven't been writing on it. Trish
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paul
Aug 2, 2008 - 9:42AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
the robot was $2500 and it is controlled by you and a joystick whereas the original one at his clinic does all the work. It has a database so it knows how far to go in, back off until the muscle relaxes and then moves on.
here is my update:
day 1 - felt like a new man (ran 3 miles and slept well for first tim)
day 2 - a little sore (not much) from areas of massage from robot (then drove immediately 5.5 hours home and packed a house for moving.....lifting couches (yes i said couches).
**drove 24 straight hours to CT from FLorida......residual leg tightness but that is from sitting.
here is what i think in my case:
I am an ex-athlete who is overbuilt on the front (very common i was told) big chest, legs, etc.
2 1/2 days on a robot are not going to make me 100%...i realize the muscles are going to want to keep at it. The robot will rectify this with daily work.
I imagine i was trying to stretch through adhesions and that can not work...
I also would get stubborn and try to workout through the pain thus tightening the vice even more...
I imagine excercises and stretching work for alot of people but i believe as does AL that my muscles are/were freakishly tight and no human fingers could get the sustained pressure to release them.
I also learned deeper is not better.....In fact the robot starts at a depth on me at around 1/4" because this is where it recognizes its first resistance and when you put your hand on the muscles you feel it release.....then release again (i had heard the term but never felt it until then)
I am so impressed that i am making a presentation Tueday afternoon to put 2 clinics together with 14-20 machines with a group of doctors.
I know i was a basket case before i got there and i have felt some of the same pains since, but i was able to move furniture (no pain), drive 24 hours ...(no pains just a tight calf).....i showed my friend and he could not believe how tight i was....Funny thing is that i thought tight muscles were good (it meant strength), but it is the supple muscle that is healthy...
I will be setting up and using my own robot tonight and reporting back...
****I am a skeptical person and have tried it all.....and to think it is all muscular with the amount of pain (prevented me from working for 2 years) is beyond my comprehension.
No doctor was able to diagnose me and hindsight says this may have been my original problem in 1986 when they did surgeru since surgery did not relieve the calf burning pain until i swam and got lean (i probably balanced myself without knowing it)....felt good for years and went back to heavy weights and bulking STUPID ME.....and recreated the situation.....
I have had MRI's up the kazoo that show no abnomralities....i almost wished for a bulge disc diagnosis because then i would know what i had....the not knowing killed me......I was of the ones that fell between the cracks...
And it is like Dave Hutchinson says....it is normally a few modalities that get us our answer....and these are mine...
1) LTBP (taught me of imbalances)...got some relief but not alot due to my overall severity of tightness
2) massage therapy opened my eyes because by accident i was relieved of pain, albeit temporary (i mean hours) it showed there was hope
3)CHEK practitioner...showed me excercises and how to live functionally.......got me out of level 7-9 pain ....
4) Neuro Muscular Therapy - got me several pain free days in a row...but i felt beat up for 2 days after to get a week of less pain..
5)Dontigny excercises - told me that i have a pelvis/SI problem and his excercises freed my groin to a functional state (still tight as hell) but no groin or testicle pain anymore
6) Al Meilus - tied it all together for me and showed me what 100% pain free was......like when i was 18 years old....**it was not a placebo effect.....***i was waiting all night for the dream to be over......I could lift my knees up to my chest while jogging in place. I kicked over my head.....before i could not get over my waist...
I now know my keys to unlock my body....I have spent 35K in the last 18 months to find it and probably over 100K in my life since 1984-1988 i spent close to 50k, but i do not care.
Range of motion and muscle suppleness is key for me. The key points that were worked on that released me were these
Illiacus
Psoas (the full length of it...not just 1 area and mine is very long)
gluteus/medius-minimus
muscle behind the knee (forgot the name)
***These are the ones that brought me to neutral before my very eyes
then pec minor
pec major
muscle under armpits
**i was think..."what the hell is this for?" the guy has lost his marbles....
but when this was done my foreward head and round shoulders was gone...
I was so lordotic that i NEVER in MY LIFE could put my heels to the wall, butt, low back, shoulders and head (and i have tried a million times)....i can do it no problem now...
Also i arrived at 5'9" and left at alomost 5'10"....
I figure if i keep going back i can get to 6'4"....LOL
*** I do not know if Al is for you, but i witnessed 10 tables full of people all day long.....pro athletes.....regular folks...people in wheelchairs..doctors who had bad backs were there too.....dentists also....I also saw him woirk on man with painful hernia...he could not get rid of the hernia, but the man walked out pain free because he was able to release the surrounding muscles....
Also Al lets you feel his PSOAS.....which when i got there was hurting him a little from being on a TV show and bent over....i could literally reach in 4-5".....mine i think i could get in 1/2" before we started
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Tom
Aug 2, 2008 - 12:44PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Paul: please keep us informed of your progress - that's amazing! One question though... since you were in such pain before you went to see Al, how did you manage to get there (driving, etc)? I have constant pain 7/24, but it's the worst when I sit/drive. I can only sit in one place for 5-10 min before the pain gets real bad. Then I have to stand or lay down & the routine goes on & on. Maybe Al will take his show on the road... I know there are many satellite sites but if I'm gonna test out the robot, it's gonna be with the inventor :)
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paul
Aug 2, 2008 - 1:35PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Al does not take his show on the road usually. I asked. He has a tremendously busy practicew which estimate sees around 50-70 people in a day. (not all backs)
I got there by driving. I have been chronic for 4.5 years and had gotten from a 7-9 pain level (1st 3 years)...to around a 3-5 pain level.
I am pigheaded and will never not drive because i am afraid to create a neuro-association with anything i do and back pain.
I also knew that it was worth the extra pain to see him.
Here is what i have done:
1) PT 8 times for minimum 6 weeks (NO RELIEF)
2) Chiropractors - 11 different ones (NO RELIEF)
3) Massage Therapists - 7 different ones (A LITTLE RELIEF...none lasting)
4) Rolfer - no relief except he gave me 1 excercise that took my leg pain away
5) Surgery - NO RELIEF (laminectomy)
6) ESI - 3 sets of 3 (NO RELIEF)
7) Accupuncture - (NO RELIEF)
8) Oral Steroids - NO RELEIF
9) LTBP - Some relief
10) CHEK Practitioner - some reief
11) Neuro Muscular Therapist - Some relief
12) Inversion - some relief
13) Losing weight - some relief
14) Trigger Point Therapy (foam roller and TP kit) - some relief but never focused enough
15) Al Meilus - 1st time in 20 years i have NO PAIN.....(after the 24 hr drive my calf is tight......will break it up with robot when i unpack it)
***after 4 hours on robot i could kick over my head....(prior i could not lift my leg to my waist
Doctors i have seen - 3 PCPS, 3 Neuro's, 3 Orthos, 2 Pain Management Docs.......all baffled......Some wanted to operate....did have a synovial cyst removed...
I can now work again....2 years i could not even work.....
I am powerfullu built so i think i will have to stay on this because my muscle are going to continue to try to over power my pelvis and SI joint until i get them supple for good......
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Weight Training Paul
Aug 2, 2008 - 5:00PM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi Paul
Good job on putting up a long reply, it was a good read, I'm sure everyone appreciates it
Sounds like you've been though a lot over years to say the least mate and you've spend massive amounts of money
If only you had known about Al years ago, he would have saved you a lot trouble
Please do report back about the portable robot and how you get on
WTP
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Lak
Aug 20, 2008 - 8:59AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Hi Paul,
Would you be so kind to update us all on how things are going with the portable robot. Is it proving to be as useful as the robot used by Al at his clinic?
Also does Al have a fixed price list or does it depend on individual cases?
I am thinking of visiting Al within the next few months and would like to gather as much information as possible before flying out from the UK.
Thanks Paul, appreciate any feedback you can provide.
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Paul
Aug 20, 2008 - 11:45AM
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Lak-
i stopped giving feedback on Al because Steve from this site told me not to promote other treatments (which i wasn't but simply sayng many times it is a combination of things.)
My right side pain and leg pain of 4 years is gone for 6 weeks now ......
I am tender on my left side which i believe is due to it not being in the right place for 4 years.
I have no idea on prices.
I am back to lifting 3x per week (much smarter as to not create imbalances)
I want to run but i am waiting until i get my bodyweight under 190 pounds from 215 pounds....
I believe i will be 95-100% in under 3 months...
right now i am roughly 80-90%.....no major flare ups....
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Lak
*PREVIOUS POST*
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Re: Don't need surgery!!
Thanks Paul for the update, would it be possible if i can send you a private email to discuss further?
Thanks,
Lak
