Manus Sinistra
This is a Lecture series organised by students of osteopathy. a good place for input that is sometimes quite different...
Mon. 12/05/2014 - Bevis Nathan
Mr Nathan is an osteopath by education, but has developed his practice very much towards working with subconscious influences on physical well-being, such as traumata and mental health issues. The lecture he gave was very much interactive, with him getting every one of us to observe our physical perceptions whilst he was working with one of our colleagues in front. Essentially, perceptions experienced during such episodes of increased awareness can be seen as reflections of autonomic activity. With much of the effects of trauma being mediated via the ANS, focusing awareness on such perceptions will reciprocally access the ANS state, especially the brainstem and amygdala (the latter increasingly when emotions are involved). Through accessing such autonomic memory in a controlled and guided setting, a therapeutic effect is hoped to result. Importantly, this approach requires a lot of sensitivity on part of the practitioner, as the patient needs to to be prepared for a potential recapitulation of traumatic events and since the key to therapy seems to lie in 'dipping' into such experience rather than having a full-blown catharsis. This talk left me quite exhausted and reflecting upon the role of the ANS in treatment. I was aware of the concept of the actively perceptive patient before (as opposed to the passive, half-asleep type), but highlighting this link to autonomic function helped me a lot with conceptualising the idea behind it. As I was treating a patient in clinic today, I employed a few myofascial release and eventually even cranial techniques, asking to monitor the patient 'what it feels like'. 'Feels OK', he said, thus making it clear to me the hard way that patients need a bit of educating as well, before they are able or willing to engage in some apparently more esoteric approaches. After a while, however, the patient offered a little more information by himself: I was getting more aware of his left side. That again, was leaving me a little helpless, not knowing how to interpret that. I am very grateful to Mr Nathan, though, for demonstrating the value of working on this level. In the future, with other aspects of practice becoming a little more established, I am hoping to revisit it again in more depth. But even so, I have certainly acquired a few simple tools yesterday with which to address autonomic function. Wed. 29/01/2014 - Molly Clarke The health of the body's fluid dynamics being one of the primary tenets of osteopathy, inviting Mrs Clarke was a great move of the Manus team. Finally someone, who can be deemed an expert on the 'fluid-level'. Mrs Clarke's talk was centred around a rather extensive theoretical introduction to the lymphatic system, which I personally thought was a good recap regarding its anatomy and function. Importantly, she highlighted what can happen to the lymphatics in disease. Secondly, she demonstrated a few techniques on a student. What I really liked about the techniques was how gentle they looked. Her actions really seemed to be informed by a high level of palpatory awareness. Learning techniques just by wathcing them being performed is, however, hard. In particular when the demonstration is such a short one. However, this talk definitely served to make me more aware of the fluid level again and I will certainly pay more attention to that in clinic. Thur. 23/01/2014 - Robert Lever
Yet another book-selling speaking at Manus? Well, yes, but fortunately they all have something to say and as osteopaths you can expect a high level of passion from then. This was the case here, too, with Mr L making a convincing case for his up-dated analysis of osteopathic ideas in the light of a wide range of research. This synthesis of osteopathic concepts and, say, insights from quantum mechanics or cytology largely made sense. However, my objection - as often before when I heard a speaker apply results from apparently unrelated fields to osteopathy - would have been that all this evidence is just superimposed to osteopathic practice; collected and made fit what we do anyway. Mr L's argument against such an objection would have been that evidence is not always necessary to support subjective experience. Even that sometimes the exaggerated seeking of evidence for any kind of phenomena may lead us to negate the singularity and/or complexity of many phenomena. Having said that, I have rarely heard from evidence which actually changed what osteopaths do. Can that be a coincidence? It would mean that osteopathy was nearly complete at its conception. Undoubtedly, it is great that there are scientists whose theories suit what osteopaths have felt for over a hundred years. Concepts of holism, the osteopathic emphasis on biopsychosocial context and the claim that in living systems everything is reciprocally interrelated are no longer unique to osteopathy. In fact, they have never been. I feel that it is only in contrast to allopathic medicine - which we love to emphasise for some unknown reason - that osteopathic theory seems aberrant and makes us feel misunderstood. But who said that traditional medicine has to be our reference? There are, undeniably, very few tendencies in society which take systems-dynamic thinking into consideration and, probably because of their complexity, such theories are unsuitable to explain osteopathy to the wider public. They may, however, serve us osteopaths as a theoretical framework for our subjective experience, provide a system of reference for perception and intervention. Tue. 23/10/2013 - Lady Audrey Percival
Occasionally, these Manus talks leave you quite inspired. Today this was certainly the case. Lady Percival was speaking to us about osteopathic care of the elderly. This very British way of announcing a speaker as a Lady was more than justified for someone who herself graduated from the BSO in 1950. Within seconds of talking she had captured her audience with wit and quick thinking. The fact that she indeed looked like quite a senior lady herself, with her chequered green skirt and frail greyish hair, and the loudspeakers which somehow made her voice sound like in a BBC broadcast from before the war, only added to her charisma. You couldn't help but feel intrigued by so much energy and worldly wisdom. In working with the elderly the rules change. Expectations of the patient and the role of the practitioner are completely different. There were some insightful comments Lady Percival made about how a real interest in the patient is expressed through a way of acting rather than sterile 'patient management'. Confidence in your abilities is just as fundamental as the feeling of being respected and cared for. The approach Lady Percival took in this talk was to open our eyes to the importance of fundamental ways and manners of interaction with aged patients. She reflected on their role in society, their perception of the Self, what it means to grow old and lonely. This talk was not about osteopathic techniques, but rather about osteopathic principles applied to a person and to everything that affects the person. Holistic in the truest possible sense, based on nothing more and nothing less than an attitude of simple kindness. 'When you get old you become progressively insecure and a feeling of worthlessness may develop.' I have thought about what it means to get old. And I have worked with old people before in South America. But the perspective of someone who is quite - my apologies - old herself, has treated elderly patients for decades and is still very much capable of an intelligent analysis - that was impressive. From her perspective she spoke to us as young professionals, demonstrated the beauty of caring for people and pointed out the responsibility that comes with it. At the end, when her voice grew more and more quite and the Manus-girl went up to change the batteries of her microphone, she cried out: 'That is the answer! Fit them all with new batteries!' I love Britain for things like that. Tue. 08/10/2013 - Miriam Elkan Being herself both an osteopath and a naturopath, Mrs Elkan argued that the two should not actually be considered as separate health care systems at all. I must admit that I did not have a clear picture of what naturopathy actually meant - apart from the obvious notion that ills are to be cured by natural remedies, including changes in diet, use of hydrotherapy etc. Hence, I was curious to know what Mrs Elkan would have to teach us. Unfortunately, the insights she shared with us did not go much beyond common sense paired with (in this case even a rather basic) physiological understanding. The lecture was basically confined to highlighting the importance of balanced nutrition and adequate hydration - nothing that I found surprising or that I wouldn't have considered 'osteopathic' beforehand. Insofar Mrs Elkan was probably right: osteopathy is both manual treatment and consideration of environmental factors. (A historic consideration of this statement should prove very fruitful.) I am sure teachings in modern-day naturopathy are usually much more complex than that. In particular when applied to individual cases expedient nutritional advice can be as powerful as any pharmacological treatment. The depth of this talk, however, I found very much disappointing. Tue. 24/10/2013 - John Lewis What would be more appropriate start of the final year of your osteopathic studies than a return to the life and work of the founder A. T. Still? Few people have studied his legacy so intensively as Mr Lewis has. He spent years digging in archives in the states, trying to puzzle together his own account of A. T. Still. The result has just been published as a book: 'From the dry bone to the living man'. Having himself spent some time sitting next to the grave of Dr Still, this title can be taken quite literally, I reckon. The main message of the talk was: Go back to the original texts - this is what our practice should be based on. I appreciated that whilst saying so, Mr Lewis by no means demanded any form of Still-worship from his audience. All he said was that this man had visions and that even today they can provide the basis of a valid and very complete model of health care. Of course there have been major scientific advancements. But even after consideration of all those, the principles of Dr Still's philosophy remain true. That is what, according to Mr Lewis, A. T. Still wanted osteopathy to be understood as: A philosophy. To explore this philosophy Mr Lewis looked at how A. T. Still came to be what he finally was. He tried to trace all the different influences that have shaped Still and thus the osteopathic philosophy; Amongst them figure Still's contact with Native Americans and the spiritual world. But also, importantly, his unconditional scientific rigor. Trying and testing his hypothesis on the patient was paramount for Still. Often before during my studies of osteopathy, I came to think that indeed by reconciling with some of the less tangible elements of human knowledge - things that can't be 'RCT-ed' - we can achieve a more complete understanding of the human being and his functions. In the end it is more than just hard facts that render us human. |
The cover of an 'old' book of Mr Nathan - before the time he strated looking into trauma etc., all of which is based on very recent research.
VIDEO Mr Nathan in action? Here you go. Just copy and paste this link to see him talk about resolving trauma symptoms: <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/29010156" width="500" height="281" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> What a lovely book cover? The question arises: What do osteopathy and Pink Floyd have in common? I am sure there are links: the experimental quest of trial and error developing into a whole-body experience, with everybody indulging in what they feel, nobody's watching whilst you do what you have to do, there is no right or wrong, it all leads on to an inertly complete creation of insight, compassion and unlimited fervour...
And why now did the author choose the cover? He was simply unaware of it being the cover of a Pink Floyd LP - 0/10 coolness points for you. |