How the Three Wise Men Heal the Biotensegrity Tower

After the Biotensegrity Interest Group IX meeting had come to an end Leonid Blyum raised his proverbial pointer finger towards the ceiling and said:

“Diane, tomorrow morning we shall ask Steve whether we can try to “heal” his Biotensegrity Tower with the ABR wraps!”

Whether this got Leonid out of bed earlier than usual is not sure, but in any case we were filming the short interviews with Steve and Graham by around 10:30.

Afterwards we filmed the video below where one can clearly see how the mechanically weakened Biotensegrity Tower obtains a much improved tensional uniformity when an ABR Wrap is added in a clever manner.

We hope you enjoy seeing this demonstration that illustrates how an ABR Biotensegrity Applied Wrap can help to reinstate tensional uniformity in children and adults whose structures have weakened, are sinking, folding or buckling – just as Steve’s Model made by Bruce Hamilton does when one loosens the tension slightly.

This improved tensional uniformity then leads to improvements at the level of the body to which it is applied as well as having a global effect.  We will write more about this in another post!

In addition the video gives a small taste of the coming Christmas Holiday!

 

 

 

 

The Last ABR Assessment in 2017 – So much to tell!

 

The last months have been extremely full for our team, and there is so much to write about, but before I start to add all the half written posts that are waiting to be published, our last story of the season must be told.

This evening when we were ready to hold the last ABR Assessment for 2017 the Team was very tired after many weeks of holding courses back to back – and in no case were we ready for such an amazing surprise. A 25 year old young man from Austria named Christian  and who started with ABR in March 2017 drove his wheel chair through the door to our seminar room in Reichenau a. d. Rax.

We knew Christian as a generally very fused and stiff young man with only minimal independent movements and bodily mobility. He can drive his own wheel chair by employing a joystick and can talk, but it was very difficult to understand him. He is however a very engaged young person and works in an organisation that promotes the interests of handicapped people in Austria.

When he entered the room, it was clear that an enormous development had occurred. One could see that his face was much more relaxed and his eyes sparkled with excitement.

Before we could even sit down together, he and his parents began to tell about all the changes he had made in the last few months since we last met in June 2017. The list was long – we took an hour to gather all of it and they were not finished telling the story. But a good portion of it is below:

– Hand usage – he now stretches ou this arm and grasps the hand when he “shakes” hands – not only offering a stiff unmoveable hand at a close range to his body.
– He now easily drinks out of a big glass and does not spill anything
– He opens bottles alone and can drink from a bottle.
– Independent eating.
– There is a very difficult clasp that he has learnt how to open.
– At work, he sets the table.
– At his workplace, they often give him more complex tasks to do on his own.
– They now send him shopping at work, and he goes alone and seeks independence
– He can use the ATM machine for getting cash on his own.
– He is extremely motivated and now wants to do everything himself. Refuses help even when it takes much longer to do things his way!
– Takes off his jacket and can put it on.  More independence when dressing.
– Has learned to open and close zippers.
– Shaves, washes and brushes his teeth alone.
– He figured out himself how to propel his wheel chair alone manually – not using the joystick. Then he figured out how to use his upper body and not only the arms alone so that each push propels him much further along.
– He can now walk with his walker without assistance – slowly albeit but never the less!
– It is much easier for him to read.
– His speech is not only much clearer and easy to understand, but he uses more words and composes more complex sentences.
– His facial mimics expression has expanded and blossomed.
– He can now lie relaxed on his front – it was not possible for him to be on his front before due to stiffness.
– Put all fingers together in front of his body.
– Fold the hands together easily.
– He can sit on his own without support.
– He can play with a ball and do other activities when sitting freely.

And a big hug with Johannes was also possible!

At the Assessment we could also observe that his body was beginning to become much softer and less stiff. In addition one could see:

– Waist divisions appearing allowing for waist mobility
– Hip releases allowing for leg movement in the pelvis
– Divisions within his thorax allowing for a huge improvement in the respiration.
– General relaxation
– Improved shoulder and finger mobility
– Improved toe, feet and leg relaxation
– Neck relaxation allowing for improved head mobility

The parents commented that before they started with ABR, he had not improved in any function in years and that it is also the expectation for severe young people with cerebral palsy like himself, that he would simply get worse with age and time. They are also very surprised how much he has changed.

This does not mean that there is not a great deal that can still be achieved or needs to be worked on with ABR Applications, but it is wonderful to see that a 25 year old young man with a level IV Cerebral Palsy can make such fantastic improvements in the ABR program in such a short time span.

Thank you Christian for letting us share your story!

“As Good As Being Yours”

As Good as Being Yours

 Those of you Dear Readers who have been applying ABR Techniques with your children or your own selves for many months or years, may from time to time have to explain the variety of ABR Techniques to other family members, friends or visitors. Not everyone can immediately find the words to be able to introduce others to the meaningfulness of the unique ABR work.

The newest Power Wraps, which we at ABR Denmark have been eagerly experimenting with for the last few years for example, could pose a certain difficulty in explanation. Although this need not be the case, when today the Internet is full of the most amazing images of women who wrap themselves from head to toe as if they were preparing for a Living Egyptian Ceremonial Mummification!

 

No one seems to find anything strange about these rather odd looking techniques because one silently accepts that a woman would do anything when chasing youthfulness or beauty – and the “Before and After” photos of results achieved are surely very convincing! These type of beauty and wellness wraps are gaining in high acclaim and women and men alike are prepared to spend anywhere from 200 to 400 Euro and upwards to have their body remodelled through these weight-loss, cellulite diminishing, wrinkle erasing wrapping techniques. One hour of sweating with a wrap and clay, coconut oil or other substances and your body could be reborn! – Yes, only one hour of sweating with wraps.

Should it be surprising? Body wrapping in various forms is a civilisation old technique. One of the most well known and – equally well-forgotten being the “baby swaddling”.

Baby swaddling was done through out the world by rich and poor in the so called “primitive” and civilised peoples alike – until that moment when the microscope-based medicine took over in the Western World. Any reason for swaddling a baby could not be found under a microscope or in any of the other more sophisticated diagnostic tools being used today such as MRI’s, CAT Scanning, blood tests, tissue biopsy’s, gene analysis, etc. All of these modern forms of diagnosis can show nothing about the importance of baby swaddling!

The same will of course be true for an ABR based Power Wrap.

We will talk about baby swaddling in a future post, but what is important about our present ABR wraps?

The ABR Team – who even takes the time to thoroughly observe and characterize the bodies of the weakened individuals in the ABR program, have been continuously been struck by several observations. Instead of having a body that gives a uniform response to the loads coming to it through the interactions with the environment – the body of a CP individual elicits a variety of responses – none of which are characteristic of the healthy individual. One can typically observe the following:

Sinking

Bulging

Folding

Buckling under

Twisting and

Sliding

None of these responses are however representative of the healthy individual. The healthy individual has a uniform response to loads coming from without – a response that could be called an internal “Bio-Tensegral” response to external motion or loading.

 
CP Child: Non-Uniform Response – buckling, sinking, chest and abdominal fold – all as a response to the loads of the child’s own body.  

Healthy Child: Uniform Response – Even extra loads from the top do not cause any sinking, twisting or buckling under.

 

The CP child however exhibits all of these:  sinking, folding, buckling under and twisting. This is a part and parcel of the life of a CP child in respect to his own body and own body experience and reactions.

The “own body experience” is more popularly termed our “proprioception”. This is the word used for ones internal body perception with respect to movement and spatial arrangement. What do we have as organs of our movement perception? We have “receptors” – and these receptors are anchored within our tendon/muscle system.

These are all the so-called “stretch-receptors” meaning that they are dependent upon tissues in our body coming into tension or being stretched. The tissue that is lengthened and brought into tension is normally a tendon. When the tendons are stretched through movement, then the neurons fire and send information back to our central nervous system. But on the other hand, if there is no tension – if the body reacts through bulging, sinking and buckling under –then this means that there is a severe loss of information returning from the body to the central nervous system.

Non-uniformity of response means that the area of the body is excluded from the body map and cannot perform any proprioceptive feedback.

What does an ABR Power Wrap do? It seriously reduces all of the above-described non-uniform reactions to loads coming to the body or to the body area. One does not re-position the foot when wrapping, but a well-performed wrap of the foot provides uniformity of response to the area being wrapped. A well-performed wrap of the hand provides tensional uniformity to an excluded hand with the typical horizontal fold or derailed wrist.

This tensional uniformity then ensures that the area begins to return the bodies proprioceptive system.

In addition the wrap serves to “re-connect” the “dis-connected” areas to more stable body areas.

Tensional uniformity and uniformity of response means that the excluded area can be re- integrated into the proprioceptive organisation of the body.

A return to the body map of an excluded body area has enormous consequences, which we are now seeing as:

  • Reduction of spasticity
  • Improved automatic responses of the feet and legs to loading
  • Improved weight bearing responses
  • Improved trunk stability
  • Reduction of scoliosis
  • Spine development
  • Spine stability
  • Reduction of hip pains

The list of improvements being seen with the Power Wrap usage is long! Above is only a partial list. The biggest impediment is of course the time needed to put a wrap on.

We show photos below of the foot to leg development of a child who used the wraps for a few months. During the time period, we were employing a much simpler and less effective wrap in compared to our new wraps set-ups – and still one could see the fantastic effects!

November 2014 – The girl’s feet do not take any weight. There is no load transfer through the feet. June 2016 – By this time the girl eagerly takes the weight on her feet.

Of course the improvements in trunk stability and head control were not coming from any of the simple foot wraps that we were using at that time – this came through other ABR Techniques – but the fact that she eagerly takes the weight on the feet – that the feet react spontaneously to the body loads – this was wrap work.

In spite of the time needed to put on the newest version of the wraps, the benefits now being seen are so obvious, that we can only encourage our parents to use the Power Wraps as much as possible.

Wear them during the day, at school, when sleeping – whenever it will work.

Yes, I know: if one puts them on for the school day, then one may need to answer questions from the teachers! Or see the raised eyebrows when one brings the child.

Why is it that teachers take the items below for granted? One would get no strange looks if one brings the child to school with any of the following:

 

It is only a matter of time until the newest ABR based “CP Fashion” hits the world. Be brave and add these wraps to your child’s wardrobe and selected outfits.

The benefits clearly outweigh the funny looks one might get.

And remember: When the area of the body being wrapped achieves a higher level of tensional uniformity, it returns to the body map. In addition the tensional uniformity of the area is the signal needed for those famous myo-fibroblasts to come out of the hibernation they go into when the tension is not present. They then begin to wake up and work hard on the tissue remodelling work! It is only a matter of time until the remodelling takes place allowing for improved structural integration.

The elements of the wrap provide the stability and tensional uniformity needed for a new internal mapping and tissue remodelling of the area. The achieved tensional uniformity is so well integrated  into the child’s body that it is:

“As Good As Being Yours”!