Without these individuals who have been willing and enthusiastic about working with ABR during the last 17 years, ABR would not have entered into existence and would not have developed to the most effective means of addressing brain injury in the world today.  There is no laboratory where ABR is tested – far away from any patients.  There are no biopsies, MRI’s, or Ultra Sound tests fuelling ABR development.

ABR development has happened 100% in the field and this makes it specifically viable as a grass roots movement.

Especially in a world that is so dominated by the modern scientific methods, and the “evidence based” industrial medicine, it is important to remember how necessary the “Hands On” and “Real Life” evaluation of any phenomena is in order to attain the essential information for creating and developing anything new for addressing real life problems.

A cell culture or biopsy, an MRI or CT scanning can never give any information about how a child or an adult with severe muscular skeletal problems can improve, evolve or develop.  For this it is important to go directly to the individuals themselves and do an in-depth and as thorough an evaluation as possible.

We as human beings have amazing sensory abilities:  sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste – but more that the famous five we learned about in school – we have the sense of movement, we have proprioception, interoception, exteroception, nocioception – we can sense a thought, we understand speech, we feel warmth – our senses are amazingly rich and manifold!  How is it possible that mankind has gone so far astray, as to think that any invented apparatus for measuring some of the electrical activity in the brain or some device that is dependant upon magnetic resonance or an ultra sound light spectrum can tell us information that is more important that all we can gather ourselves through our own observation and thinking?  We can of course glean additional information through the use of such devices, but technical devices and laboratories cannot take the place of what the information can gain through our own sensory based facilities for observation.

It is here that ABR developed it’s own foundation.  Where parents and other affected individuals are willing to take the time, observe together with the ABR Assessors and Trainers – seek and find the limitations of the bodies of affected children and adults – and then to go further and to implement the techniques that have emerged based upon the observations of these weaknesses.  ABR Techniques have all developed as means of addressing “real life” and “hands on” tangible weaknesses and disorders.

Long years of application, trial and on the other hand the applied understanding of the emerging Fascia Based Research that has intensified globally during the last 20 years are then the practical results of the ABR Based Observational Methods.

The entire ABR Team is thankful for the hundreds of families around the world who are taking part in this new emerging science and understanding for addressing brain injury, cerebral palsy and other related disorders – based entirely upon observation and thinking and the application of the real-life ABR techniques evolving thereout.

 

Many families have asked about ABR and diet. Because ABR is about building small increments of health from the very basic level, it is of course important to include a sensible diet as one of the basic foundations of health building and health regeneration.

As described in the ABR assessments all parents should have attained the understanding that the special needs children have generalized metabolic and digestive weakness.  Therefore anything one can do to assist the digestion and metabolic system can relieve it of stress and help it to work better.

Below we will give some general guidelines.

Size and Consistency of the Food

If the child cannot chew well – and most of the Level III, Level IV and Level V children do not chew sufficiently – then it is always good to think about the size of the food pieces and whether the food should be pureed or not.  If the child cannot chew the food sufficiently, then the big pieces that land in his/her stomach turn into a problem for the child.  The digestive enzymes that are already in under-production cannot handle the big pieces.  In fact digestive enzymes are not meant to be able to digest big pieces – they can only work from the outside layers of the food.  Therefore large pieces will either stay in the stomach for a long time or they will pass the stomach as large pieces where they will be even more indigestible for the system.

Therefore – observe how your child eats and adjust the piece size or pureed state of the food accordingly.

Your ABR Team is always observing the condition of the jaw of your child and works on giving you appropriate exercises for jaw and palate strengthening.  Still, until the chewing capacity of the child has advanced enough, remember to take care and not give food in too large pieces.  If one would like the child to have some “chewing practice” regularly, then try with raisins or dried fruits and see how the child handles these.

Type of Food

In general it is best to buy food that is organic in quality and as little processed as possible.  This means “food” in its raw state:

• Fresh vegetables
• Fresh grains
• Fresh meats or fish
• Dairy Products (non-pasteurized if at all)

All of the above should be in as fresh a condition as possible and as little “altered” as possible – through being treated or industrialized or refined.  It is important to avoid and eliminate:

• Processed foods and frozen foods
• Sugars – especially refined white sugar – but in any case – use sugar with discression – (especially with children with epilepsy eliminate sugar all together.)
• Already prepared foods such as frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, chips, etc.
• All colas and soft drinks, sweet sugary drinks

In addition we recommend that parents also eliminate grains that have gluten in them and milk products.  Children with weak metabolic systems all seem to thrive much better when casein and gluten are taken out of their diet.

Food Combining

Due to the fact that the children do not have a very robust digestive activity, it is a great help to reduce the types of foods that a child receives at one meal. The different types of foods require different enzymes for digestion, and if one gives the child both proteins and carbohydrates during one meal, such a meal will not be so easy for the child to digest.

Therefore if one wants to make the meals easier for the child to digest then one suggestion is to build each meal around vegetables.

The vegetables should be steamed lightly and not over cooked until they are in a soft or mushy state.  Broccoli and cauliflower may be crisp.  When the “bright green” colour appears, then most of the green vegetables are sufficiently cooked.

With the steamed vegetable base of a meal, one can then add either grains such as rice or millet or buckwheat – or some fish or meat.

One can successfully use nut-butters like cashew or almond butter – mixing it with grains or vegetables for a nutritious meal.  Or add fresh pressed flax seed oil.

In respect to food combining it is most important to try to avoid mixing proteins with carbohydrates.  Fruits can be given separately of both protein and carbohydrates.

Fats

Coconut oil has proven to be a very highly nutritious and high-grade oil.  All children should use it.

Children with epilepsy should try to eliminate all fats except for coconut oil.  This has eliminated seizures all together in several children with epilepsy.  In some cases the children can also tolerate “ghee” or “clarified butter”.

All oils should be non-hydrogenated and high grade.  It is always good to give the child high grade flax seed oil each day – as fresh as possible, buy in small bottles and buy and store cold.  Give this oil non-cooked – on the food or in vegetables.

Dairy Products

There are many arguments for the reduction or elimination of milk and dairy products from the diet of children with special needs.  If one does chose to maintain dairy products in the diet, then try to find farm fresh organic milk or yoghurt products. Yoghurt products – if not over processed are sometimes more tolerable than milk itself.

Sheep and goat’s milk products – if fresh from the farm are easier to digest than cow milk products.

Gluten Free

Again, many parents of special needs children have chosen to give them a gluten free diet.  Gluten is difficult to digest. For children with special needs gluten can be a poison and prevent their further development and improvement.  Gluten free grains are:

• Rice
• Millet
• Buckwheat
• Amaranth
• Quinoa

Grains with smaller amounts of gluten that some children tolerate are:

• Rye – questionable tolerance
• Oats

For children with epilepsy it is highly recommended to go over to both a dairy, gluten and sugar free diet.  This is a first step on helping to control seizures through dietary measures.

The above contains highly general guidelines that can be followed when trying to improve the diet of the child.  More specific measures can of course be adopted.

Non- Dairy Drinks

One can prepare drinks for children using coconut water and coconut milk. If one wishes to add more fat and protein, then mix in some almond or cashew butter.  One can also add turmeric or ginger (carefully).  Turmeric needs to be simmered lightly for 20 minutes.

Other Highly Important Foods

Research has shown that children with brain injury have high levels of inflammation in the tissues. This can help to explain the tissue degeneration.

Several spices are highly anti-inflammatory and should be added to food daily.  We recommend:

• Turmeric – cooked with grains or vegetables or made into Golden Milk
• Rosemary
• Ginger
• Cloves

These can be added to the foods on a daily basis. But also use:

1. Cinnamon
2. Jamaican allspice
3. Oregano
4. Marjoram
5. Sage
6. Thyme
7. Gourmet Italian spice

Raw Food Sweets

If one wants to create highly nutritious sweets for the children then try the following:

• 250 grams walnuts
• 250 grams dates
• 250 grams shredded coconut

Mix the above in a food processor until fine.  Then melt together and add:

• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut cream
• 2 tablespoons cocoa butter

Mix together.  Form into balls.  Cool in refrigerator a few hours.

Water Intake

Essential for the success of your ABR work is the water intake.  We find out time and time again that especially the more severe children are severely dehydrated.  They simply do not want to drink. But one needs to ask oneself:  “Does the desert crave rain?”

When they do not drink then the tissues cannot hydrate.  When the tissues cannot hydrate – then they become even more depleted and more fused together.  It becomes a vicious cycle. The child does not get thirsty and crave water, because most of his body has gotten used to a low supply of liquid.

Parents need to understand the seriousness of this issue and work hard to increase the water consumption.

• If necessary, use a syringe to get water in
• One can add some “taste” to the water – a little bit of apple juice or coconut water.  It is easier for the child to swallow when the water tastes of something.  The stomach reacts to tastes and creates a downward movement making it easier for the child to swallow.
• One can try to find a natural thickener for the water – avoid conventional corn thickener due to the probability of it being a GMO product.

By working with ABR one is working on replenishing the fluid intake to the tissues.  But of course this cannot happen, if the child is not given a high supply of fluid – basically water.

Therefore a sufficiently high intake of water is a central priority.

On the other hand try not to give much water when eating meals – unless it is part of a soup or sauce.  Especially important when eating carbohydrates as liquids dilute the stomach enzymes needed for food digestion.

If you have questions or comments, please contact us.

Diane Vincentz

TheraTogs usage is advantageous for persons with muscular skeletal or sensory impairments. Improvements while wearing a TheraTogs system are evident both immediately through the fitting and donning as well as long term through continuous usage. More important for the user however are the effects accumulated through term usage.

Instantaneous Usage Advantages:

When donning the TheraTogs the user will experience:

1. Immediate improvement in trunk and spine stability through the attainment of an internal trunk pre-stress
2. Immediate improvements in posture and postural competence
3. Immediate improvements in skeletal alignment through garment and strapping applications
4. Functional weight bearing improvements
5. Improvements in counter balancing
6. Improvements in limb functioning

The first three above outlined advantages allow for reduction of both sensory and energy costly muscular “over-drive” in weak and stiff (spastic) individuals. The magnitude of the importance of a reduction of the “over-drive” for a person with motor impairments can be understood when considering the following:

• It has been shown that – in comparison to a healthy individual – a walking individual with cerebral palsy has a three to five times higher energy expenditure for performing an equal task.  This reveals that the reliance upon “muscular overdrive” for performing tasks in an individual with cerebral palsy is an energy expensive endeavor. The question then arises: With such a high energy expenditure, how can the patient gain sufficient energy resource availability which would allow him able to “invest” in the strengthening and rehabilitation of weak tissues and in tissue reconstruction?

TheraTogs usage – through reducing the reliance on muscular overdrive – contributes to muscular relaxation, which in turn allows for the needed biomechanical remodeling and improvement.

• It has been shown that human tissues remodel based upon force transfer and bio-mechanical loading. Poor skeletal alignment in patients with muscular-skeletal impairments presents itself as a self-sustaining vicious cycle that is difficult or impossible to overcome. Faulty mechanical loading through weight bearing activities serves to promote further modeling of tissues following the preferred – though faulty – stress transfer lines  – contractures and scoliosis being only a few of the later and more profound outcomes.

Through improving the mechanical loading properties and providing new preferred pathways the TheraTogs is able to promote a more biomechanically sound tissue remodeling for the user. This has a long-term effect upon both preventing joint degeneration, actually improving the condition of weakened joints, and improving faulty muscular skeletal alignment.

• At the same time a person with cerebral palsy or other muscular skeletal disorders must constantly over engage the usage of the central nervous system when performing motor functions – meaning – that these individuals have little or no “auto-pilot” mode of motor function.

Through achieving a heightened trunk stability, it becomes possible for the patient to begin to rely on the “auto-pilot” functioning that is normally present in the healthy person who possesses trunk and core strength and stability. This then frees up the central nervous system for other activities – both emotional and cognitive.

Here we can observe both immediate improvements and improvement over time in emotional and cognitive development of users.

• The attained improved alignment and posture is sending a more normalized proprioceptive “feedback” to the central nervous system on a continuous basis, allowing for an improved muscular skeletal integration within the CNS.

The user is able to emerge from the sensory chaos that impaired structure is imposing upon his sensory system and to gain an improved organization of the proprioceptive base – both for further development of both his motor functions and the emotional and cognitive functions as described in 3 above.

Gains in Function

The TheraTogs provides the trunk with support and alignment of the pelvis and ribcage – improving trunk and core stability. This is achieved through a unique fabric design.  The fabric works in such a way as to provide a healthy “pre-stress” to the tissues that does not in any way disrupt the healthy micro-vascularization of the tissues.

Ordinary compressional garments have been shown to disrupt the micro-vascularizational flow, which then in turn has a negative effect upon tissue development and tissue remodeling.

The TheraTogs fabric construction integrates into the tissue system of the body of the user. As it is worn directly on the skin, the specialized foam construction grips to the external layers of the connective tissues and fascia reaching even the fascia-profound level at the muscular transition. This grip to the skin quality – instead of inhibiting tissue health and “squeezing the tissues” works to improve tissue health.

When donning the garment one first adjusts the pelvis and rib cage manually and thereafter stabilizes the improved position utilizing the garment. This has an immediate and a long-term effect upon function.

A more stable core allows for improvements in:

–      Head and neck control

–      Hand and arm usage and coordination

–      Mini – adjustments and counter balancing movements important for all attempts of the user to find and maintain the upright position.

–      Stabilization of the shoulder girdle with respect to the pelvic girdle

–      Leg positioning in respect to the pelvis

–      Improvements in walking function

–      Etc.

Users experience a much greater ease of motor function. Many children are suddenly able to “do things” they could not or did not do without the TheraTogs. The repertoire increases significantly which in turn gives the child/adult a positive emotional feedback, strengthens the user’s motivation and confidence for additional motor exploration. Counter balancing and micro movement adjustments become more readily available with TheraTogs usage showing us that it is not the central nervous system alone that is responsible for the motor impairment but that the ensuing trunk weakness plays a great role in impairment expression.

Further TheraTogs advantages:

• Proper usage implies that the garment and strapping is regularly adjusted to follow the users improvements in structure and function.  The TheraTogs is not a “fixed” garment but evolves along with the structural and functional development and improvements of the user.
• The garment is backed with special foam that clings to and in effect merges with the skin. This means that the garment does not slide over the users body when the user moves, but it is fully integrated into the users dynamic movements and positional changes through a connection to the muscles and deep fascia layers.
• The garment provides stability but does not impair the users own movements.  This is a great advantage as many orthotics provide stability but significantly limit movement.  Limitation of movement as well as a compressional level that reduces the micro-vascularization has been shown to further promote structural degeneration and reduce improvement potential.
• The physical therapist can also use a variety of strapping applications during the physical therapy sessions to promote various activities in the user.

Diane Vincentz