Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), Rhonda Clark, Don Miller
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000229
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00:01 Hello! Have you ever wondered what
00:03 we would be like if we didn't have a skeleton. 00:07 So we can say it is one of the most important things 00:10 in the body, it holds us so that we can do what we 00:14 have to do. 00:15 But there are things that can go wrong with the skeleton 00:18 both the muscular as well as the bony skeleton, 00:22 and we would like to talk about those in this program 00:25 so we hope you will join us. 00:47 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health 00:49 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute, 00:52 and now here is your host, Dr. Thrash. 00:56 Skeletal problems represent the commonest cause of 01:05 absenteeism from work, now if you consider all the 01:08 things that can go wrong with a person. 01:11 To have that as the principle thing that causes people to be 01:16 off from work, it shows it's importance to us. 01:20 Think about the fact that you know a lot of people who have 01:24 been not only days but weeks or months out of work 01:28 because of a certain problem that has to do with the 01:30 skeleton, either a knee, an ankle, a back, a shoulder, 01:34 an elbow, or a broken bone, these things are big things, 01:39 in our work today. 01:41 Now I would like to invite you to join me as we talk with 01:47 a guest that I have today, and that is Rhonda Clark. 01:51 Rhonda Clark is one of my colleagues at Uchee Pines 01:55 and she is going to be with us on the program today 01:57 and as I look at your equipment here, I wish I were the subject 02:03 for your demonstration, what are you going to show us today? 02:07 - I am going to be showing today a special massage technique, 02:10 and this is for those people who get those knots someplace 02:15 that just are killing them, and I hope that this will be 02:18 very helpful and beneficial. 02:19 - A knot right here, or a knot right here, and you can 02:25 show them how to release those knots. 02:27 - I can this is a massage technique that's known as a 02:30 trigger point release massage, and there are different ways of 02:32 doing the same type of massage, I'm just going to be 02:35 showing one today that I'm familiar with, and that I have 02:37 been the recipient of, with great relief. 02:40 - Very good, very good. - So I'm glad to share it. 02:42 - Tell us about it. 02:44 - All this uses is simple pressure, the use of pressure 02:48 very light pressure and increasing as this point 02:51 begins to release, and I have asked an assistant to come 02:57 and be my pretend patient. 02:58 This is a young woman who is one of our students in the 03:02 elementary school at Uchee Pines Institute, her name is 03:05 Arianna Hartsfield, we're so glad to have her here 03:08 with us today. 03:09 As I demonstrate here on Arianna's back, 03:14 we can have area's that become very tense and uncomfortable 03:18 in all parts of our neck and shoulders, really in any part 03:21 of our body, and so if you can have the person who is feeling 03:26 these pains, sit in a comfortable position, 03:29 and then look for those spots that they say are the 03:32 very sorest, so as you begin feeling and massaging 03:36 very gently. 03:37 You don't want to increase the spasm of the muscle, 03:40 find that spot where they say oh, that's the spot. 03:43 That is the spot that is the sorest, and hold light pressure, 03:47 the point is not to really dig into these sore places, 03:51 but to hold some light pressure that doesn't cause pain, 03:55 you want to help the muscle relax and not spasm up 03:57 more tightly, after a minute or so you will then increase the 04:02 pressure a bit on this spot, the same spot increasing the 04:07 pressure, holding again for another minute, 04:09 making sure that the patient doesn't feel pain, 04:12 and then again increasing the pressure even more deeply, 04:16 this will slowly begin releasing this point. 04:20 - Can you feel yourself the point releasing? 04:24 - Occasionally you can feel that point releasing, other times 04:28 you just go by what the person is telling you, 04:30 like ok, yeah that is releasing, and you will soon find they have 04:34 another sore spot very near by, so the next step goes 04:38 to the next sore spot. 04:40 Maybe it's down a little, and begin by holding light 04:43 pressure for thirty seconds to a minute, as they can tolerate 04:48 it without pain, increase the pressure, as they can tolerate 04:51 that without pain, increase again, and it's amazing 04:56 oh, that's not hurting so much. 04:58 And then to the next sore place, light pressure it first, 05:02 then increasing the pressure as they can tolerate it, 05:06 finally putting a great deal of pressure towards the end 05:09 to release that spot. 05:10 - You are looking for satellite sore spots as well as that 05:14 primary one. 05:15 - Absolutely! And in my own experience you can have twenty 05:20 sore places in a muscle that spasms, you can have several, 05:22 this isn't something that you can do very quickly, 05:25 it will take a period of time to get all of those sore places 05:27 released and as they release you may find you come back 05:30 to an area that you had previously been to, 05:32 doing this again, eventually this will help loosen up 05:36 that spasmed muscle, those knots are in there so tight 05:39 just through this gentle technique. 05:41 Towards the end then having just a regular type of massage 05:45 may feel very good, at first however it's important just to 05:48 release those sore spots, and you know Dr. Thrash, 05:51 this is something that you can do not only on a patient 05:53 as Ms. Hartsfield has helped me with, but this is something 05:56 that you can do on yourself thanks to some 05:58 innovative equipment. 06:00 - Good show up about that. 06:02 - I brought a couple of examples here with me 06:04 Now this is what's known as a shepherds hook, 06:07 this is a home made sample, just some pipe 06:10 that's been connected, and you will notice the important 06:13 piece of equipment is this, little plastic knob at the end. 06:16 This hook is used to reach over your own shoulder 06:20 and find your own sore places. 06:22 So for example Dr. Thrash if I had a sore spot 06:25 much of place that Arianna did, I could just find that 06:29 sorest place, put some pressure by pulling on the hook 06:33 and increase the pressure, and these Shepherd's hook's come 06:36 in all different shapes and sizes, sometimes they are called 06:39 acupressure tools, they come in different shapes, 06:44 little different kinds of knobs but all can be used in this 06:48 massage technique with great results. 06:51 I have certainly enjoyed it myself. 06:53 - It looks as if this one might be if you have a place where 06:58 you have an itch you can scratch that as well. 07:01 And I have found that people who have a back ache, 07:04 if you simply scratch the back just all over, that that will 07:09 often help a back ache and help a person to relax, 07:13 who is in trouble because they cannot relax. 07:17 - Yes! - Yes, well thank you so much, 07:19 I really appreciate this, I am thankful that we can get 07:23 this very simple technique mastered. 07:26 I have some pictures of skeletal problems that I would like to 07:30 show you, some of these are simple, and some are quite 07:35 serious, some require the work of a surgeon, 07:38 and some require only things that you can do. 07:42 This first one is called dupuytren's contracture 07:46 you will see the finger next to the small finger, 07:51 is pulled toward the palm, and if you look in the palm 07:56 you will see a thickened cord, that represents the 08:00 thickening of the tendon sheath in dupuytren's contracture. 08:06 If you will notice in the right hand, the right hand also has 08:11 that, if often starts with a little dimple at the base of 08:16 the finger and that may be the very first sign that you have 08:21 dupuytren's contracture. 08:23 There are things that you may do yourself, that if you start 08:28 early enough, you may be able to relax that 08:31 dupuytren's contracture. 08:33 Hot soaks can be very helpful, massage, a salt glow to the hand 08:42 really massaging diligently can be helpful, and if you prefer, 08:50 an ice massage or an ice soak of the hand for 20 minutes, 08:56 that can also be helpful. 08:58 As soon as the hot or cold treatment which ever you decide 09:03 is finished, then you must massage that tendon sheath 09:08 and try to stretch it out some, it can be a bit painful as you 09:13 really work on it diligently to try to get it to relax. 09:19 I have had several patients who have had told me 09:23 that they have been able to relax a dupuyen's contracture 09:27 by the application of heat, and perhaps a compress made of 09:32 something like an onion compress, or a golden seal 09:36 compress, or a comfrey compress, comfrey is an herb having 09:42 very good healing properties and some astringent properties 09:46 and that laid in the hand and a bandage put over it, 09:50 some wet comfrey leaves laid in the hand and a bandage 09:54 put over it, that can be very helpful for 09:57 dupuytren's contracture. 09:59 Ok, I have another picture I would like to show you 10:02 this is the trigger finger, now notice that there is a sheath 10:08 which is a number of lines and you see that toward the 10:13 end of the finger but also toward the palm end 10:17 of the finger, and then you will see the tendon which goes 10:21 in that sheath. 10:23 Now with dupuytren's contracture the sheath is what contracts 10:28 but in the trigger finger, the thing that causes the problem 10:34 is that the tendon itself gets a little bump on it, 10:38 and then the tendon cannot slide 10:43 into or out of that sheath. 10:47 The fact that this knob gets caught in the sheath makes it 10:54 so that the finger simply hangs there, so the finger is like 10:58 this and then when it finally releases from that tunnel 11:05 where it has been caught then it snaps outward in this way 11:11 that's called a trigger finger. 11:13 What can you do for that, well it's the same thing 11:16 that you did for the dupuytrens, either hot or cold, a comfrey 11:21 compress is very good, and after every treatment it is 11:25 massage of that area, in case of a trigger finger, 11:28 it is the swollen part that you can actually feel 11:32 on the tendon as you move the finger just a little bit. 11:36 Once in awhile the problem is father back in the hand, 11:41 sometimes it's in the finger itself, but to put pressure 11:48 on that spot for a long enough period of time, extending the 11:53 treatment for enough weeks or months to eventually 11:57 make it so that the tendon has... 12:00 you have massaged that little knob until it has resorbed 12:06 enough or flattened out enough that it will slide properly 12:12 through the tendon sheath. 12:14 I had such a trigger finger one time, and it was so that 12:19 every time I clenched my fist my finger would hang there, 12:27 by using this little technique I have finally gotten it so that 12:31 my finger no longer has that problem. 12:34 I've had several patients who have also through diligent... 12:37 if they have managed to avoid having an operation there 12:43 or continuing with the trigger finger. 12:46 Now the next picture that I will show you is also another 12:50 skeletal problem, and you will see that one knee is normal. 12:54 The left knee is normal, but the knee on the right 12:58 is quite swollen, there is fluid on the knee, and that fluid 13:06 will resorb by itself if you simply leave it alone. 13:12 This person has been kneeling as a carpet layer, on one knee, 13:18 doing carpet laying, and got a large swelling of the knee. 13:24 Do you have to have that fluid removed with a needle? 13:28 The answer is not usually, usually you can simply put 13:32 compresses, hot compresses, or cold compresses, and 13:36 compresses made of herbs, such as the comfrey that we 13:41 mentioned earlier has very good healing and astringent 13:45 qualities and can be very helpful, and it takes sometimes 13:49 a week or two or maybe three for all of the fluid to resorb 13:54 but unless there is a continuing problem, continuing trauma, 14:00 the person will eventually resorb that fluid and the knee 14:07 will be normal again. 14:08 Now the next picture that I have to show you is another 14:14 skeletal problem, and I would like you to see this one of the 14:18 vertebral bodies. 14:20 Notice the anatomy here of the vertebra, you see the bone 14:25 from above and the bone below, and then on the sides 14:29 two cup shaped structures that are called the 14:35 spinal ligaments and they hold the disk in place. 14:41 Now the disk goes by several names, it may be called the disk 14:47 but it may also be called the nucleus pulposus, 14:51 and the central portion here is called the annulus. 14:56 The annulus is semi-liquid and the other part, 15:02 the rest of the disk is a fibro-cartilage, 15:06 one of the few places where we have fibro-cartilage 15:09 that is cartilage and fibrous tissue in the same tissue. 15:14 Now that portion of the disk is not so likely to herniate 15:21 outward, but the part in the center is likely if the 15:28 structures on the sides become damaged or inflamed, 15:34 then the annulus can work it's way through the disk 15:43 and actually come out from around the spinal ligament 15:48 and that can cause a great deal of pain. 15:51 The pain is from the pressure of that semi-liquid part 15:57 sort of, as we might say squirting out through a weakened 16:02 part in the disk, and getting into a place where it 16:06 compresses a nerve. 16:08 Now we may look at that and say oh, all of a sudden he 16:12 bent over, picked up something heavy and he slipped a disk. 16:17 Well actually, we are not likely to have that kind of thing 16:21 happen suddenly without some prior warning, because the disk 16:26 itself must become diseased or inflamed in order for the 16:32 process to come to it's terminus in this way, 16:35 so what we can recommend then is if a person begins to have 16:42 back pain, that they take care of it at that point, 16:45 and not wait a long time. 16:47 So I have asked Dr. Don Miller if he will show us something 16:52 about the proper use of the back, this little exercise that 16:58 he will show you, will be very helpful to you. 17:00 Dr. Miller welcome to the program today, and I'm glad 17:04 that you are going to show this on proper back posture. 17:07 - Yes! Well I'm not going to say a whole lot about it, but, 17:10 at the beginning of the program you said what would we do 17:13 without a skeleton, and a skeleton is very important 17:16 and I look at it, a normal chair an average chair that we have 17:19 in this country, basically the chairs that we have are not 17:24 made for human beings, they are made more for earth worms. 17:26 Because our backs do not do this, our backs have a curve 17:30 and so the first thing I would recommend for a person 17:32 if they are trying to have good back health, 17:34 is to either sit up straight and never lean back, 17:38 or have something like a lumbar support, 17:40 and so when they are sitting, let me move this back 17:43 a little bit, when you are sitting in a chair, 17:45 they put this thing right behind the lower back and then they 17:50 lean back on it and it feels so much better this way. 17:53 I mean I feel very comfortable, for those at home... 17:56 - It makes it so that you can sit up straight better too. 17:59 - Oh, absolutely! And you can stay awake longer, 18:02 you are more alert. 18:03 If a person doesn't have that extreme situation, 18:06 all they have to do is take their arm, put their arm behind 18:09 their back and lean against their arm, sometimes that's 18:11 enough to push out that lumbar. 18:14 Now you mention about people say ok, I lifted something 18:19 and it blew my back out, and that's true, but probably the 18:23 major cause of bad backs is our consistent lifting of between 18:29 75 to 150 Lbs, we do it a number of times a day 18:34 from our lower back, and that is in the act of standing up. 18:37 First of all we are sitting there the wrong way, 18:41 that means our vertebrae are opening up, 18:43 our disks are in a bad situation. 18:47 - They are migrating towards the back portion of the vertebrae. 18:50 - That's right, they are in the back portion, then when we 18:52 stand up, we lean forward and right here at this point 18:57 all of the weight of my trunk is on my lower back, 19:00 and I stand up, so I am lifting however much I weigh from 19:04 my waist up, that's how much I lift, and I might stand up 19:07 20, 30, 100 times a day, so I am lifting up all... 19:11 and I sit down the same way. 19:12 You go over there and sit down and lean forward, and then you 19:16 go in for your landing, and you have put the stress on the 19:19 lower back, so here is the key, 19:22 first of all you sit up straight. 19:23 But when you are going to stand up, I recommend you slide a foot 19:26 underneath your chair if you can, and then keeping your back 19:31 straight you stand straight up. 19:34 It's even helpful if when you stand up, you use your hands 19:39 as a launching pad. 19:40 I injured my back in the Marine Corp, I've got a bad back 19:44 and if I don't take care of it it will come back to haunt me 19:47 so I've got to make sure I do these things religiously 19:50 so when I stand up I try to keep my back straight 19:53 and stand up, and then I try to maintain the proper posture 19:58 because if I don't, if I start stooping forward, 20:00 again my back's not going to react well. 20:03 That little disk between the vertebrae will like you say 20:09 migrate towards the back or towards the side, 20:11 if I'm sitting there carrying my heavy suitcases from airport to 20:14 airport, that's going to leave me open to the problem. 20:17 And so the key is sitting properly and standing up 20:21 properly, if we do that constantly and then without 20:25 a doubt keeping the back muscles strong. 20:28 - Oh yes! 20:29 - Do a good exercise program, build up the back muscles 20:32 and you won't have a bad back. 20:34 - What do you do to keep your back muscles strong? 20:38 Well there's a number of exercises, one just laying 20:40 on your back and lifting up your legs, just the leg lifts 20:45 and lifting up a leg and then bring it back, 20:47 and bringing the knee towards the chest, and then bringing 20:49 the leg up and pushing against the knee as you are trying to 20:53 draw the knee towards you, laying on a flat surface, 20:56 and trying to push out the curve of your back with your abdominal 20:59 muscles, pushing that thing out, very simple laying on your back 21:04 taking your one foot and touching it to the other side 21:06 of the other leg, and then coming back, both sides, 21:09 and then taking that foot as far over to the side as you can. 21:12 - Do you ever lift weights or do any kind of machine work? 21:17 - I do have a machine, and it's called a bow-flex, 21:19 and when I have an opportunity to be in this country 21:22 long enough I do use my bow- flex, but even with that, 21:25 I've got to make sure I use it properly, and the nice thing 21:29 about..., and I don't try to advertise a bow-flex 21:32 but when you are lifting iron, I've done that too. 21:34 You put a lot of stress on your body, a bow-flex or something 21:38 that uses some type of graduated thing like pistons, 21:41 you weren't using that much but you were forcing yourself 21:45 against something that isn't going to... 21:48 I remember I was doing bench presses when I was in the 21:51 Marine Corp and I took to much and it came down, 21:54 and I couldn't get it back up. 21:56 And it settled on my chest, and here I'm laying with about 22:01 200 Lbs on my chest and a bar bell, I slowly started rolling 22:04 it down which isn't a good idea either, 22:07 - Pretty soon it's going to get to a soft spot. 22:09 - That's right, and a couple of Marines saw me and came over 22:11 and rescued me, so it's best if you go to lift weights make 22:16 sure you are not going to do it till you hurt... 22:17 I like universal gym's, which you put your pin in there. 22:22 But we have to start slowly and be consistent and do exercises 22:27 the way the charts say, follow the charts, you can't do it on 22:30 your own, the people who made the charts know 22:32 what they are talking about. 22:33 - Yes! I keep my back strong with good gardening exercises 22:38 I like that, it is purposeful labor and seems better to me. 22:42 As to why I love chopping wood, I've got a monster maul 22:45 I've split my wood with, a 17 Lb monster maul, 22:48 you get that thing going, you get good exercise, you sweat 22:51 which helps throw off some toxins from your body, 22:53 and it warms you twice. 22:56 - That's good, it warms you when you burn it, 22:58 and it warms you when you cut it. 22:59 - That's right. 23:00 - Thank you so much, 23:01 I appreciate your coming on the show today. 23:03 And I would like to show you proper knee posture, 23:07 Dr. Miller showed you proper back posture, and I would like 23:12 to show you proper knee posture. 23:14 It actually begins with the head, so we want the head 23:17 so that the cheek bones are directly over the collar bones. 23:21 I have asks Arianna Hartsfield if she would help me with this. 23:26 So Arianna would you have a seat right here, 23:29 let's start with it this way and if you will sit with your 23:33 back here I want to show something about the cheek bones 23:37 now when a person has good posture, the cheeks, 23:42 good head posture is that the cheek bones are directly over 23:46 the collar bones, so right here and right here, now to get that 23:52 the best, that's just it right there, in this place the cheek 23:58 bone is directly over the collar bone, now stand for one moment, 24:02 now the head should be in what is called the neutral position. 24:06 That is not forward as would be this, and not backward in 24:13 the exaggerated military position. 24:15 Neither one of those is correct, and then the back itself, 24:21 Dr. Miller has shown you a little bit about back posture. 24:25 But when you are just standing you should have a little curve 24:29 in the back, not an exaggerated extension of the hips, 24:34 but just a little curve like this, and then comes the knees, 24:39 that's next. 24:40 That begins with the feet straight in front of one, 24:43 and Arianna if you will now sit in a proper way, 24:48 with proper foot posture, because you have to have both 24:53 toes the toes of both feet put pointed straight ahead, 24:57 so let's see you demonstrate that, ok, both toes are straight 25:01 in front of you, you are ready to sit, there she goes, 25:06 she kept her back straight as Dr. Miller had said, and she 25:09 also kept her toes pointed straight which means 25:12 that the knees will also be pointed straight in front. 25:16 If the toes splay outward in this way, then the knees will 25:23 get an enormous strain on the internal structures, which can 25:27 cause almost immediate knee pain. 25:30 Alright Arianna let me now see you arise from the position, 25:35 there we go, one foot slightly behind the other, 25:38 as you could see, and she arose with a forward movement 25:43 with the major part of the weight on her back leg 25:48 and not on the lower back, thank you Arianna, I appreciate that. 25:53 Now as we think about things that can go wrong, 25:58 another thing that can go wrong with the skeleton is that of 26:02 loss of bone tissue, and I have two pictures that I would like 26:07 to show you which can illustrate the thing that we are 26:12 talking about that the bones can get thin. 26:17 Thin bones are then subject to pain and they are also subject 26:22 to fracturing, here is a back that shows almost transparent 26:30 vertebrae, that's not just that the x-ray was over exposed 26:36 it is that the bones themselves were very very thin, 26:40 these can crush together. 26:43 If you will notice you will see that two of those vertebrae 26:47 or maybe three have crushed together. 26:51 Now the next picture is a picture of the hip, 26:56 and you will see a line, a faint line between that 27:00 ball that fits in the socket and then the knobby part 27:04 of the hip bone, that is called the surgical neck. 27:08 With thinning of the bones that surgical neck can very 27:13 easily crack, and if a person falls or steps in a wrong way 27:19 the surgical neck can break and then the ball and socket 27:25 affair that we have with the hip joint will be then 27:30 not functional, so the surgeons take out the ball, 27:34 and replace that with a new ball, a steel ball, 27:39 and give the person a hip replacement. 27:42 We have not covered everything in skeletal problems 27:47 but I hope we have covered enough that you can see that 27:50 many things can be done at home to prevent serious problems. |
Revised 2014-12-17