Simple. Complex. Sublime.
AMR represents an earth-is-round vs earth-is-flat moment in the history of spine medicine.
Science is reproducible. If you weren’t aware, there is no science to our current understanding of back and body pain.
Disc surgery is a multi-billion dollar industry at a time medical literature has concluded: there’s no correlation between discs and back pain. Why? Because you can’t fix everything with a movement, a stretch, or an exercise. Cortisone or Chiropractic. Acupuncture, or Acupressure.
How did we get here? The disc theory of back pain was in vogue decades before the advent of MRI, when we could actually see the disc. We knew ruptured discs existed, we could see them when dissecting human cadavers, but we couldn’t image them in living bodies. Before MRI, we only had x-ray, which can only look at bone. But because the space between bones, where the disc would be, looked degenerated, or narrowed, we’d say, it looks like you have a bad disc. With the advent of MRi, we could actually see the disc, they then did some pure research, and guess what they found?
- The disc can rupture left, looks like it’s pinching the nerve going down the left leg, but the pain went down the right leg.
- Half the population over age 40 have a disc, arthritis, something deemed significant on x-ray or MRI, but they have no pain. Google it.
When it comes to discs, the more we find out, the less it makes sense.
I was made aware of the flaws in disc theory when I was in school. But hey, I’m a student, I’m trying to fit in. So you literally, forget what doesn’t make sense, and by preaching this worn out theory, I’m in line with the greatest minds in the country.
If you went to school when the consensus of scholarly thought said earth is flat, that’s what you learned and preached with all confidence. Spine medicine is stuck on earth is flat thinking. What you are witnessing is the evolution of our understanding.
A doctor once wrote that on the first day of medical school, they were told that fully half of what they were about to learn would turn out to be wrong in the end, they just didn’t know which half it would be. A portion of that half is back and body pain of musculoskeletal origin.
Disc, arthritis, sciatica, even inflammation (not always but often) are all outdated, inaccurate models of pain. Nerves exiting the spine are not nearly as vulnerable as they would appear. Rather, they are well protected, and more like our own electrical cords: you can step on them, it doesn’t interfere with the current going to the lamp. People forget that every fiber of muscle is innervated by nerves. It feels like a nerve, but it’s caused by muscle.
The source of pain so often attributed to joints and discs is actually caused by muscles. I would have you think of underlying spasm as more like shrink-wrap, nothing sticks out, there is no apparent spasm. Like dark matter: can't see it, can't feel it, I just know it's there.
Typical muscle therapies are finger painting, or mashing and compressing the soil, a precise leaf rake approach tills the soil, and that’s why it allows you to fix when all else has failed.
Quite simply, there's a better way to treat muscles, it solves the mystery of back and body pain.
During the process of fixing chronic pain conditions previously diagnosed as a disc, arthritis, the leaf rake elicits the very thing doctors look for in examination, and tests like discography, but do not find… which is to recreate the familiar pain the patient been suffering. To hear them say, “That's it, that's my problem.” When you say, “that's it.” That’s it. It’s in the muscles, we just haven’t been treating them correctly. The leaf rake is self evident.
The leaf rake is better science. It's reproducible and makes sense of what we observe.
Worst part about the leaf rake? It’s work, it’s not magic. Many like to play doctor, few want to dig the Panama Canal with their hands. It needs to be automated for the same reason we have harvesters and chainsaws. When that happens, it will decimate the field of disc and joint surgery, bring a revival to the 3rd act of life.
There are so many people suffering chronic pain... you don’t have to. What you need is someone willing to do the work. They need no prior experience or background in anatomy. All they need are some boney landmarks and a leaf rake.
If you have a friend, a loved one, anyone willing to do the work, the relief your body’s been aching for awaits.
Dr B
Brian Bronk DC is a chronic pain specialist, and the author of Disc Shmisc, and Advanced Muscle Reconditioning.
I’m not a genius, I came across the leaf rake by accident of fate. I've investigated a zillion techniques of healing as a chiro looking for answers. It was at the end of a long road when I was introduced to the leaf rake, and I was skeptical too. I said, "please, don't even go there, I've heard it too many times." I’d been around the block on muscle therapies. I couldn't imagine anything that radically different, anyone could teach me about how to treat a muscle... until I felt the precise form of it, and in one minute, I knew it was better than anything I'd done in my life. I’ve given up adjusting bones, something I loved and never imagined I would do, and everything else I've done in my past. I provide leaf rake for you, because leaf rake is what I want done on me.
I have been wandering the deserts of the human body for 40 years, and have nothing more to do but to pass it on. When Moses came down from the mountain, he gave us Ten Commandments, what I have for you is Five Principles and a Map. Basically, we're going to take a precise leaf rake to the body.
I know you can't appreciate it in words, but you can feel it. Give me two minutes, I'll alter your every notion of massage and deep muscle therapy.
The phone. The fridge. The internet. The leaf rake. Advances in technology happen.
Partial paralysis from a stroke
Les McCann, jazz pianist / vocalist. Les had a stroke on stage during one of his concerts. After the stroke his right hand was partially paralyzed. His thumb could move, but his fingers were stuck, clenched like a fist for 4 years, when a mutual friend referred him in to have me take a look at it. He knew I had taken up the soft tissue work developed by Thomas Griner.
I said, I have no clue, I’ve never seen anything like it, never fixed anything like it. He said, “Do me a favor, see what you can do.” And this is how i know what i know: don't think, just work. If I thought about it, I’d say there’s no way.
Ten one hour sessions to his forearm, he walked out, his hand still clenched like a fist. But his forearm was all black and blue, something was happening, so we kept going. The 12th session it broke free and was reborn right before our eyes. Les cried like a baby, he knew he was free at last. His hand returned to 99% of its previous ability.
Les left us a couple years ago. He was larger than life, funniest guy I ever met. Love his lilting style. So grateful for our time together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF27DwUEcO4&list=RDfF27DwUEcO4&start_radio=1
AMR: 5 Principles and a Map
AMR consists of 5 principles and a map. Basically, we're going to take a precise leaf rake to the body.
4 principles define the leaf rake, 5th is the thought process: we simply think of a bigger picture than just the spot that hurts, scan the fundamental patterns, and teach our client to direct.
That's right, AMR says stop analyzing and forget what you think you feel, it will lead you astray. Tissue that feels worse to my hands may be holding stable, not causing symptoms. Tissue that feels better to my hands may have them on the disabled list.
Once you teach your client to direct, you'll see very quickly how ridiculous it is to think we know better. A millimeter can be something or nothing, and your client is the only one that knows. I have reduced myself to a voice activated robotic arm. I just give you your menu options, it's your job to direct.
Whether you do it professionally, or just to help friends and family, the simple framework of AMR is food for a lifetime, and uber empowering.