A Celebration of Healing: Spotlight on Chiropractic Care

Eleven years ago tomorrow I left my almost 20 year award winning career as a VA social worker to heal my life from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma. Throughout my life, I have been blessed to meet earth angels to help me overcome adversity and challenges in my life. During these past 11 years, I've explored and experienced many different healing modalities. I bless each and every one I met along with the invaluable soul lessons I learned along the way.

After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I was introduced to the benefits of chiropractic care. After my chiropractor left to practice in China, I didn't pursue chiropractic care as part of my health and wellness regimen. Last year, while at a Business Networking International meeting, I "just happened" to meet Dr. Lizzie Sobel. I was most impressed with her presentation at the meeting about her style of chiropractic care, her passion for her work especially as she talked about a technique she uses to help turn babies who are presenting as breach to allow for a vaginal delivery. While she specializes in family chiropractic care - pregnant moms, post partum moms and their babies, she is dedicated to helping people of all ages in all phases of life experience their health and wellness best.

Since last July I have been partnering with Dr. Lizzie on my health and wellness journey. I was able to run the Bermuda Half Marathon in January uninjured and enjoy every mile along the way. My body is recovering well with the help of weekly chiropractic treatment sessions. As a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma, I've been running and working out with a lot of imbalances in my body. As we align my body each week, reset my nervous system, encourage spinal fluid to flow I am healing the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. I am in awe of the art and science of chiropractic care. I had throbbing pain in my scapula for a few days prior to my appointment. Dr. Lizzie noted that the scapula on my right side was 2 inches higher on my left side. It was pulling on the muscle attachment causing pain! As she used her instruments to encourage the bone back to its natural alignment and used soft tissue manipulation to ease the pain, the scapula was able to return to its natural alignment in line with my left side. The adjustment held and the pain was gone!

Each week I let Dr. Lizzie know what areas need attention although she goes through the entire body with her keen hands and eagle eyes to adjust areas that could lead to injury or pain. Her gentle touch, her balancing out of the body and paying attention to specific "trouble" spots leave me feeling relaxed with a sense of peace and comfort being in my body. That is quite a testimony for someone who has experienced over 25 surgeries, a spinal cord injury and severe trauma as a child. Dr. Lizzie also prides herself in providing education to her patients about their bodies, the work and for self care practices at home.

Tomorrow marks 11 years since I left the VA to heal my life. I am delighted to shine the spotlight on chiropractic care that has become an integral part of my healing journey. Eleven years later -- I celebrate healing!

Be sure to visit Dr. Lizzie's website by following this link. She has offices in Copley Square Boston and Walpole.

If you are on the South Shore, be sure to check out Seaside Chiropractic by following this link.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

Hear my interview with Kendra Petrone on Magic 106.7's Exceptional Women Show by following this link

My books are available on Amazon and at Paper Fiesta in Natick on Mile 10 of the Boston Marathon route.

Thankful Thursday - I am so grateful for what this body can do!

When I first hired a personal trainer in October of 2007 after being discharged from outpatient rehabilitation treatment for the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, I wondered out loud with Janine if there was anything more we could do. She told me that I was too young to not be able to get off of a toilet seat without assistance or to be able to independently get off of the couch. She said that my body's limitations were the limitations she'd expect to see in a 75 year old - not a 53 year old! She answered my question with a Henry Ford quote, 'Whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right."

I couldn't pass the initial fitness assessment but Janine was determined to work with me. At our first training session she said, "Let's see what this body can do!"

I am SO grateful for what this body has done and continues to do.

I'm writing "The Adventures of Runnergirl1953" taking a look back at my 10 years of running and sharing my story of resilience, courage, strength, trials and tribulations and triumphs. There are treasured moments and memories from numerous races throughout the years that I am excited to share with you in my latest book.

My 3rd Bermuda Half Marathon in as many years took quite a toll on me. I am recovering well and, throughout moments of every day I give thanks to my body for what I can do. The pain in my back and muscle spasms have resolved. I celebrate being able to put something in the trash barrel, making the bed or even sitting comfortably in a chair and I am grateful for what this body can do.

The pain in my hip and groin area is resolving.

During yesterday's chiropractic treatment with Dr. Lizzie Sobel Dr. Lizzie pointed out how the pain in our bodies makes the loudest noise. We agreed that we need to turn up the volume on all that our bodies can do through the practice of gratitude!

Rather than keeping my attention focused on the pain in my hip and groin area, I give thanks and celebrate how the pain is lessening and doing a body scan for ALL the areas of my body where there is no pain and for all that functions so well as I go about my day.

My body gave me 5 fabulous workouts this week. My body enables me to get up in the morning, put my feet on the floor, stretch, go down the stairs, empty the dishwasher (without back pain!) and so much more.

One of the first poems I wrote was called The Gift of Polio:

The Gift of Polio
Thank you God for the gift of polio that brought me so close to you
while paralyzed I saw your face no matter what I’d do
Many wonderful healers you sent them to me at age 5
perseverance and triumph life’s lessons learned
but my Spirit could not yet thrive.

At age 53 the gift was sent to me a second time
having time to sit and feel to heal I started to rhyme.
The second time felt worse than the first
yet your love and wisdom I found
out of pain and weakness and fatigue a remarkable spirit rebound.

Reliving all the trauma of special shoes and such
I discovered remarkable healers who brought a loving touch.
I had no clue I had such strength and the ability to grow
no matter what the outcome deep gratitude I show.

This gift so precious I live a new life gratitude flows from me
my heart and soul are filled with grace each day’s a gift from thee.

Contracting polio, enduring 9 years of violence as a child, and then receiving the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome were blessings and gifts in my life. I would not have become the woman I am today without these gifts and I certainly would not have the appreciation and gratitude for what this body can do! In all likelihood I would take movement and freedom from pain for granted and perhaps focus even more on the aches and pains that are inevitably a part of life.

Instead I am so grateful for my healing over these past 11 years and am so deeply grateful for all that this body CAN do!

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):

On Digging Deep -- Three Feet From Gold

When we can't see what's on the other side of our efforts, it can be easy to quit. Sometimes we don't realize if we dig a little deeper, we are three feet from gold!

In my morning meditation, writing a blog post about digging deep came to me.

I logged onto Facebook and saw this quote from a dear friend of mine, "When I need a little motivation I picture the goals ahead of me, then I dig a little deeper and I work a little harder. Preparation, hard work and determination, every day, is the difference between success and failure. It's true in sports and it's true in life!!"

It's been a lot of digging deep during these past 11 years as I healed the effects of paralytic polio and trauma after being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards.

It was a profound wake up call that I needed to dig deep and make some serious life style changes in order to heal my life.

I was blessed with earth angels first with a physical therapist at Spaulding, Allison Lamarre-Poole who now has her own physical therapy practice in Maine specializing in women's health at Koru Physical Therapy. And then meeting Janine Hightower a personal trainer who took me from my leg brace, cane and not being able to get up off a couch or low toilet seat without assistance to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon.

I had never run a day in my life when I declared that my next health and fitness goals after working only 6 months with Janine were to run the 2009 Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab.

I had to dig so deeply to get to the starting line and once I did, I knew that I would make it through those 26.2 miles.



After a serious knee injury in December of 2014 that I was told would sideline me from running and that I would need a total knee replacement in a few years, I had to dig deep and ask for Divine Guidance to take my healing to the next level. I was blessed to meet a healer chiropractor, Dr. Ryan J. Means and rededicated myself to healing using the work of Dr. Bernie Siegel or Bernie and Dr. Joe Dispenza.

I dug deep to find the courage to once again "go against medical advice" and follow my heart and soul to not only keep on running but going the distance of a half marathon again.



I had to dig deep during Bermuda Half Marathon 2017 after mile 10 when I suffered severe cramping but with the help of my running and life partner Tom and an earth angel at mile 12, I did it!


Training for this year's Bermuda Half Marathon was not easy. I ended up with a muscle strain and was so blessed that my chiropractor (I am so blessed to keep finding these earth angels), Dr. Lizzie Sobel worked hard to partner with me to get me through that race.



I am on a running racing hiatus as I allow everything to heal after running 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons yet I am also digging deep to heal and to continue to build strength in the pool, on the bike and in my home strength training workout.

No one would have blamed me had I stopped digging deep at any juncture of my healing journey

BUT

I would have lost out on the Gold:


To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):

Patience and Celebration!

I knew that I was pushing my body going for a streak of 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years. After my 2017 Bermuda Half I felt it was time to take a break but as fate would have it, we received an invitational entry from the Race Director. You don't say no to a free entry and you NEVER say no to a Bermudian's hospitality!

I felt great after the 2016 Bermuda Half Marathon:


Tom and I went on to run the 2016 Hyannis 10K together:


After pushing through the last 3 miles, with the help of an earth angel at mile 12, Tom and I crossed the finish line of the 2017 Bermuda Half Marathon:


Here we are after I had a brief stint in the medical tent:


We made sure that we did not make the same mistakes in 2018 as we had in 2017 and even though it took us 5 hours to cross the finish line, we did so happy and for me, standing upright!


I smile and celebrate this miraculous accomplishment of a streak of 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons ... Eleven years ago I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair after the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. Three years ago I was told to stop running or cap my distance after my left knee blew out and told to prepare for a total knee replacement in a few years. Ironically, my left knee is fine and other issues presented themselves in the later phase of our training for Bermuda 2018.

I also celebrate when I am fully recovered from the rigors of training for said 3 Bermuda Half Marathons.

I went into the race with a muscle strain and hip/back/groin issues. But hey I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon with a groin pull and a variety of other issues but nothing was going to stop me after all the training and all the mental preparation for going the distance of 26.2 miles. A Half Marathon was only half as far.

I am SO happy and delighted that I pushed myself to go the distance.

But now it's time for me to heal ... and that process takes patience once again.

I know and believe in my body's incredible capacity to heal but I must create the optimal environment for it to recover and continue to heal from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. I celebrate having healed so much in this 11 year healing odyssey and celebrate how I healed a breast tumor, a suspicious lesion on my nose that is now merely a scar:


and my left knee

I've started meditating 3 times a day to facilitate my body's natural ability to heal. I use Bernie Siegel's guided meditations and Dr. Joe Dispenza's Blessing of the Energy Centers. I've scheduled weekly chiropractic sessions for the month of March and can always extend it into April if I find that I need more than every other week treatments.

I'm stretching a lot during the day and using my massage stick.

Fortunately I've had a lot of physical therapy through the years so I'm using the pool at Boston Sports Club twice a week for my aquatics therapy as well as continuing to build strength and work out for my health and wellness. I'm using the stationary bike at the gym to get in my miles/cardio workout and our Team McManus home gym for strength training. I do a very gentle run/walk once a week for a 5K distance but if the weather is too cold or challenging, I'll do the bike instead. I've been scoping out the classes at Boston Sports Club and my mind is very excited to participate in them but first my body has some healing to do.

As I move forward in my healing journey, it's a time for patience and celebration! I'm so blessed and grateful I continue to go the distance and very excited for what's next! I celebrate all that has been and all that is yet to be!

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):

On Faith and Risk!

Eleven years ago I was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease - Post-Polio Syndrome which was nothing more or less than the effects of childhood paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma. These past 11 years have been filled with risk taking and a whole lot of faith.

My husband Tom told me it was a no brainer when the Team at Spaulding Rehab made the recommendation I quit my award willing career as a VA social worker just 3 years shy of when I "could" retire. They said that if there was any hope of stabilizing the symptoms where they were I needed to eliminate the stress of work. I was blessed with a physical therapist, Allison Lamarre-Poole who both held the faith for me that I could and would get stronger while supporting and encouraging me to take the leap of faith to leave my career in order to heal my life.

I did and after being discharged from her care, went on to hire a personal trainer. Next stop? The Boston Marathon 2009!

I burned and crashed and was blessed to find another amazing physical therapist at Newton Wellesley Hospital who got me back on the roads by Spring of 2010.

I was doing great until my nephew's suicide on 3/4/2011 when I took a major detour off of my healing path into relationships and the practice of yoga with a very sketchy tribe to say the least.

After 4/15/2013, I had a major wake up call to get back to the sport of running that has been my therapy, my village, my greatest challenge and my deepest passion.

I ran myself right into a serious knee injury going for PR after PR with 9 races in 9 months.

I almost derailed into the messages that Western Medicine was giving me about what I could and could not do as a survivor of paralytic polio. Being my willful and determined little self and with the help of an amazing chiropractor healer, Dr. Ryan J. Means (who is now practicing in China) I set out to once again heal my life and of course my knee. He suggested insisted I read the book, "You Are the Placebo" by Dr. Joe Dispenza, watch the movie "What the bleep do we know?" and "Everything you need to know to feel Go(o)d" by Dr. Candace Pert.

He taped my gastroc muscle. The MRI showed that it had atrophied as a result of polio. He taped my knee to reduce swelling and to stimulate healing.



He prescribed exercises and a setting goals not limits mindset.

At the Finish at the 50 race in July of 2015, Race Director Anthony Raynor suggested that if I could get up to the half marathon distance again in my training, I would be much happier running the half than the 10K in Bermuda given that the 10K course is all hills.

After taking a leap of faith that my knee (and the rest of me) would heal and be fine going the distance of a half marathon again, I crossed the finish line in Bermuda with Tom by my side and Dr. Ryan cheering us on from China!


I couldn't be a one hit wonder and when on to run Bermuda Marathon 2017. It was a rough race for me for many reasons but I prevailed and after a brief rest in the medical tent, took this photo with Tom:


I was ready to take a break but how could I possibly refuse an invitational entry from the Race Director in Boston at the Boston Marathon Expo.

I firmly decided:


An added blessing to my journey on the road to Bermuda Half Marathon 2018 was that Ruth Anne joined us after 3 years of struggling with severe depression and PTSD.

I knew that I had to have a lot of faith and confidence in my body's ability to go the distance for a 3rd half marathon in as many years. That faith was tested as I experienced a muscle strain in my right hip and back spasms along with groin issues. Fortunately I had run the 2009 Boston Marathon with a groin pull because well nothing was going to stop me from crossing that finish line:


I knew that once I harnessed the power of my mind I could do it.

On 1/14/18 Team McManus crossed the finish line of the 2018 Bermuda Half Marathon:


and a new line was drawn in the sand about what I perceived as my limits.

It's time now for me to take that much needed rest after a threepeat at the Bermuda Marathon Weekend. Tom and Ruth Anne will be running in the 2019 Half. I need time to heal this hip/back/groin and to explore other joys of movement now that I've gained momentum on my health and wellness journey. I see myself excavating the athlete within. Just like Michelangelo could see his creations emerge from the medium he worked with, I am chiseling away beliefs that no longer serve me, building a base of a strong core and upper body strength, and creating a runner who runs unencumbered, with ease at a 12 minute/mile pace.

I'll be taking more risks in experiencing classes at our gym and upping my game in my strength training and cross training workouts. I am putting the call out for a personal trainer who can help me take my health and fitness to the next level having complete faith in my body's ability to meet whatever challenges I offer.

So while some may say I may have gone too far by taking on the 2018 Bermuda Half Marathon, I say:


To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):

Bermuda Marathon Weekend: Which Place Changed Your Life?

I rarely do the Nametests on Facebook but thought I'd see what the response was when asked the question, "Which Place Changed Your Life?"



Of course it was Bermuda Marathon Weekend!

It was the miracle of training for and completing 3 Half Marathons in as many years for me and it was all the moments of miracles that led up to Team McManus' triumphant run around Bermuda.

When we were first reunited as Team McManus in May of 2017 after Ruth Anne's multiple hospitalizations to treat severe depression and PTSD with as many med trials, adverse reactions to meds and programs that were not a good fit, we had trouble finding our rhythm on the roads and in our lives. Ruth Anne had been on her own for 3 years struggling to find her way and Tom and I were empty nesters. We were all determined to experience success as Team McManus.

There was always one constant and an anchor for whatever was happening in Ruth Anne's road to recovery and my continued healing from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma: our dedication and commitment to training for the Bermuda Half Marathon!

We trained in heat and humidity and freezing cold. We learned that quitting was not part of who we are despite bone chilling 17 degree temperatures which felt like I don't even want to know how cold. We ran in the rain and the snow. Every Saturday morning without exception we set the alarm, did our core work, had our breakfast, packed up the running backpacks and off we went to get in our miles.

The left knee that the doctor predicted would need a total knee replacement by now after an MRI in January 2015, was fine throughout the rigors of training. Bone spurs, torn cartilage, degenerative changes, a fatty lipoma, and no gastroc muscle were all reversed through meditation, visualization, journaling and exercises prescribed by my chiropractor/healer, Dr. Ryan J. Means or Dr. Ryan as he likes to be called to build strength and grow a new gastroc muscle. Dr. Ryan introduced me to the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza that built on the work of Dr. Bernie Siegel for me that I'd been familiar with for years. Dr. Ryan inspired me to take my healing journey to a new level! He left for China to follow his own destiny but we continue to stay in touch. Whenever he visits the States we get together and he reminds me of the power of the body to heal.

I did develop a right hip/groin/back "issue" that was attended to by my chiropractor with whom I started working with in July and ongoing meditation, ice flushes in the shower, warm Epsom Salt baths and a "visit" from the physiatrist I had when I was recovering from paralytic polio as a child. I remembered how he would have me stretch my back to prevent scoliosis and after feeling his presence in the shower one morning, imagined how I felt with him encouraging my body to heal through his kind words, his touch and his encouraging words.

Once we finished our last long run, 12 miles, simulating race day, I knew that I could go the distance for a threepeat.

Returning to Bermuda with Ruth Anne was magical. The last time we had been on the Island together, I was using a wheelchair at the airport and sporting a toe up leg brace using a cane to gingerly walk from our hotel nor far from the center of Hamilton and back. I cried when we walked down the stairs on the tarmac and there was a wheelchair waiting for another passenger.

There were signs and magic everywhere on the Island.

The first evening we had dinner with Denise and Lanette at The Pickled Onion:


and of course were able to find Denise and Lanette pre-race:


Ruth Anne and I walked the beach together:


We had a sign that God and our dearly departed friend Herb Simmons who introduced us to Bermuda in the late 90's were watching over us at our first breakfast at Windows on the Sound:


Despite many fears leading up to race day about being able to trust my body, and the pain in my right hip/back/groin I knew that I could not give into them. Part of me felt that everybody would have understood if I would have chosen to not start the race BUT how could I miss out on all the fun that I worked so hard to achieve?

When we landed in Bermuda, Ruth Anne was moved to say out loud, "I made it! I'm not in the hospital!" We went through several "close calls" as we navigated outpatient mental health care but having her eye on the prize - getting to Bermuda to run the Half Marathon was potent medicine.

Ruth Anne, Tom and I discovered our strength, our will, our determination, our faith and above all else the power of our Love to train for and cross the finish line of the Bermuda Half Marathon 2018.

The Bermuda Half Marathon changed our life as did every step of every mile that got us to the starting line, through 13.1 miles and to crossing the finish line.





To your health and well being
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):