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.

Going the Distance: Heal: The Documentary - Movie Review

My review on iTunes - 5 stars
"A beautiful documentary that shares the wisdom of the ways one can heal beyond allopathic medicine. Research, personal stories and inquiry are woven together to create this masterpiece of a documentary. I especially loved the depiction of Dr. Joe Dispenza's healing after a serious accident that crushed his vertebrae in his spine. Using a blend of cinematic techniques, you'll find yourself enthralled and intrigued by what Heal: The Documentary has to offer to go beyond what we've all been taught to believe about our bodies and Western Medicine's offerings. You'll find yourself experience healing of mind, body and soul by watching Heal and being touched by the wisdom of great teachers and healers."



I read through the reviews on YouTube and I was somewhat dismayed by the rancor and anger that permeated some of the comments. Those comments are exactly why we need Heal: The Documentary in our lives. I've experienced the power of the mind/body connection throughout my healing journey from the effects of having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 followed by severe childhood trauma inflicted by family members. I was blessed to be led to the work of Dr. Bernie Siegel back in the 80's by an earth angel nurse I had during a lengthy hospitalization. He's been a part of my healing journey during these past 11 years after I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. He is featured in the Extras.

As I watched one woman's journey of healing from a severe skin disorder, I cried and healed with her as the practitioner guided her through EFT and bathed her wounds with love and compassion. As Bernie always says, "Love heals."

Three years ago after suffering a serious knee injury, I was led to a chiropractor after Western Medicine told me I shouldn't run anymore and be prepared for knee replacement surgery in a few years based on MRI findings. These were the same doctors who told me I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair 8 years prior to the knee injury and to return to the Post-Polio Clinic because it was only a matter of time.... Dr. Ryan told me that I HAD to read "You Are the Placebo" by Dr. Joe Dispenza. Combining chiropractic care and the power of my meditation and intention to heal, I'm back running half marathons - with no surgery! And I have grown a new gastroc muscle! I loved the depiction of Dr. Joe's healing journey and how he said with such clear intention that if he were able to walk again, he would dedicate himself to the work of healing after his wake up call. Follow this link to read Dr. Joe's invitation to watch Heal:The Documentary.

In the documentary we learn that yes indeed there is a time and place for Western Medicine but we need to move beyond the dictates of the world of the white coat if we are going to truly heal our lives from dis-ease and return to a state of wholeness and well being. That power to heal comes from Source/Divine Intelligence/God whatever word you would like to use that is in each and every one of us. In my healing journey, I discovered that there was a lot of trial and error about what modalities would and would not work to promote healing and the message of Heal: The Documentary is to keep searching until you find what combination of resources and information is going to work for each individual.

Heal: The Documentary has boosted my commitment and dedication to my healing journey. Whatever doubts may surface - and it's only human to experience those doubts - I now have another wonderfully powerful resource to go to to ignite my passion to go the distance in my healing journey. It was Divine Timing as I am making profound shifts in my life to take my healing to the next level.

Heal: The Documentary is available for rent, download or DVD. It's compelling and a must see!

To going the distance with strength and courage
From my heart to yours,
Mary

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):

I am a runner....

A friend of mine, recovering from an injury, posted on Facebook that she is a runner again. I pointed out to her that she was always a runner. For a period of time she was not able to run.

When we runners experience an injury and when we don't know if we will be able to make another running comeback, it's easy to say that we are not a runner. Truth is, once you become a runner, you are a runner for life. The soul lessons learned, the transformation that happens through running, and being a part of the running community remain.



Since December, I've been working my way back to running. I learned so many lessons from my knee injury. I realized that I needed to add in strength training to my training plan. Last week I got curious about how doing the recumbent bike as cross training was affecting my knee and realized that, contrary to popular belief, using a recumbent bike is not good for my knee.

At Monday's appointment with Dr. Ryan, I told him how running is in my blood. He gave me tips on what to do before and after a run to manage any swelling and to add in using theraband stability trainers to strengthen my core and help with balance and agility.



I decided to go in for a taping yesterday to support me for today's run.



As soon as Dr. Ryan finished the taping, I could feel the healing happening on my entire leg especially on the site where I had the incision for the reconstructive leg surgery over 20 years ago followed by hardware removal and arthroscopic surgeries.

A sense of ease and playfulness carried me through today's 2+ mile run at the BU Fit Rec Center track. It was snowing and slippery outside and even though I wanted to run outside on Heartbreak Hill, I knew I couldn't risk slipping and falling after all the hard work I did and am doing to get back out on the roads.

The BU Fit Rec Center was our go to place to get in miles when we trained for the 2009 Boston Marathon when it was too cold or snowing outside.

I warmed up with a plank and the clam as Dr. Ryan recommended and then a cough to engage core and obliques before the run. It was great to wear shorts and I must say that I enjoyed the stares my taped leg received from others running the track.

I put on my new playlist which includes Carole King. I didn't time the run but Tom assured me that I was doing around a 16 minute/mile pace.

There were a few young girls power walking in front of us. I started to speed up and Tom asked me, "Hey girl ... where are you going?" I felt so good in my body; I felt so light on my feet and felt a bounce in my step that I just had to overtake them.

Tom totally understood and together we sped up and passed them.

Running and racing is in my blood. I thought about not racing anymore and focusing on learning how to ride a bike and doing other activities but that is simply not going to work for me. I did try the elliptical and upright bike at the gym but Aquatics and strength training are going to be my cross training activities.

I am easing back into running and will not do a distance longer than 5 miles. I will not push myself for time and PR's but work with my body to find my pace. I feel that everything is in place for me to celebrate my race-iversary on June 7 at the Corrib Pub 5K in style because....I am a runner!

“The distance runner is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in his divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace unique; the everyday eternal.”
~George Sheehan, MD


Journey well!

My latest book, "Journey Well" is now available on Amazon along with all of my inspirational books. 50% of book proceeds are donated to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center, a safe, welcoming space for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing to heal and stay in touch with one another; a virtual hub for a widely dispersed community whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events of April 15th and the events that followed.

When terror struck the world's oldest and most beloved marathon on April 15, 2013, it was a defining moment in Mary McManus’ life and the lives of all those in Boston and around the world. It was her wake up call to return to the sport and community that have been medicine and a lifeline for her throughout her marathon of healing the late effects of paralytic polio and experiencing 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent. Mary captures the essence of Boston Strong through her experience of the 2014 Boston Marathon and as she profiles the people who are Boston Stronger. Through her blog posts, poems and journal entries woven together with excerpts from her memoir, “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility,” you will experience, through one woman’s journey of transformation and healing, that no matter what happens to us, we can all learn to journey well.

Therapeutic Taping: A Review and Thoughts on Holistic Healing

I did a google search for therapeutic taping and Kinesio taping and found article titles such as Therapeutic Taping:Help or Hype and research that is "inconclusive." Many talk about the "placebo" effect of taping and I say let's embrace anything that is going to allow our bodies to heal that will do no harm and have no risk or invasive intervention. I can only speak to my recent experience after therapeutic taping with Dr. Ryan Means of Elevate Health Cambridge for your consideration and review.



Before I share my anecdotal response to the taping, here is information on the origins and science behind taping from History of Kinesio Tape:

In 1973, Dr. Kenzo Kase began the initial concepts for the Kinesio Taping® Method. Dr. Kase, an American trained Japanese chiropractor, introduced a completely original treatment technique that was not orthopedic per se, although it had vast orthopedic applications. He advanced a revolutionary concept and modality of treatment based on a non-reductionist concept of how the human body worked. Dr. Kase was not interested in addressing parts and pieces of the human organism and healing the individual tissue. His idea was to use tape as a second skin to influence the sensory motor loop between the skin and the brain, creating vaso-motor, neuro-muscular and neuro-fascial changes to bring stressed tissues throughout the body back to homeostasis. The body would then heal itself. In very simple terms, by re-positioning the skin over an injured tissue, sensory feedback is transmitted to the brain, which adapts and changes all the tissues in response. By 1979, Dr. Kase completed and officially founded the Kinesio Taping Method and began authoring his first book and development of Kinesio® Tex Tape (widely known as “Kinesio® Tape” with exact specifications for the method) from 1979-1981.

The underlying theory that led Dr. Kase to invent the tape more than 30 years ago was based in his profound understanding of how the human body works. Each physiological system is dependent on every other system to function and remain healthy. Dr. Kase recognized that the skin and brain communicate constantly to regulate the body's responses to its internal and external environment. The skin and brain are connected not only by the nervous system, but also the fascial system, which communicates information from tissue structure to tissue structure at much greater speeds than the nervous system. Therefore, Dr. Kase reasoned that it was possible, by introducing specific and targeted proprioceptive and neural input through the skin, to affect physiological systems to change motor output, affect circulation, create or direct facial movement, and modulate pain. If one physiologic system could be affected, the other systems would adjust in response. As a practicing chiropractor, he saw how he could affect physiological systems with his hands. He designed the tape to be an extension of his manual treatment and continue the work at home that he started with his patients in the clinic.

In addition to taping my knee, Dr. Ryan used the Graston Technique to help release restrictions in my foot that was torquing my knee. It may very well be the combination of interventions along with my powerful intention to heal that resulted in a positive outcome for my experience with taping.

There was the psychological factor of feeling like a runner again; like the compelling athlete that I am in ministering to the injured area with an intervention that athletes, including Olympians use to help them with recovery and performance.

Walking up and down stairs was noticeably easier and pain free. I gave my knee an intense workout in Aquatics Therapy (and yes the tape that Dr. Ryan used went through two Aquatics Therapy sessions) and was able to engage more muscles and access more energy because I was not focused on experiencing knee pain and trying to avoid knee pain. It was very exciting to engage my hip flexors and my left foot while aqua jogging being able to experience energy flowing through my left leg.

It's also important to note that before I saw Dr. Ryan, in my previous week's treatment with Joseph, my massage therapist at Sollievo, that Joseph placed a fulcrum on my left rib during Zero Balancing. I felt a gush of energy flow with that intervention.

I took the tape off Wednesday evening after 3 full days of wearing it. It can be left on for 3-5 days and since I had a massage treatment on Thursday, I took it off. I can feel that there is a shift happening away from anticipating the knee pain and trying to protect my knee to engaging more muscles and accessing more energy. I am mindful of landing light harnessing the core (the dividends of planking almost every day and doing sit ups and crunches) and organizing myself as a non-injured person. This complements the work I do with Joseph as I leave the stories of my past behind and explore what I can do to shift away from habits that were a result of past experiences placing me at risk for injury.

I am delighted and excited that I have added Dr. Ryan to my team of holistic health providers. Therapeutic taping along with other interventions Dr. Ryan has to offer plus a home rehab program we began to talk about at my first visit is just what I need to get myself back on the roads healthy and happy.

Journey well!

"Journey Well" and all of my inspirational books are available on Amazon.

"Journey Well" is a book about resilience, strength, courage and how we are able to journey well no matter what conditions life hands to us. I profile the people who are Boston Stronger and share how 4/15/13 was a wake up call to me to return to my healing path from contracting paralytic polio at age 5 and 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent.



50% of all book proceeds are donated to AccesSportAmerica where people of all ages and abilities achieve higher function and fitness through high challenge sports and training.