Guest Post: Maribeth Dawkins...Hope Springs Eternal

        Maribeth (Meb) Dawkins is Adam's longstanding ABR therapist and shiatsu practitioner.  She has often traveled with us for trainings in Montreal and has provided Leonid with a wealth of information about baseball and ornithology, neither of which are the hotspots of Russian culture.  Meb has passionately cared for Adam and has been a stable force in his life for 12 years.  They are on the same page in life, in all areas, except favorite sports teams.  Thanks, for sharing this guest post and your gifts with Adam!

Hope Springs Eternal

      According to the calendar, spring is officially our current season.  It hasn't felt like it here in the Northeast yet, but there have been occasional signs.

Maribeth (Meb) Dawkins

       I drove to the Cape, to work with Adam, the other day during a sleet and snow event.  The temperature was hovering around thirty degrees, yet there were crocuses popping their hopeful heads through the snow.  It's hard to be full of hope when nature keeps throwing conflicting messages at you.  Even when your body, mind, and spirit aren't feeling the presence of Spring, you KNOW it is inevitable!

       One of my favorite things about the advent of spring is the return of baseball.  New York Yankees especially! (Apologies to the Dennison's)  What is more hopeful than a fresh start, a clean slate, a good long Winter's rest and six months of PLAY!

      Adam joins me in being a true baseball fan, though our allegiances lie on opposing sides of the best rivalry in sports.  Before his accident, Adam had, and I hope I'm quoting this correctly, "the best day of my life" in response to his first experience of a Sox game.  Sharon, Phil and I have spoken for years about how great it would be to get Adam back to Fenway Park.  Unfortunately, due to Adam's physical state, lack of mobility, and extreme reactions to overstimulation, this hasn't been feasible.  Adam's comfort zone is not something to compromise.

       To return to my theme of hope, how about Adam finally being ready to go to a game after all these years!  We have ABR (Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation) to thank for this, in addition, of course, to the constant love, support and healing he has generated, and received.

       The tickets are in hand, and Sharon and Phil will be taking Adam "out to the ballgame" in July.  I won't be there for this momentous occasion, as much as I would love to, but I hope and trust there will be many more opportunities to come.  Who knows, we may even get lucky enough to score some Yankee vs Red Sox tickets!! (Notice which team I put first?)

Meb's favorite pic!!

Adam (kind of)  at ? years old ( added by his dad)

New ABR Exercises . . . Onward and Upward

              Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation (ABR) is our primary therapy used in Adam's rehabilitative journey.  It is supported by a host of other complimentary approaches as we we continue on this long journey.  The previous post focused on Adam's evaluation in Montreal which informs the exercises described here.

Intense, super soft ball mini-rolling on Adam's head

     Two full days of training, after a comprehensive evaluation,  provide us with the next six months of body work on Adam.  The theory which underlies ABR continues to unfold, it is never static.  The applications also unfold; there are new techniques and new targets to focus upon.

Application to Adam's ever expanding thighs

      The changes in application are significant as two new theoretical constructs are explained.  We will, of course, continue to support and reinforce Adam's hydraulic structure and numerous applications are targeted at the head because the head is the nexus of the hydraulic system which supports the myofascial layers...strengthening of the layers lead predictably toward mobility and eventually function.  Even in the tiniest embryo, you see a head and a rudimentary structure which develops...the remainder of the body develops from the head in the womb.

Leonid supervising Sharon's back of the head technique

       Two new constructs;  intense ball rolling and super-soft balls.  We learn a targeted ball rolling which is much more intense with a greater manual force exerted .  It goes deeper, it allows a penetration of the stress shielding layers of the body and above all it accelerates the rates of myofacial strengthening and change.  Change actually accelerates.  Super soft balls are actually the same structures which are further deflated and allow for greater coverage of the target areas.  This technique is especially applicable to the head.

Leonid demonstrating the positioning of head applications with the super soft ball

      Again, the applications provide for compression without distortion...intense compression of ball with mini rolls and a solid transfer medium...the energy of the process is transferred while bypassing the stress shielding factors of the outer body.  Strengthening the core ...structural change, mobility and function...a predictable course of change.
       And of course, ABR would not be complete with the more traditional 3-Q technique (quasi-static, quasi-spherical, quasi-isotropic).  We have three new 3-Q applications which target specific areas of the head.  These are targeted applications which are very specific to areas which need to extracted.  We are working on areas below the occiput and on both platforms behind the ears.  Intense ball applications focus on the head (both top and back); three areas along the vertebral column, the sacrum, fifth - eighth vertebrae on the thorax, shoulder apexes,and  both thighs.  We usually work on Adam several hours a day; Maribeth usually does 5 hours of applications every week.  Changes are definitively happening and at an increasing pace and in a very positive direction.

Maribeth employing the 3-Q technique on the lower lateral neck platform

     Oh, yes...Adam also has two ABR machines with 8 bladders inflating throughout the night..sacrum, abdomen, hips, thorax and mid vertebral column...also a set of high quality ear plugs.  He sleeps like a baby.
     Before you feel bad for Adam because of all the ABR, please remember that we usually give him one a week off from all therapies.  Really nice of us, no?

      For my adventurous readers, Leonid will be presenting and doing a live assessment at the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities on April 18 in Hawaii ... still time to sign up...LINK to brochure.   It would make for a nice vacation on short notice!