Myofascial Release Work:
How It All Started
John F. Barnes
September – October 2024 • Vol 4, No 12
You and I were taught logical theories that explained how various techniques accomplished their goals. But theories are stories we make up to explain phenomena. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a physical therapist in 1960. I am a very logical person and accepted the theories taught in school and in scientific texts as factual. My entire belief system was then violently ripped apart in an instant when I experienced a life-changing injury. I had been a good athlete—sprinted the 100-yard dash in track events, threw the shot put, played football, skied, drove motor-cycles, swam and excelled at competitive karate and weightlifting. But after being injured, my strength was tested both mentally and physically.
Let me go back to the trauma that changed my life, my belief systems and radically expanded my mind and view of healing. I was training for an upcoming weightlifting competition and went to the gym to work out. There was no one else there to help “spot” me. I was doing high repetition squats with more than 300 pounds, and I got to the point where I couldn’t get up from my last repetition. I had been a gymnast when I was younger, so I decided to do a “back roll” to get out from under the weight, forgetting that when your hands are grasping a bar with more than 300 pounds on it, your hands can’t let go. I crashed on the ground with tremendous force, herniating the disc at L5 and ripping my lumbar ligaments. I laid on the ground stunned and unable to move.
I felt numb from the waist down. After the numbness and shock subsided, the pain began to run through my body, and my body shook violently. In that horrible instant, the things I love most—motion and competition—were taken from me!
Life became a struggle. I tried every form of therapy available only to be disappointed with temporary results. No one wanted to get better more than me, but I felt trapped by the pain. I was in worse shape than most of my patients. An orthopedist recommended spinal surgery and fused my L5 area. The surgery helped to decrease the pain intensity, but I still had constant pain, fatigue, and limited motion.
There was a point when I realized nobody was going to help me but me. I started to lie on my living-room floor and treat myself. I found if I put pressure into the areas that hurt or felt hard, it helped to relieve the pain. However, I was still very strong and was trying to “force” my way through the restrictions. Over time, I learned to be gentler and more patient when I treated my tight and painful areas. I learned that the problems were not at the “end range,” as we were taught. The real problems were in the fascial restrictions that lie before the “end range,” which created symptoms, limitation of the “end range,” and the resultant pain.
As I continued to treat myself, I made such a dramatic recovery that I realized I had stumbled onto something very important. I had to share this knowledge with my patients and fellow therapists. I found as I put sustained pressure into the tightness, I started to have strange sensations that went far beyond the origin and insertion of a particular muscle.
I eventually realized that the principles I was developing must be re-leasing the connective tissue—the fascia. It was during this time I also fully realized how vital the mind-body connection is in the healing process.
I hope to share with you the principles I have developed from my own personal experience and gleaned from my clients/patients from around the world over decades.
We will explore an exciting new paradigm that is emerging and the important concepts of piezoelectricity, fiber optics, mechano-transduction, fluid dynamics, quantum physics, fractal geometry, complexity, chaos theory, and cellular consciousness.
Health-care is undergoing a massive shift, and you and I are the pioneers of an exciting change that will lead to a significantly higher quality of care.
Sincerely, John F. Barnes
Reprinted from a brochure for Myofascial Release Treatment Centers & Seminars in Malvern, PA. To find an MFR therapist near you, visit: Myofascial Release.com or call 1-800-FASCIAL (327-2425) to learn more. Article sponsored by Mary Loveless, LMT, PDA, C. Ped, Practitioner of the John F. Barnes Approach to Myofascial Release in Great Falls, MT. Come and see us in our offices in Great Falls or Florence, MT.
