Osteopathic Medicine
Why I became a D.O. OMT Overview Respiratory-Circulatory Method of Zink Respiratory-Circulatory Method of Zink
ABOUT DR. ZINK
J. Gordon Zink, D.O. was my Osteopathic Mentor. A mentor is more than just a teacher. It is someone who inspires and teaches to the degree that there is some aspect of their style of being you would like reflected through yourself. Dr. Zink mentored me, consciously took me under his wing and spent time with me. He taught me what true Osteopathic Medical Philosophy and Practice. He showed me how to face overwhelming adversity with hope and inspiration. He trained me to always be listening as I was doing, in hands-on healing.
Dr. Zink was an Osteopathic Family Physician who specialialized in Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy for at least 3 decades.
Dr. Zink developed a philosphy of how to approach the body based on the mechanics of respiration and circulation. This was basically a fluid model of approaching the body and more specifically based on the lymphatic system. Dr. Zink was a fanatic about his approach and I felt for good reason. When I met Dr. Zink as a first year medical student (1979) he was already compromised with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (i.e. ALS). This progressive neurological paralysis leads first to loss of function in the extemities and then moves centrally. First you lose function in hands, then it moves up toward the shoulders and into the neck and throat. At first you have trouble writing then moving your arms then shrugging your shoulders, holding your head up, talking, swallowing... smiling.
By the time I first met Dr. Zink he was barely able to talk but was able to move his limbs and write some (utilizing his arm, rather then wrist muscles). Before he became ill he was a rapid fire lecturer who ripped through an amazing amount of material in an hour all from a very unique perspective. He drove a motorcycle with a vanity liscense plate that read "LYMPH" and was affectionately known as a "Lymphomaniac".
All because of his emphasis on the lymphatic system in general health and especially in reference to applying manipulative therapy.
Here are some initial comments on The Respiratory-Circulatory Method of Zink (RCMZ),
I will expand this section more in the near future.
THE MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM IS NEVER PERFECTLY SYMETRIC IN THE LIVING BODY
When we look at the pictures of the skeleton and muscles, it looks like the body is perfectly symetrical. A lot of bodywork done today is to "align people" and make them straight again, like they are supposed to be. When structurally assessing individuals in the supine position (lying on their back) we find that people are never symetric. There are functional patterns winding through every aspect. Patterns that result from the body being used and the forces placed upon. Patterns that seem like functional rotoscoliosis twists, with full compensation, from the sacral base and reflected up through the cranium.
These patterns are how the body compensates for the demands of living placed upon it. The structure is never perfectly straight or aligned and seeking that as a goal of therapy is frought with inherent failure. This is why "the adjustment never holds" and why people try to get straight through frequent chiropractic manipulations (say, weekly). People will never stay straight because they are not meant to be that way.
Here are some factors that contribute to common patterns of compensation. Some factors are common to all humans, which result in certain common patterns of compensation being seen in most people. Also each individual has their own life variables influencing these patterns as well.
Factors influencing the "Common Compensatory Pattern" (ie. why people are not symetric)
We are not born symetric.
Newborns are curled into an asymetric fetal position and take quite a while to stretch out. Their particular fetal position pattern is influenced by many things.
Our internal organs are not symetric.
Such as our liver under right ribcage and stomach and spleen under left ribcage, as one example of many. This results in asymetric physical forces and asymetrical entry of impulses into the spinal cord.
Our central nervous system is not symetric.
We are right handed or left handed (not to mention our dominant eye or foot). Our right and left brains are very different. Nervous signals coming and going from the spinal cord are not symetric.
The cranial bones are not symetric.
Any Craniosacral specialist or Facial Plastic Surgeon will confirm that the left half of the face is different then the right. Asymetry is easily seen in ever face and head.
Our activities of daily living are not symetric.
Clutch on the left, gas on the right.
Subtle forces we live in are not symetric.
Is there an influence of the moon on us? it moves the tides. How about the spinning of the earth, or its rolling around the sun? What about movement of the planets?
THE GOAL OF THERAPY IS MOVEMENT AND FUNCTION, not symetry.
WHen treating someone with RCMZ bodywork the goal is to improve and balance movement and function. When someone is in a pattern that leaves their pelvis rotated to the right, with restricted motion to the left I will treat them TOWARD symetry. I will make their pelvis move more freely sometimes by pushing it through the restriction (to the left) which is toward symmetry (in the direction to make them straight). My goal is not that they will stay straight, they won't. My goal is to improve movement and flow (ie. release the restriction) within whatever pattern they take.
TREAT THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM BY IMPROVING THE MECHANICS OF RESPIRATION
Lymphatic fluid moves through lymphatic vessels to be drained into the great veins in the left chest near the heart. Lymphatic fluid moves by two basic mechanisms. In the extremities the muscles and fascia help massage lymph into the abdomen and thorax. Once in the trunk it is pressure differentials that develope with every breath that cause movement of lymphatic and venous fluid back to the heart.
Every time someone takes a breath in they expand their chest via rib muscles moving expanding the ribcage and by the diaphragm contracting and moving down, also expanding the chest cavity. This is like what happens when someone opens and accordian. They make the cavity inside the accordian bigger (which actually lowers the atmospheric pressure inside the box compared to the outside) so that air rushes in. When they compress the cavity the opposite occurs (air pressure inside box is greater then outside) so air rushes out.
Thus with every inhalation as the chest cavity expands, the pressure in the chest (above the diaphragm) is lower then the outside pressure causing a sucking of air into the lungs. And not only is air sucked into the lungs, fluid is sucked into the vessels of the chest from the abdomen. This is how most venous and lymphatic fluid moves back to the heart, pressure differentials occuring due to proper functioning of this "thoraco-abdominal pump".
IMPROVING THE MECHANICS OF RESPIRATION
Thinking about the anatomy and physiology of the Lymphatic System guides treatment via Respiratory-Circulatory Method. First we need to mobilize and open terminal drainage in the chest before we move a bunch of peripheral fluid there. A wide variety of treatment techniques can be used to fit the patient, whether they be a healthy individual or someone on a ventilator in the ICU.
Treatment begins by opening the THORACIC INLETwhich Osteopathically is considered a very complicated and important area. Attention is paid to mobilizing and releasing the complex of structured involving the lower neck, clavicle and first rib. Attention is then paid to all physical structures making up the thoracic spine, ribs and diaphragm with special attention to the fascia. This is done to improve movement of the thoraco-abdominal pump.
The lumbar spine and Sacram are addressed and are very important.
(((MORE WORDS COMING VERY SOON!!!)))
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