Multiple Sclerosis And My Need for Bodywork

If tai chi was to be the principal way of managing my MS, I felt that my tai chi development was being hindered by preexisting conditions: poor posture, stiffness, and limited range of movement. The MS exacerbated the problems. I was less and less able to rely on lifetime habits of holding and moving my body. So four years ago I began a program of bodywork.

At first it was physical therapy, more than 20 sessions, in which I discovered just how stiff I was. The first PT observed that I was one of the stiffest persons he had ever seen. And this was after eight years of tai chi practice. In addition to making a wonderful new friendship with the PT Assistant, I learned that not only did I not know how to stretch but I didn’t know what a real stretch felt like. I got a taste and began a daily program of stetching but it was evident that I needed more.

The next phase was working with a chiropractor who had developed techniques for opening joints through powerful manipulations. Although the sessions themselves were painful, thankfully I never had any residual pain from the manipulations. Over several years, I began to experience expanded range of movement in all of my joints, many of which I didn’t know I had. The homework exercises preserved the changes and I noticed immediately a greater ease of movement in my tai chi practice.

I was making progress but knew more needed to be done. I began seeing another skilled body worker, a yoga instructor, who worked on trigger points to release the muscles that had become taut cables. She saw how I carried my weight forward and worked with me on the table and with floor exercises to get the pelvis and sternum activated. The cabling was my body's adaptation to forward leaning posture; the contracted muscles were holding me up. The pelvis had to be activated before the cabling could be released.

I was also fortunate to have a good friend who was completing her Feldenkreis instructor training who creatively used hands-on Feldenkreis. Her skills introduced me to the feelings associated with fluid and unhindered movement and how large changes were often the product of mindful tiny-tiny movements.

I am on a path leading to increasing flexibility. My deficits are so great that achieving normal range of movement, in many instances, is a remarkable achievement. I credit the bodywork, the teachings and skills of these wonderful people, with enabling me to step up my tai chi training as I go about reinventing my body movements to stay ahead of the MS progression. I can’t imagine where I’d be without their help.

The daily tai chi practice provides a disciplined sequence of movements that challenges me to integrate the changes brought about by bodywork. In effect, each tai chi practice is also a continuation of the bodywork.