Palpation

A Sense of Things

Barrett L. Dorko, P.T. In 1992 I did a presentation for The International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Therapists about the potential effect of manual care upon the therapist. I spoke of stretch-activated ion channels in the therapist’s hands, reflexive effect and my personal experience of increasing sensitivity as I remained in the clinic year after year. Geoffrey Maitland, the highly respected founder of manual care in Australia, moderated the session and he addressed the 700 therapists gathered as I took my seat. “I don’t know about you,” he said, “but that was beautiful music to my ears.” I was pleased,…

The analgesia of movement: Ideomotor activity and manual care

Barrett L. Dorko, P.T. There is a certainty common to many of those who focus on manual means for pain relief: we are certain that the body naturally and perpetually moves in a way that promotes health and optimal function (called inherent movement). This motion is often easily observed, but at times is only palpable. We are certain that our methods of manipulation should take this movement into account, and thus we typically employ our hands, not in an effort to create shapes or impose forces, but as instruments of perception and communication. First and foremost, we look for and…

Beaten’ On The Drum

Barrett L. Dorko P.T. I played the snare drum from the age of nine until I graduated from high school. Late in my career I was told of lessons given by the tympanist for the Cleveland Orchestra. I heard that during the first hour’s lesson the student got to hit the kettle drum exactly once. Having hit drums countless times for a few years, my adolescent mind thought, “What a rip off!” Still, I never forgot this description of a lesson I never took and today I think I understand why. William Garner Sutherland DO, the originator of cranial osteopathy,…