I was diagnosed with chronic mono (a.k.a. C.F.I.D.S.-Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction
Syndrome) in 1982, by my family doctor. I was 15 years old and had lost 32 pounds
in four weeks. This was to be a recurrent symptom for years. My name was well known
by the doctors specializing in chronic fatigue at University Hospital in Cleveland,
Ohio. It was eventually confirmed that my case was in the top 2% of severity in
the U.S. Unfortunately, the "specialists" offered no relief.
Update February, 2008
Now I'm 41 years old and as a result of continuing good diet, basic
neurological
information Mike has learned from Dr. Kurt Vreeland and the treatments Mike provides
and desire, my health continues to improve. For example, I still manage a garden
center and have more energy than almost every 20 and 30 year old that I hire. I
am able to work 40+ hours every week and 65+ from mid-May through the end of July
and still have a family life. In April 2007, my wife, son and I adopted and brought
home our daughter from Guatemala. She will be 2 in February and busy, busy, busy.
My pain levels are extremely low to nonexistent; my ranges of motion, muscle strength
and tone are all excellent. Weather changes affect me much less than ever before,
especially the "winter doldrums".
I strive for improved overall health. I do not succeed every day by any means but
by developing consistent patterns of good health, my family and friends around me
notice significant improvement. My pattern consists of a healthy diet,
exercise,
seeing Mike Jones, and using the information and tools he has gathered.
I am in the "tune
up" club for evaluation, follow-up and new information.
What Mike Jones practices and applies is not a panacea. It is a program for enough
life style change and neurological manipulation to get you back to being as healthy
as you literally wish to be. Amazingly, each time I think I am satisfied with my
progress, I see another change that makes it that much better.
Cordially,
Ron Thomas
Feel free to contact me at crystalcascadesponds@yahoo.com. Please mention "Mike
Jones information" in the subject line.
Introduction
It is important for those reading this site to understand I am fully resolving fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and that
Dr. Leonard Knell, an orthopedic physician is documenting these results (see physician's
research). In May of 1988 I experienced a severe bicycle accident, was in a coma
for a short period of time, and gradually developed all of the symptoms of fibromyalgia
and chronic fatigue syndrome, having severe pain and sleeping up to 15 hours per
day. Additionally,besides having the symptoms of raynaud's syndrome, restless leg
syndrome,and tourette's syndrome, I was diagnosed with a 35-50 percent permanent
disability, with the understanding that I would have difficulty making a living.
It took me nine years to figure out the pieces of this puzzle to fully resolve my
complaints and be able to do the same with others.Three and one half years after
my initial diagnosis I had followup testing with a neurosurgeon and found I was
misdiagnosed, with the surgeon stating he believed I had a functional problem, which
means there was no permanent damage but full function was not there. His findings
were based on EEG testing and a neurological exam. Gradually after spending an unbelievable
amount of money over a period of years, I figured out my problems were coming from
stressed soft tissues that would not respond to any of the extensive list of therapies
available. Please visit the link fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome to understand
how these conditions are caused and how they are able to be reversed.
Although this site focuses primarily on fibromyalgia and chronic
fatigue syndrome and how to resolve these conditions, I have found that this
protocol works extremely well for all cases, especially when looking for the cause
of dysfunction and to facilitate longevity, athletic performance, and health. Although
neuromuscular therapy is the framework of our program, only the addition of other information has allowed me to see a very different picture of health when
working with people. The most potent of these techniques I have learned from Dr.
Kurt Vreeland and most recently his son Court Vreeland from the Vreeland Clinic
in Norwich, Vermont. They are both chiropractors who are Board Certified Chiropractic
Neurologists. The Neurology diplomat is a 300 credit hour course followed by a
rigorous standardized national exam. Everyone I see reveals that their neurological
system is overloaded to the point that local or specific problems are heavily influenced
by the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This very seldom shows up
with traditional testing and treatment unless one has the tools to peel away layers
of inflammation that exist in everyone. I have found it is extremely important to know the appropriate timing when and where to massage different areas of the body in order to keep a balance. In other words, many times after the specific massage, a person's tissues will become more oxygenated
yet unstable until proper scientific bodywork is applied to the area.
Today the medical community is accepting that inflammation is a major factor in
aging and degenerative disease. Those with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome
(CFIDS) have soft tissues that are highly inflamed. The cause of these conditions
has typically not been discovered by the medical community because soft tissue dysfunction
is touched upon only minimally in medical school. This is why many doctors still
do not accept fibromyalgia and CFIDS as "real" conditions and give very few options
for health improvement for people with these diagnoses. Dr.Knell (see physician
research) explains this further: "Mike has brought back to my attention much of
the physiology of the neuromuscular system, which we as physicians once learned,
but over the years seemed to forget". We are finding that high levels of inflammation
exist in everyone as we are going deeper into areas of the body with our new techniques.
Since inflammation causes aging and disease and limits a healthy lifestyle, it is
exciting to be eliminating these high levels of inflammation that people don't realize
they have.
Our research and experience, personally and professionally, demonstrates that those
with CFIDS and fibromyalgia have stress as the primary cause of their bodies becoming
overloaded. Consequently, their bodies shut down with pain and dysfunction. All
of us have stress in today's fast paced society, yet when one inquires about the
emotional and stress history of someone with fibromyalgia or CFIDS, we find not
only a high level of stress, but also a more uncomfortable background than the average
person. Those with CFIDS and fibromyalgia tend to have one or more of the following
patterns; poor boundaries in their lives, a tendency to engage in unhealthy relationships,
an ability to push themselves physically by overachieving in an attempt to make
up for a lack of satisfying relationships, poor communication skills, and they often
come from family backgrounds where they didn't feel connected. Candace Pert, PH.D.,
has demonstrated in her research that neuropeptides or messenger molecules connect
the brain and the body so that essentially the brain and body are intertwined and
reliant on each other to a much greater degree than previously thought. In other
words, our emotional well-being and physical well-being are intimately affected
by the other. That is also what we have found in our clinical experience.
In addition, if you read the article on Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue, you will
see that Dan Buskila, M.D., found in his study that people with trauma to the cervical
(neck) region were 13 times more likely to develop fibromyalgia than someone with
trauma to the lower extremity. This is consistent with the research from Dr. Vreeland
that shows that most signals to the brain come from the cervical area. However,
many people have cervical whiplashes or trauma that don't result in fibromyalgia
or CFIDS. Our experience shows the ones with the previously mentioned uncomfortable
family and social backgrounds will be much more likely to develop fibromyalgia and/or
CFIDS than those with a simple physical injury.
Scientific research on the idea that injured and tight soft tissues cause dysfunction
is well documented, yet very little is heard about the results because this area
is not the emphasis and focus of the traditional medical world. To effectively treat
a condition, one must know the cause. We have found that the stress involved in
those with CFIDS and fibromyalgia needs to be addressed in some form, as this is
the primary reason for their high levels of pain and dysfunction. By addressing
this stress, it allows specific body work and neuromuscular therapy to
be effective in eliminating the soft tissue dysfunction. Most of the time I find that stress is reduced simply by establishing healthy boundaries and putting their health first. I have found that most of us make
the healing process too complicated. At the core of health is balance. Since we
live in an imbalanced world, my approach gives you guidance to allow balance in your
life. Please read the article on fibromyalgia and CFIDS and Dr. Knell's letter for
more information on the cause of your condition and the tools to allow resolution.
By using the information set forth above along with more recent scientific information results have been the discovery of some of the most amazing changes I have ever
seen. What I now believe is that the tissues of
a healthy person should be extremely loose all over. This goes beyond anything ever expected. For example, I had to buy a height/weight machine because so many
people on our program were gaining height and I wanted to document these results.
People are losing body fat, gaining muscle mass and developing healthy muscle
tone faster than before with NO EXERCISE. Athletes have and will continue to set
personal bests with our program. (See Scott Marshall's testimonial.) Please understand
that this protocol I have developed can be applied to all types of dysfunction and
also to those who believe they are already healthy to allow even greater health
improvements.
At the risk of getting technical for a few moments, I'd like to share with you a
fascinating observation. I have found that the left side of the body, (most notably
the cervical and thoracic areas) is heavily influencing the function of the rest
of the body and the central integrative state (balance of the core). I discovered
this because all those I have examined have abnormal tightness and alignment more
on the left side than the right. The whole neurological system is thrown off trying
to adjust to this. Additionally, most 1A afferents (signals to the brain) come from
the left side of the body. So, if the area is tight and sending the majority of
signals, more C fibers (the ones that try to protect you by shutting your tissues
down so you don't bleed, etc.) will be sent which then cause dysfunction and pain.
I have examined over 150 people and counting outside of my practice to confirm this,
including those who believe they have no limitations. All have had one or more of
the following: more tightness, abnormal alignment, restricted range of motion and
ischemia (lack of blood flow) on the left side than the right. Even those with right
sided restrictions have the left side being the main cause of this abnormal nervous
system function. I have not seen evidence of this information in all the contacts,
research and traveling I have done across the U.S. looking for answers. We have
found no other health care practitioner or research that demonstrates this condition.
Although I have gradually seen more evidence of this over time this evidence in the clinic has been undeniable in the last year
because of the additional improvements I have made. One of the most interesting
observations I have made is after the proper bodywork I find layers
of tissues that respond in ways not seen with just bodywork of any kind. It takes
us approximately three times as long to treat the left side of the body as does
the right as there is much more ischemia on the left of all those we treat. This
is much more interesting when you remember that most 1A afferents come from the
left side or in other words most sensory (information to the brain) is from the left.
If the tissues are tight and dysfunctional on the left as we find in all people,
health is compromised.
I believe the majority of the inflammation and lack of oxygen we are seeing is largely
due to our fast paced lifestyle, chemicals in our environment, very poor nutrition,
decreased nutrition from our soil and the fact that most of our foods are processed,
along with breakdown in our family and social connections. Oxygen is the most important element for health and vitality. Our research shows a large
decrease in oxygen being delivered to the tissues of those we have examined and
treated including those we have examined outside of our practice. One does not typically
find what we are seeing unless the proper steps and techniques are used. These techniques
have resulted in the discovery of those additional layers of inflammation hidden
under numbness people don't feel.
Neuromuscular therapy alone, although vitally important,
doesn't allow the response that is presently being seen: layers of tight tissues that are lacking
oxygen that I didn't discover with neuromuscular therapy only and are releasing
with the addition of our advanced neurological information. Perhaps the most exciting
result of this increased circulation is the body's response to stress. I have noticed
that those I see have their nervous system functioning at a much healthier
level. Once a client's neurological system is stabilized, the result is additional
stress merely improves the system because more "good signals" are being recruited
so the stimulus of that stress simply sends more good signals. As an example, someone going through a divorce and someone else who had a car accident both have made huge improvements in areas of the body that were originally slow
in responding to our therapy because of the stress they had encountered. It's one
of those things you have to experience or be involved in as their therapist to truly
believe.
Most of the time, even those who have emotional stress
as the primary source of their condition, respond well simply because
they put themselves first by making it a priority to regain their health. Intention
is a powerful mechanism in healing. Support groups, such as emotions anonymous,
assertiveness classes, Al-anon, and counseling are options. So is the simple effort
of reaching out to a friend or friends. Of all the powerful techniques I have garnered
over the years, the most effective changes I have seen in the nervous systems of
those I see are when people feel supported and are heard. Additionally, I believe
it is essential to eliminate processed or refined food, eat organic, and engage
in a cleansing program for the liver and colon to eliminate the overload of chemicals
and byproducts of our processed food from our environment to truly be healthy.
Probably the most important aspect is knowing when to do what, or
knowing the proper steps to use when working with those I see so as not to overload
their neurological system. This is the main reason I have seen the impressive improvements
in the overall health, quality and looseness of the tissues of those utilizing my information.
I was misdiagnosed medically as a result of a severe bike accident, given a 35-50%
permanent disability and told I would have difficulty making a living. I endured
all the symptoms of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and also those of raynauds
syndrome, restless leg syndrome and tourettes syndrome. These symptoms lasted for
nine years until I finally put the pieces of this program I use together by finding
Dr. Kurt Vreeland in Norwich, Vermont. .Today I am healthier than ever in my life
and excited about even more improvements. My purpose in developing this web site
is to help educate others and to give people hope. Most of those whom I treat stay
with me for long periods of time for maintenance once their health concerns are
eliminated. Therefore, I only have a few openings for those who wish to be treated.
Please help me find neuromuscular massage therapists I can share the knowledge I have gained so they can help
so many others. As you read Dr.Knell's letter, understand that I have approximately
fifteen people whom I successfully treated that would have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia
that I cannot add to my list of people with full resolution because my license doesn't
allow me to diagnose. I did not have a doctor working with me at the time to allow
them to be diagnosed. However, as with Carol Cramlet (see testimonials) these people
were obviously in that category as their lives were very limited from their pain
and dysfunction.
I share the research and options for those who wish to explore this healthy opportunity.
Again, please help me spread the word to attract therapists so
we can help many others who are suffering or merely want to be healthy and vibrant.
I can be reached at 330-491-0544 or on the web at jhistjonesy@gmail.com.
Best in health,
Michael Jones B.A LMT