This DVD is a great illustration of what real therapy looks like. It follows Tom Green a 34 year old Masters athlete with a serious (and I mean serious!) injury history. It tracks his quest to make the All American Masters standards by addressing his long term nagging problems with the help of Charlie and Dr Mike Prebeg. For those really wanting to expand their understanding of sports medicine this movie provides a fascinating and unique insight. I really can’t imagine there is anything else like this on the market.
Content:
Charlie goes to meet Tom at the Airport and takes him to see Mike. They discuss his medical history in depth over a period of some 10 minutes that leads Mike to diagnose Tom as the worlds first truly Bionic Man (regarding all the metal that seems to be floating around inside his body). They discuss Tom’s goals for the week long training period and before moving onto the massage couch for a full examination and treatment.
What follows is an in depth explanation and demonstration of ART and contemporary medical acupuncture as first seen in the Jane DVD.
Mike runs through his functional tests explaining exactly what he is looking for with each one. For me this was really interesting as while I am not a medical professional I have occasionally been experimenting with some basic functional tests (taught to me by a Osteopath friend) to gauge whether things I am seeing on the track perhaps correlate with joint ROM and strength imbalances. While I now have 6 months experience at massage it just amazes me how Mike can run his hands over skin and identify adhesions and other problematic areas.
Once the exam is over, Mike explains what he intends to do during the session and pulls out the EMS unit and acupuncture needles! You then get to see Mike stick 8 needles in Toms back and a number in his piriformis and down the lateral side of his right hand glute/IT band (all of which seem to go in very dee!), attach the leads and set the needles twitching.
The film resumes some 15 minutes later as Mike removes the needles and sets to work with his manual techniques. Having read the patent on ART, I could really see what mike was doing as he worked his way from one facial plane to the next. Mike then whips out a Jade stone to loosen up some more tight areas on the hip. This was one technique I have not seen before and it looks as if it may even be possible to apply it to ones self in certain circumstances.
Mike then moves onto Toms big toe explaining how the tight flexor hallucis longus is affecting toe off. Have a few minutes more work you get to see the improvement as Tom stands up and is amazed at his improved range of motion. At this point the film fades to black.
Conclusion:
The most specialist film in the CF.com catalogue to date, this is an invaluable insight into the kind of treatment athletes really should be getting week in week out. While athletes can gain a great deal from the movie, like the Jane DVD before it, this may be one to round off your collection rather than begin it. TThat said I cannot recommend it highly enough for massage therapists, medical professionals, coaches and anyone else who really want to understand what good therapy entails.
I just watched it today. It’s very informative. There is no training information. It’s pure therapy.
The use of the jade stone was very interesting. It’s basically a slab of jade that is used similar to the Graston method of using metal implements to enhance tactical detection and treatment of adhesions. When I was in Toronto I was treated by Mike Prebeg’s associate Ty Ashcroft who did some Graston work on my achilles/calves. It was very effective. The use of the jade is an interesting variation.
Regarding Tom’s injury history, dear Lord! It’s a miracle this guy isn’t in a wheelchair (which he was for a while as he discusses on the DVD). I don’t care how many muscles pulls you’ve had, you have no idea what injury is until you hear Tom’s medical history.
I would especially recommend this DVD to anyone who is considering a career in sports medicine or physical medicine. This gives you a glimpse into the process of rebuilding an athlete. It’s like porn for therapy geeks.
I’ll ask him. It’s very smooth but requires a good deal of judgement and experience to use. The Graston bars give you a lot of feedback as the sensation/vibration from passing over adhesions is amplified.
Be careful with the Graston bars and Jade tools. One of my athletes was in Calgary for a bobsleigh development camp. He tweaked his hamstring (as the workload can be very high for some of the push sessions). The therapist on hand claimed that he tore the fascia of his hamstring, and proceeded to work him over with the Graston bar. Not very helpful.
We got him back home and did some basic hamstring rehab (as per Charlie Francis) and light manual therapy and got him back to health in 5-7 days. He easily full squatted (cheeks to the floor) 375lbs for 3 reps the other day. I’d say he’s back in the saddle.
Mike Prebeg is a skilled therapist and I would trust him with whatever technique he is using. But just because some other therapist has a Graston bar or a piece of jade in his or her hands, doesn’t mean you will get great therapy. You might just get some guy rubbing a rock on your ass.
I just saw a copy of the downloadable version of this DVD that will be up for sale on the site soon.
It clocks in at 103Mb and plays full screen with good audio. It isn’t DVD quality but it will save us all on shipping. Total download time was just under 15minutes! Its going to be cool when all the CF.com DVDs are downloadable… much less hassle with shipping etc.