Curing Chronic Pain

Profile Of A Typical Candidate For Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy

Rothbart — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:34:44 +0000

Do I fit into the profile of a person who has an abnormal foot structure? Might I be a candidate for Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy?

You may have asked yourself these questions after having read about the Rothbarts Foot, the PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity and the therapy I developed which effectively treats these foot structures that cause chronic musculoskeletal pain.

To answer your questions, I'd like to tell you a bit about the typical patients that I treat. They are very ill people dealing with excruciating, unrelenting muscle and joint pain to the point that it's destroying their physical and mental wellbeing. They are sufferers whose lives of pain are probably very similar to what you are experiencing in your life right now.

My patients' painful conditions often started as children with symptoms such leg cramps, which the family doctor diagnosed as "just growing pains." When they entered their teens they started getting low back pain that came and went. In their twenties, they possibly had an ankle or knee injury that never fully healed and then suddenly, they started having pain coming and going in various muscles and joints of their body. In their thirties and forties, their pain became more consistent and disabling to the point that they had to take pain medication and undergo multiple surgeries.

These pain sufferers were often told that there was nothing more that could be done for them and to plan on being in a wheelchair by the age of sixty.

This seemingly unsolvable, multidimensional problem made most of these chronic pain sufferers suicidal. Having been to so many different practitioners, been given so many different labels (sometimes psychoneurotic), been treated with so many different drugs (that were making them sicker than they were before they started taking them) had undergone so many invasive surgeries (often with no recovery) and suffering with unrelenting pain for so many years, these people justifiably became depressed. Then……….their doctor put them on anti-depressant drugs.

It was a downward, downward spiral, which if not reversed; any semblance of quality of life would come to an end. With one last ounce of hope, they came to me.

This is the profile of my typical patient. But there is a happy ending to the above story. It goes like this: If the sufferer has one of two inherited abnormal foot structures, either the Rothbarts Foot or PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity, I can help them and put an end to their chronic pain for good.

Because about 80% of the world population has one of these two foot structures, chances are that if you identify with the scenario above, you most likely were born with one of them.

Are You A Candidate For Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy?

Because you have been through the mill of pain management and disappointment one too many times, I highly suggest that you consider my therapy one step at a time:

First take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire. This will help you determine if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that cause chronic muscle and joint pain.

Read some testimonials of former pain sufferers who completed Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy by clicking here.

Then if you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

When your general questions have been answered and you are ready to talk with me in an Initial Phone Consultation about resolving your chronic pain, Click here to make an appointment.

Don't let chronic pain rob you of a healthy, happy life. Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy is the key to curing all-over muscle and joint pain caused by abnormal foot structures.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Professor/Dr. Brian A. Rothbart
Chronic Pain Elimination Specialist
Discovered the Rothbarts Foot and PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity
Developer of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy
Designer of Rothbart Proprioceptive Insoles
Founder of International Academy of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy
Author of Forever Free From Chronic Pain

Multiple Surgeries And Stronger Drugs Don’t Arrest Chronic Pain

Rothbart — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:04:39 +0000

Pain (such as sharp knee pain, hips ache and low back pain) is an effective survival mechanism your body uses to quickly get your attention that something is very wrong. If you keep ignoring it, the pain volume control cranks up until you can't ignore it any longer. The pain becomes chronic and you must take action.

Unfortunately, we don't have a second survival mechanism that clearly spells out what's causing the pain and what's the correct action to remedy it. And with chronic pain it's even more difficult as the source of the pain is hidden so most doctors have no inkling on how to effectively treat it.

Every day I receive emails from chronic pain sufferers explaining that after their 5th surgery their pain medication is no longer working and can I recommend a stronger drug to make their pain stop?

My answer is that surgery and drugs will not make your pain go away because they are not addressing the cause of your pain. Due to your own lack of understanding and your doctor's false beliefs, you are being led down a blind alley. Let me explain using the following story:

Imagine reaching your hand towards a hot burner. Your nerves tell you that your hand is getting hot. Your hand continues towards the burner and now your nerves warn you that things are getting extremely uncomfortable. At this point, you probably realize that the source of your pain is the hot burner and to avoid disaster you need to withdraw your hand.

But what if (because you didn't understand the source of your pain was the hot burner) you kept your hand above the flame and started taking aspirin and ibuprofen for relief. And when they stopped working, you walked your body (and your burner) to a surgeon's office for his opinion on how to stop the pain in your hand.

The surgeon, intent on doing surgery and having an agenda of his own, didn't notice that your hand was hovering over a flame. He diagnosed a hand disorder and started cutting off your fingers, one at a time. When things got really edgy, he prescribed stronger and stronger drugs for your pain.

Maybe this scenario sounds utterly ridiculous because the cause of the hand pain is so obvious and the solution so simple. But the cause of your chronic muscle and joint pain is not so apparent.

What if the cause of your sharp knee pain, hip ache or low back pain was hidden in a body part seemingly unrelated to where you feel pain? What if even the most acclaimed specialists in the world couldn't find the cause of your chronic pain? What if they looked everywhere (ran all their tests) and performed multiple surgeries, but still couldn't get rid of your pain?

The Solution to Resolving Chronic Pain is Not More Surgery and Stronger Drugs

Years ago, I discovered a common cause of chronic muscle and joint pain – the Rothbarts Foot and PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity – two inherited abnormal foot structures which are found in about 80% of the world population. If you were born with one of these abnormal foot structures, when you stand or walk your feet will twist and distort your posture. Over time this creates chronic knee, hip and back pain. (For detailed information, see other blogs on this site).

Unlike the above story where the source of the hand pain is so obvious, these abnormal foot structures that create muscle and joint pain are not so apparent at all. In fact, they cannot be seen unless your doctor is trained to identify them using a technique of putting your foot in its' anatomical neutral position, which shows the presence of an abnormal foot structure. But because none of his traditional tests tell him that your chronic pain is coming from your feet, he treats you with surgery and drugs, just to manage your pain.

The ultimate resolution to this non productive situation is to recognize that your hand is on the burner (the cause of your pain) and that the only solution is to take it off. In other words, find the cause of your chronic pain and then receive a treatment that will resolve the problem.

I suggest that you take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire to find out if you may have an inherited abnormal foot structure creating your chronic pain. If you answer many of the questions in the affirmative, your next step is to read about my therapy.
To take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire, click here.

Whether your chronic pain manifests as sharp knee pain, hip ache or low back pain, why struggle with temporary fixes and treatments that only work in the short term, like multiple surgeries and stronger drugs?

As you learn more about my innovative therapy, you may find that addressing and effectively treating your foot structure may be the missing link to ending your long time battle with unrelenting muscle and joint pain.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

For more information on how abnormal foot structures create chronic pain, read: Did You Know The Foot Can Create Muscle And Joint Pain In The Entire Body?

Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy – The Science of Miracles

Rothbart — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:53:01 +0000

In this age of high tech, you've probably have heard the term 'Miracles of Science'. In my medical practice, using Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, I have the good fortune of seeing the results realized by a Science of Miracles. Does this sound pretentious? Keep reading and then decide for yourself.

One definition of the word 'miracle' is 'Something that excites admiring awe or wonder.'

Two definitions of the word 'science' are 'The experimental investigation and theoretical explanation of phenomena' and 'Knowledge acquired through study.'

Most of us would agree that the workings of the human body is a miracle. Just looking at the musculoskeletal skeletal system: 206 bones – could be more if you counted all the possible supernumerary (extra) bones – 639 skeletal muscles, more than 230 joints and approximately 4,000 tendons; all working together in harmony, automaticity and synchronicity. This is pretty miraculous.

Now let's bring our attention from the entire musculoskeletal system down to the feet and throw some foot 'Science' into the equation: How the foot functions not only determines its' health, but also the health of the entire musculoskeletal system and the wellbeing of the whole body. Let's look closer:

The bottom of the foot has millions of pressure sensitive mechanical receptors. As pressure is placed on these receptors (when you walk or stand) they are activated. From moment to moment, different mechanical receptors are activated, producing what is called a Pattern of Stimulation. These Patterns of Stimulation send a signal to the cerebellum in the brain, which it uses to determine where the body is in space (its' posture).

If the foot is twisting (excessively pronating) when you stand or walk, due to an abnormal foot structure (such as the Rothbarts Foot and PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity) the signals being sent to the cerebellum are distorted. They do not accurately describe or depict the position of the body in space.

However, the cerebellum assumes that these signals are accurate (not distorted) and acts on these distorted signals. The result is that the cerebellum automatically places the body into a distorted position (bad posture).

Bad posture results in excessive stress, strain and inflammation in the joints and muscles. Over time, if the cause (the abnormal foot structure) is not correctly diagnosed and effectively treated, the pain becomes chronic and more and more severe.

How do I know this? Science – The experimental investigation and theoretical explanation of phenomena. That is, my 40 years of research, my discovery of two inherited abnormal foot structures and a workable theoretical explanation of how these foot structures distort the posture and create chronic muscle and joint pain.

Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy Is A Science Of Miracles

It may seem impossible to permanently change the posture from distorted to upright; taking the body from impaired to mended. But when you understand the workings of the human body and how the posture is actually created and adjusted, this can be accomplished.

Changing the posture from distorted to more upright is done by changing the faulty signal (being sent from the feet to the brain) to a correct signal. This correct signal, in turn, will tell the cerebellum to automatically adjust the posture to a more vertical position.

This permanent postural correction is made through the use of specific prescriptive proprioceptive insoles placed under the feet, a treatment called Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy.

How did Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy develop? The answer is again 'Science'- Knowledge acquired through study. Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy encompasses the use of nine sciences: Physics, Mathematics, Biomechanics, Engineering, Biology, Human Physiology, Human Anatomy, Kinesiology and Embryology.

Through the use of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, the human body is assisted to heal itself from bad posture to good, from inflamed joints and muscles to health, from sickness and hopelessness to fitness. That's pretty miraculous, don't you think?

To read an incredibly inspiring letter that shows the collaborative result of science and miracles: read this Patient Testimonial

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that cause chronic muscle and joint pain, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

Finding The Source Of Your Chronic Pain Is The Key To Curing It

Rothbart — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:34:04 +0000

Video Transcript:

If you're suffering with chronic pain, there are times when you probably hurt in so many places that you can't decide where you hurt the most. And….. ..at the same time you may also have breathing or digestive problems, headaches and even problems with your balance. You're probably wondering how you could possibly have so many different ailments all at the same time and why is this happening to you.

You've probably been to a variety of doctors and received multiple diagnoses such as Chronic Pain Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia. At first, receiving a diagnosis can be a bit comforting – at least now you know that your problem has a name. But when you ask, 'What is the cause of this syndrome?' your doctors will probably tell you that it's arthritis, multiple injuries, exposure to toxic chemicals or even poor nutrition, old age or bad genes.

Your doctors may even tell you that they don't know the cause of your pain, or that maybe it's all in your head.

A young woman recently came to me with a similar experience. For years she suffered with tightness in her neck. Then she started having pain – that comes and goes – in her feet and low back. She saw many doctors, but no one could find the cause of her symptoms. Instead she was given a diagnosis of hysterical hypochondria and placed on antidepressants.

When I initially saw this woman she was upset, depressed and thought she had some kind of progressive, disabling, yet to be diagnosed disease. This poor pain sufferer went through needless agony because no one could determine the real cause of her problems and instead inferred that her symptoms were psychosomatic.

Finding The Cause Of Your Chronic Pain

Without knowing the real cause of your symptoms, there's no way to effectively treat them. It's like shooting in the dark. Unfortunately, this leaves you with only one option – pain management.

People often ask me – Is it possible that many of my symptoms can be coming from just one cause? The answer is – YES. Multiple symptoms can all come from one source.

In 2002, I discovered two inherited, abnormal foot structures that I suggest are a common cause of chronic pain syndrome. These two common foot structures – the Rothbarts Foot and the PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity – cause poor posture, which not only affects the joints and muscles, but also many other organs in the body.

If you have one of these two foot structures, my therapy will correct your bad posture which will in turn, greatly reduce or eliminate the many symptoms associated with your chronic pain syndrome. There is no need to manage chronic pain syndrome, when you can effectively treat the cause.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that cause chronic foot pain, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

An Interview With Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart: Part 3

Rothbart — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:20:05 +0000

The following is part 3 of a transcript of Dr. Robert Rose interviewing Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart which originally aired on Blog Talk Radio at "Rewiring Your Brain" . Guests of Dr. Rose are people who are "change agents" that are changing themselves and empowering others. You can get Dr. Rose's books and videos through his web site.

In the interview, Professor Rothbart talks with Dr. Rose about the therapy he (Professor Rothbart) discovered which 'rewires your brain' and allows you to heal from chronic, debilitating muscle and joint pain.

Chronic knee, hip and back pain is a problem of epidemic proportions leaving millions of sufferers desperate to find relief. But after trying invasive surgery and countless therapies in an effort to try something – anything – to alleviate their chronic pain, why are so many still aching with indescribable pain?The answer is that a very common source of chronic musculoskeletal pain has – until now – remained unknown. For this reason, the best that people can do is merely manage their chronic pain. In Professor Rothbart's groundbreaking book, Forever Free from Chronic Pain, he details his life's work and discoveries about a previously unknown, yet very common source of chronic muscle and joint pain, and provides a full explanation on how you, too, can finally free yourself from the bonds of chronic pain captivity.

In this interview with Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart on discovering the cause of chronic pain and how to heal it, you will discover:

*Why your current treatments for chronic muscle and joint pain don't work.

*What is the solution to end your chronic musculoskeletal pain – permanently.How to quickly determine if Professor Rothbart's therapy is for you.

*How you can take immediate action to rid yourself of your chronic pain.

*How, through advanced technology, your body will heal itself for good

Professor /Dr. Rothbart has spent the better part of 40 years in research and clinical practice in order to first find the source of chronic musculoskeletal pain and then how to permanently eliminate it. In his revolutionary approach, patients the world over have been treated successfully where all past therapies have failed.

Part 1 of the interview is here.

Part 2 of the interview is here.

Part 3 of the interview is below.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You know, replacing joints is treating the symptom. If you have a knee where the cartilage has been destroyed, or a hip where there's no cartilage there, and they say 'We have to put in a new joint.' That's treating the symptom. The question is what's causing the joint to deteriorate, to become degenerative. If you are born with one of these two foot structures, the way the foot moves can literally change the position of the knee or hip, it's like a car alignment problem. If the car has an alignment problem, what happens to the tires? You keep putting new tires on, it's not going to change the alignment, you're just going to go through tires. The way the foot moves can cause an alignment problem in the entire skeletal framework, which ends up doing to the hip, knee, back, neck and jaw, just like an alignment problem in a car can do to the tires. Now, if you go to a good mechanic, will he tell you just put new tires, or will he tell you 'Let's fix the alignment.' The same thing goes for orthopedic surgery. Does he put in a new joint, as a new tire, or does he say we need to fix the alignment? Which means you don't have to keep getting new tires.

I'm not against joint replacement when indicated. It's indicated when the joint is fused, it doesn't move, then you have to put in a new joint because the joint is frozen, it's locked, bone on bone, frozen, sealed together. Yes, then in those cases, or in trauma, yes, we do surgery. But for alignment problems, coming from this posture distortions, coming from the way the feet move, which leads to distortion of the knee or hip or back, no, you don't replace the joint, you fix the alignment and let the body heal itself. And, you know, I've had so many patients, just can go on my website, you can read the testimonies, who were scheduled for hip surgery replacement, well change your alignment, and guess what, they never needed surgery, the joint healed itself. It's not miraculous, it's the way the body works, fix the alignment, leave the body alone, let it heal itself. So, am I against orthopedic surgery? In most cases, yes. Some cases, no.

DOCTOR ROSE: When you go in to the orthopedic surgeon, that's his specialty, so he sees you just as someone that needs it, whether you need it or not.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You can't do that, you can't do that. You know, the biggest problem in specialty is you put your blinding sign. You can't treat parts of the body, you're treating a person. You're not treating a knee, you're not treating a hip, you're not treating a jaw, you're treating a human being. And you can't treat people like parts, you know. We don't have the luxury of being a mechanic that can just look at your suspension system and forget about the brakes, you know. Because you have to treat the whole person.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, they got your point. Okay.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: If I sound excited about it, it's because I'm passionate. I just feel so strongly about these things, I get a little…

DOCTOR ROSE: Well, it's pretty obvious. That's what makes you a good doctor, that's what made me a good teacher, because we feel for the people we work with.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You can't help it, you just can't help it.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay. Prolotherapy, what is it?

DOCTOR ROTHBART: Prolotherapy is an idea that came across that, they say 'All right, there's a problem with your knee.' The problem with your knee, this is how they go, the ligaments are weak, they're stretched out, they're not supporting the joint. Because, you know that joints are put together by ligaments. Ligaments, you know, hold the joints together. The cerebellum produces the posture, overall body posture, but the ligaments hold the joints in the position you're in. So, if the ligaments are stretching out, we need to do something about it. So what they do is the put in a sclerosing agent, an agent that makes the tendon shorter. Scar it up, they scar the tendon up, put it in an acid, something that literally shortens the fibers of the tendon and they're concept is 'Okay, what we're doing is we're shortening the tendons, making them stronger, so the joint will be more stable.' Well, you know something, that's okay if you have a wider zone because you're just looking at the joints, fine, but they haven't answered the question why is it happening in the first place. So, they fix up the knee and the guess what happens, the ankle goes. Then they do therapy on the ankle and the hip goes. And they do therapy on the hip, the jaw goes. They're not getting at the cause, so they're doing management. Just like the thing I've said you don't want to do. You don't want to be in a life-long pain management program, you want to get the cause and you want to get better. So Prolotherapy is a technique to manage symptoms, that's all it is, it just manages symptoms.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay. Standard orthotics, I know that I had… A guy gave me a new set of shoes, you know, and I practically was crippled. I only just threw the damned things away and went back to the shoes I had before.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: When you said orthotics, do you know what just happened? I became six bulls and you showed me a red flag. Not just one bull, I'm now six bulls. Orthotics, they're worse, they're as bad as pain medication, as pharmaceuticals, they're horrible. You know, I've done research, I've been a researcher, I've been actively in research for 40 years and I've looked at the effect of orthotics and the skeletal framework. And we have shown through very sophisticated tests that we've run, some are on my website, research website, that they actually destabilize the spine, they augment the scoliotic, and kyphotic, the side to side, front to back, curves of the spine. They're horrible, they're absolutely horrible.

DOCTOR ROSE: So you're not a fan of Doctor Scholl?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You know something, I'm not even going with that. I could talk for hours on that one. The quick answer is don't put your money in orthotics, stay away from them, don't use them. That's my answer.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay. Chiropractics?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Now, Chiropractics is the same thing like Prolotherapy. It's a symptomatic approach. You know, if you have a joint that's out of alignment and it's pinching a nerve, or a joint that's not moving because the alignment is incorrect. And you go in to a really good chiropractor, good mechanical engineer, and he puts the joint back into position. It functions better, absolutely. The question is why did it get out of position in the first place? If there was an injury, absolutely, you know. You bended your knee, you twisted, you go to the chiropractic, he puts it back into position, you're great, end of story, you're healed. Fantastic. I recommend this highly. But, if you're in chronic pain, and you're having one joint after another, giving you a problem, and you in to the chiropractor, you have to go in two or three times a week for the rest of your life, keep putting joints back into proper position, that makes no sense. You're getting pain management, again, you have to ask the question what's causing this, get rid of the cause. Don't treat the symptom, don't keep putting the joint back into position. Yes, it feels better, yes, I feel better, yes, I can function for a day or two, I want to know what the cause is. Just get at that. So, and the answer about Chiropractics is – depends. If it's for something that can be fixed – absolutely. But if it's just pain management with you – no, I don't recommend it, okay?

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, now we're going at the 5000 years of experience and how are you going to, you know, either just you're young to me or I'm a lot older than you are. So, you're just a young punk talking about why these things, why doesn't acupuncture work? It's got 5000 years of experience.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: It does work, but it's treating symptoms. When you have acupuncture you're continually going back for therapy. Unless you get at the root cause, you keep coming back. If they going to identify the cause and knock it off with acupuncture, absolutely do it, it will work. But if they're treating symptoms only and symptoms keep coming back and back, so you're going in every week or every two weeks for acupuncture, then you have to again ask the question, what is the cause. Just get at the cause, just not treat the symptoms. So just like Chiropractics, yes, acupuncture works, yes. An indicator for certain things – absolutely. But for chronic pain, chronic debilitating pain, you have to get at the cause, acupuncture in many cases does not. So, you're going to be end up in a life-long pain management using acupuncture or Chiropractics or physical therapy or drugs. It's all pain management.

DOCTOR ROSE: Well, then, you're saying that obviously a thing about massage therapy. the thing about massage therapy from my stand point as a teacher and as a psychotherapist is that when you touch people's skin it feels so good they don't give a damn what had happened. You just get that. And whether they like it, admit it or not, it's a central sexual experience and people, you know, start. So, massage therapy is something that people would really enjoy but I guess what you're going to say is, about, it doesn't get to the cause at all.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: I love being massaged, I mean, it relaxes me, it puts me to sleep. I love the Japanese way of life, they feel a massage every week is what invigorates them, what is going to turn their life, and they think it's fantastic. I'm all for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these different approaches aren't indicated, but what we're talking about specifically is chronic debilitating pain. That's what we're talking about. That's what I'm talking about massage in that content, we're talking about massage just to make you feel better, just to relax you, just because it feels wonderful and you love having your neck massaged. Absolutely, I'm all for it, I'm an advocate. So, I'm not against these things, what I'm saying is when it comes to chronic debilitating pain, you've got to identify the cause. And interesting enough, my research, what my research comes down to and what I've published on, it's close to 80% of the people in chronic pain, have one of the two abnormal foot structures that you're born with that leads you into chronic pain. Eighty percent, not a hundred percent, not ninety percent, not everybody.

DOCTOR ROSE: Just because we're bi-pedal, if we would use our hands like an ape, if we walk like an ape, would we be better off?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Probably. If we didn't wear shoes – probably. If we walked on soft yielding ground, not cement and not hard surfaces, yes, but you know, I see people from East Africa, they don't know what shoes are and they're in chronic pain. They walk in the jungle and they're in chronic pain. Why? It's because they were born with one of these two foot structures. So, yes, shoes aggravate it, hard surfaces aggravate it, walking on two aggravate it, your weight, extra weight aggravates it, poor nutrition aggravates it, high stress aggravates it, all these are secondary issues that aggravate it. But get at the cause, get at the cause, the primary cause. Eighty percent, primary cause, it's the foot with the bone, the structure in the foot that leads them into chronic pain. My book goes into it, step by step, the research, how I found it, how it works, how we reverse it. And by the way, just a quick statement, there's nothing to do with the, has everything to do with the central nervous system. The signals coming from your feet to where you walk, send signals to the brain where you are in space, the cerebellum acts on those signals to adjust your posture. If the foot doesn't move correctly, it twists, it's moving in linear fashion, you get a distorted signal that goes to the cerebellum. The cerebellum can't see the body, it only knows where you are by the signals coming from various parts of the body. That distorted signal the cerebellum ends up in distorted posture and distorted posture ends up in chronic muscle and joint pain. That's the very quick simple message of my book, that it talks about.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, then. The last thing you have here…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Do you realize, by the way? Do you realize, in 30 seconds, I threw a lot of information at you in 15 seconds?

DOCTOR ROSE: That's okay. It's recorded, so we can always go back and listen to it. All right. You know, unfortunately, I don't make a living as a therapist, but I'm sure that a lot of therapists will be upset about this, that my body…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: They do it all the time! You know, every time I open up my mouth, I make enemies because I keep giving this message. Because, you know, the next people are going to hate me are the dentists. Right now, dentists doing orthodontic reconstruction love me. You know why? Because I'm not challenging what they're doing in the mouth. But I'm starting to do that, so I know the dentists are going to start hating me too. Because all the stuff they're doing in reconstruction, heroic reconstruction of the jaw, forty-fifty-sixty thousand dollars to grind on your teeth, reposition, put on braces, put you in an orthodontic brace, and they don't know what they're treating, they don't know the cause. They're treating symptoms and they're doing all this stuff. And I'm starting to say 'Hey, you guys, we got to get to the cause, you can't do this stuff, this is wrong.' And you know what's going to happen? If you look at the dentists now, they say 'Rothbart, he's a good guy.' I'll make you a bet, in 2 or 3 years, I'm going to be a bum. I'm going to be someone you stay away from, I'm going to be the worst individual in medicine and dentistry that ever came on this Earth. I'm not going to be liked, because my message is really strong, it is 'If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Find out the problem, treat the problem' or if you don't know the cause, be honest with your patient, say 'I don't know what's causing the problem, so I'm going to treat your symptoms, I'm going to manage your symptoms for the rest of your life. And I'm going to do it by giving you drugs, putting you in physical therapy, sending you here, sending you there. And, you know, the insurance may pay for it, but guess what, you're going to get worse, it's going to be worse, you're going to become disabled, you're going to end up very, very sick, but that's all I can do, I'm sorry, I don't know the cause.' If you're going to do that, at least be honest, you know, be honest with the patient, and tell him upfront what's going on.

DOCTOR ROSE: Well, I'm in the same ballpark as you are because first, I'm an atheist and I write about atheism, second I'm a teacher who attacks the public school system because I think it's ineffective. So, I'm not exactly the most beloved teacher in the world. Except for the people that I actually thought, you know, anyway. So, what you're saying… okay, instead of me telling it, why don't you kind of wind up? Well, first of all again, tell us how to get your book? And then wind up about and give us just a brief summary of what you want the people to take out of this.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Okay.

DOCTOR ROSE: Then you're going to come back in another time and finish your book, okay?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You can get the book at Amazon.com. And what you do is, all you have to do is Google at Amazon my last name – Rothbart. And you'll see 'Forever Free From Chronic Pain' and you can buy it that way. Or you can go on my website. My website is the name of the book foreverfreefromchronicpain.com. You can go there and you can buy the book off the website. Or, if you wish, you can go to my patient website curingchronicpain.com is the URL, buy it off of that site. Anyway that's how you can get the book and you can buy it electronically, very extensive, I think 7 or 8 hours whatever it is, or you can buy the hardcopy book, either way. My total message today, if you got through my over exuberance and my delivery here, how passionate I am on this, and if you could stand how excited I got from all these things that we talked about, if you got through all that, my message is very simple. Chronic pain is endemic, we are in a crisis of chronic pain in the world, United States and the world. Presently, chronic pain has been treated symptomatically, which means pain management, it doesn't work. People are getting sicker and sicker and sicker, they're becoming disabled, they're life is being destroyed. This is not acceptable, it's not acceptable because we now know what causes chronic pain in the vast majority of these cases. The cause has been identified and a therapy has been made available, which reverses and eliminates the cause, which takes people out of debilitating, agonizing, unbearable pain. So that's my message. When you're going for therapy, get at the cause, get the cause treated and get yourself well. Don't be allowed to be put in pain management, that's my message.

DOCTOR ROSE: Brian, then, in your book, do you at least refer them, so they know who to go to, to get this kind of help?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: What I do is, yes… if you read the book, it gives you all the things you need to know and how you can ask the questions to find out if the physicians are trained or not, or they're able or where to go, yes. Or they can contact us, there's a contact number there on the site, it's International Academy of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, it's in the book, it's a training center, it trains physicians all over the world in my therapy, they can write an e-mail to that Academy and we can help them from there, so yes.

DOCTOR ROSE: Oh, great. Okay well, like I said, I would like you to come back in your future and finish what you're talking about and about the book. And I love your passion. So, I'll send you an e-mail about getting back and…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Thank you, thank you for inviting me on your show. I enjoyed this.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures discussed in this interview, foot structures that cause chronic pain throughout the body, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

An Interview With Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart: Part 2

Rothbart — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:30:41 +0000

The following is part 2 of a transcript of Dr. Robert Rose interviewing Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart which originally aired on Blog Talk Radio at "Rewiring Your Brain" . Guests of Dr. Rose are people who are "change agents" that are changing themselves and empowering others. You can get Dr. Rose's books and videos through his web site.

In this interview with Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart on discovering the cause of chronic pain and how to heal it, you will discover:

*Why your current treatments for chronic muscle and joint pain don't work.

*What is the solution to end your chronic musculoskeletal pain – permanently.How to quickly determine if Professor Rothbart's therapy is for you.

*How you can take immediate action to rid yourself of your chronic pain.

*How, through advanced technology, your body will heal itself for good

Part 1 of the interview is here.

Part 2 of the interview is below.

Part 3 of the interview is here.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Well, that's not the way we practice medicine here in Europe. A lot of patients, their first stop is typically arranged two or three hours. And they do a complete history with you and work through to discover exactly what the drivers are, the cause, determine what needs to be done. It's intensive work. You can't do good medicine in 15 minutes, it's impossible. You're just doing boilerplate, cookbook medicine. You don't need a doctor for that, you can have a monkey sitting there, pushing the buttons, I'm being a little condescending, I'm sorry. But that's not medicine, medicine is where you take the time to figure out what is wrong and what needs to be done. And that takes time, it just takes time.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, let's go to your book here. Let's go to Chapter Two where it says what is musculoskeletal pain?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Okay. Well, what I'm talking about and specifically the pain issues I deal with are people that have been struggling with muscle and joint pain for years. And the typical history is, they know when they start getting symptoms they're young, maybe as young as 4 or 5, they even have leg cramps so they're called growing pains or painful muscles, they go into their teens they start getting low-back pain, that will come and go. Then, in their twenties, they possibly had an injury they couldn't get over, it's an ankle or a knee. And then suddenly, they start having pains going in different parts of the body, different weight there in joints, different muscles, coming and going. And then again, in their thirties and forties, the pain becomes more and more consistent and appointing, it becomes disabling, and they start having to take pain medication, having a multiple surgeries, and then they're told they're going to end up in a wheelchair, by the time they're sixty there's nothing to be done.

That's the type of patients I see, patients that are dealing with debilitating chronic muscle and joint pain. I'm not talking about the person that has a sore back once every six months or a flake ache in their hamstring or so. I'm talking about debilitating muscle and joint pain, pain to the point that it is destroying their lives or something if it's not reversed, their quality of life will have ended. And it's that multidimensional that's suicidal because the pain has been so unrelenting for so many years, they have been to so many different practitioners and no one could answer the cause of the problem. They have been given so many different labels, sometimes psychoneurotic, and they've been treated with so many different drugs that are even making them sicker than they were before they started taking the drugs, they've had multiple surgeries and many times not even be able to get over the surgery, that they get depressed. And then they put them on… then they go on therapy, they start taking anti-depressant drugs. And it's a downward, downward spiral.

That is the type of patient I'm talking about in my book. They're very, very ill. What's startling that last year the Pain Foundation came out with statistics that the United States upwards of 25 to 30 percent of the population will fit into that, by the time they're 70. It's endemic. It's endemic. It is more common than if we take all the people that have diabetes, all the people that have heart disease and cancer combined in the United States, that is less than the people that are headed in to chronic debilitating pain.

It is endemic. And the reason it's been endemic is that no one before had discovered the cause, everything had been pain management. And it's begun a downward spiral, you can't pain manage something that is endemic. You've got to get the root cause and you've got to get rid of it. And that's what my book's about – the research, how I discovered the root cause to many of these chronic pain problems, then how I discovered a cure for it, and by the way, I independently published it.

If you go into my book and my biography, you'll see I published 15-20-30 papers in leading medical journals about my research, about my finding, double applying studies. I was the first one to talk about how the feet move determines how your jaw line up in your mouth, the body is connected totally. My work is well-known, I've been published heavily. My therapy is well-known, but it's not being used, and it's not being used…

DOCTOR ROSE: I think part of it, Brian, is the fact that you said just a few minutes ago, that the best kind of way to do is, first you have to really take the time, and it goes right against everything we're doing. Is there any way that paraprofessionals, somebody just trained by a doctor like yourself, could do some of the initial questioning and everything. So that your time could be spent more efficiently, or does it have to be done by a doctor?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Before I answer that, let me give you another statistic. In 2009, every person in the United States, $3400 per person in the United States were spent on pain management. $3400 per person per year. Now, not everyone is in pain, so approximately 40-50% of the population in the United States right now is in chronic pain. So, if you look at what is that each person in chronic pain each year, they're spending up to $7000 per person in the United States on managing chronic pain problems. That's horrific, what could you do with $7000 in correct therapy instead of managing the pain. That's absurd they're spending that much and that and only then.

The answer to your question – yes, paramedics could be trained to do the initial data gathering, history taking. They could be trained to do a lot of the work, however, I prefer not because when I treat patients I need to get to know them, I need to know what's going on in their life, I need to know them not just as a sick person, but as a person. I need to know about how they are not just medically and physically, but psychologically, the structures, who they are, what's going on in their lives, what they're doing. You can't treat people if you don't know them, you need to know your patients to treat them because each one is unique. And the only way you get to know them is by spending time with them. So, yes, you could train paramedics to do it, but they will compromise the quality tier. The quality care comes between the doctor and the patient, it's the doctor-patient relationship that's established, is what allows the quality of care to improve.

DOCTOR ROSE: I work with some seniors for a month here in Southern California and one of the things I did is, I brought in something I found from the American Pain Foundation, was a really comprehensive questionnaire. And I said 'Fill this thing in, bring it to your doctor.' Because, I said 'You guys are afraid to talk to your doctors.' And they said the same things that I was saying, you get five minutes or ten minutes or fifteen maximum. And they said, when they brought that in, the doctors just said 'What is this? You know, I don't have time to go through all this.'

So, you're fighting something, and like you see, despite all that you've written, I doubt that if you're making much of an impact because you're going against the mainstream era which is, you know, we've got to this efficiently. Of course, we know it's not efficient, the same thing as we know the way we do in schools is inefficient, but it's the way things are done and it's going to be, the crisis is already here but some people still aren't seeing it. And I wish more people could hear what you have to say.
Let's go to the first step toward recovery, first footstep toward recovery. What's… what do you want to say about that? Did we get cut off? Okay, you said this was going to happen. Okay, he got cut off. He should be coming back, let's see if I can get him back.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: The problem with medicine in the United States is in the delivery of it. You can't stay ten minutes, fifteen minutes with the patient to treat them. You have to be allowed to spend time with them. The insurance companies, the way they're directed, the pharmaceutical companies, how medicine is being practiced today in the United States, in my mind, is deplorable. It's destroying what medicine is about, healthcare is about. When my dad was practicing medicine, when I was young, and they didn't have insurance, patients paid the physician. The physician spent time with the patient. The patient admired that time, they were paying the doctor, not the insurance company. And if they're going to pay them $10, $15… they wanted answers.

And the physician spent time with the patient. Now, we have insurance. You go in to your doctor and you pay your $1500 a month for your insurance policy for your family. You don't pay anything, you go in to the doctor and it's paid, you don't pay the doctor anything, it's paid by your insurance company. But what you get back for your $1500 a month? You get your ten or fifteen minute office. You're not paying the doctor, the insurance company's paying the doctor. It's destroying, in my mind, I admit I'm biased; it is what's destroying the healthcare system in the United States. I'm sorry, I know people are going to criticize and they'll probably get mad at me, I'm sure I'll get some letters that won't be too happy with what I'm saying, but that's what I've been seeing.

DOCTOR ROSE: No, I agree, I agree with you 100%, but we don't have a lot of time so, why don't you give us one more thing here with that. Well… I'm not going to cut you off here because we need to talk more. Could you give us the first footstep toward recovery?

What Is The Real Cause Of Chronic Pain

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Okay. The first step that needs to be answered is what is the cause of my chronic pain? I mean, you'll go in and your issues will be talked about 'Ah, my shoulder hurts, this hurts, that hurts, I'm having stomach problems, having these symptoms, I'm weak, I'm tired, I'm depressed.' And you go through in order, all your symptoms.

But the question remains, is there a common cause or causes? What are they? They need to be identified. And thankfully now they can do it. We have the tests to run, there's a way we can do it, we have identified common causes of chronic muscle and joint pain now. And by the way, it's not aging, it's not psychological – you just had a bad marriage, and it could be but that's not the most common cause. There are definite structural changes you're born with that put you in chronic pain. We know what they are, they can be identified. You spend the time, the 2-3 hours it takes to go through the diagnostic tests and determine exactly what is the cause.

Once you know the cause, the next question is how is it going to be eliminated? What is the therapy that's going to be used to eliminate it? Once that's assigned, you go in to the therapy and within a certain short period of time, you should be over it, it should be done, just like if you went in and you broke your knee, you went to the orthopedist and he said 'We need to surgically repair it.' You go in, you have the surgery to repair it, it heals, it's over with, it's done, it's finished. You don't have the rest of your life having knee pain, because it's been fixed. That's the way to deal with chronic pain. You identify the cause, you eliminate the cause with the proper therapy, you get better.

That's the way it should be, not taking drugs, not being told you're depressed, not being given anti-depressant drugs, not being told you have to have surgery on this joint because you're breaking down the cartilage, not being told you have to take all these drugs that will make you sicker and sicker and sicker, no. Don't treat the symptoms, don't be in pain management, identify the cause, get rid of it. That's what my book's about, that's my message.

Drugs Are Not An Effective Therapy For Chronic Pain

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, I like your message. Chapter Three, I think, is really good here because you're talking about chronic pain and the therapies that don't work. So, let's just go through them one at a time, starting with drugs. Why don't drugs work?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You know the guy, Christianer, the MD, he's retired now. He talked about it his book that all drugs are…

DOCTOR ROSE: He was on my program, I loved they guy.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Really? Well, he said it. All drugs are poison; it's just never helpful, is it? I mean, how quickly they react. Let me give you just one example of why I'm against drugs. I have a prostate problem, I'm 68, okay? I have a prostate problem. Well, when you get to be 68, probably more than 50% of all the males in the United States are going to have prostate problems, when they're 60. By the time they're in their 80s, just like all of us have prostate problems, okay? Mine happens to be a benign hyperplasia type, which means it's not tumor, it's not cancer, it's just that the walls of the bladder have been, you know, enlarged. I know why, it happened when I was younger.

So, what happened was, here I am and I know better, right? But I go in to my urologist, like, you know, and say I'm having these symptoms. He said 'Okay, guess what, take this medicine.' So, he gives me this medicine, okay? This is a beta blocker, this is what they give people that have heart problems, because what it does, it dilates the vessels if you have constriction of your arteries and prevents you from having a stroke or a heart attack, okay?

So, for people like me that are totally healthy start taking this drug, within one year of taking this drug, I started having symptoms where I thought I had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or what's commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. I was getting weak, all my muscles, up to a point where I could hardly walk. I started having memory problems, I started having speech problems, I mean I was emulating Lou Gehrig's disease. I thought my life was over, I thought this is it, this is an untreatable disease, might as well make up your will. That's one case where there's nothing you've done, it was coming from this medication, this beta blocker that he gave me for a benign prostate problem. So, when you're talking to me about drugs for managing symptoms, it's like putting a red flag in front of a bull. I mean, you get me irate, I could go, I could become a raving maniac over the phone. You know exactly why I'm so strong against this. So, let me just say when it comes to drugs for chronic pain, do not take drugs. Period. End of story. No ifs, ands or buts. Do not take drugs for chronic pain. Period.

DOCTOR ROSE: So, actually, what you're saying that what the drugs do is just mass the pain and don't deal with the symptoms. Okay, let's go to physical therapy now.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Physical therapy manages symptoms. You have a tight muscle – you stretch it out, so you feel better. But you leave the physical therapist office the pain returns again. Why? They treat symptoms. You're not getting a cause. You know, if you don't know the cause, we can treat symptoms, yes, it makes you feel better, but it doesn't get out the cause. So, physical therapy does not eliminate the pain, the muscle or joint pain, it simply manages it controls it. So, physical therapy is not the answer to get rid of chronic pain.

DOCTOR ROSE: So, cortisone is even worse because cortisone…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Oh, god. When I was a surgeon I would go in and look at ankle joints that they had put cortisone in. And do you know what cortisone does to connective tissues like tendons? It shreds it. It shreds the tissue, it destroys it. And, you know, when you put a shot of cortisone in the joint, you know, if you don't have fantastic technique just where that medication goes at the time, not in the joint but into the tendon. It destroys connective tissues, it is the worst thing you can put in you.

DOCTOR ROSE: You don't want to stretch a tendon, right?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: You don't want to shred it, it will tear and you'll get even worse problems. Cortisone mass symptoms, for six months if it's put in the right place, you'll feel like you're fifty years younger. I mean, you can be sixty years old, hardly, with a knee problem, they put the cortisone in the knee, you feel like you're twenty, you go out and play football. For only six months, until it comes back. And the trouble is, most of the times, cortisone shots don't go into the joint space, they go everywhere else. Because it's very difficult, especially with small joints, to get in the joint space, very, very difficult. So, cortisone – forget it, don't use it.

DOCTOR ROSE: When I was 16 I was a top-notch sprinter and I hurt my knee, naturally, as all the sprinters do. And we were going to the major event of the year and I was going to, you know, good for almost 20 points, which practically won the meet by itself. So, when I hurt my knee, the coach got panicky, you know, so they sent me to the team doctor. He said he was going to put a miracle drug in my knee, I was 16, I didn't know, didn't phone my dad or anything. They took me over there and the guy just butchered my knee because… I actually chewed up a quarter of my shirt that I was wearing, while he was trying to get the needle in the right place. And actually when he put the needle in, my knee felt great and I went back to the track and started running and of course I passed out, from the pain, because, you know, it just aggravated again. And I think this has happened so much, you know, the same kind of thing. Okay, enough. How about orthopedic surgery?

Part 3 of this interview will be published next week.

If you suffer form chronic musculoskeletal pain, which we define as Chronic knee, hip and back pain that never goes away and has not responded to any other type of therapy, you may be a candidate for Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that Professor /dr. Rothbart treats, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

As you learn more about this innovative therapy, you may find that addressing and effectively treating your foot structure may be the missing link to ending your long time battle with unrelenting knee, hip and back pain.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

An Interview With Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart: Part 1

Rothbart — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:50:44 +0000

The following is a transcript of Dr. Robert Rose interviewing Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart which originally aired on Blog Talk Radio at "Rewiring Your Brain" . Guests of Dr. Rose are people who are "change agents" that are changing themselves and empowering others. You can get Dr. Rose's books and videos through his web site.

In this interview with Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart on discovering the cause of chronic pain and how to heal it, you will discover:

*Why your current treatments for chronic muscle and joint pain don't work.

*What is the solution to end your chronic musculoskeletal pain – permanently.How to quickly determine if Professor Rothbart's therapy is for you.

*How you can take immediate action to rid yourself of your chronic pain.

*How, through advanced technology, your body will heal itself for good

Part 1 of the interview is below.

Part 2 is published here.

Part 3 is published here.

DOCTOR ROSE: Hi, my name is Doctor Rose and welcome to 'Rewiring Your Brain' and my point is that every person is wired by everybody that you meet to varying degrees, and of course your parents, and friends, and family, and teachers, all these people have more impact on you. And, of course, when you get older, the things you read and the people you hear about affect you. And my guests are all change-agents, and each has managed to major brain rewiring and are now empowering others. And each can rewire your brain to improve your life. And today's guest is Professor Brian A. Rothbart, talking about being forever free from chronic pain. All right, can he do this and will he rewire your brain? Welcome, Brian.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure being on your show today.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay, let's just start off with your book. And the book is called 'Forever Free From Chronic Pain'. Let's just start off, how they get your book, Brian?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Well, it's a long story, but just briefly what happened was that, I've been involved in research over the last forty years looking at chronic muscle and joint pain. And, it's epidemic, more people in the United States are living in pain now than all the people with diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. It's endemic, and currently we've been in pain management, people have been going to the physician, getting drugs, physical therapy, joint replacing, managing symptoms that never get rid of the pain because the cause is never found. That was my research, basically trying to find out what is the cause of chronic pain and is there a common cause.

To make a long story short, ten years ago I discovered two very important previously unknown foot structures that are endemic, that are very common. If you're born with one of these foot structures, you will end up in chronic muscle and joint pain. Once I made that discovery, I wrote about it and published it in different medical journals. Then I was involved in a research project trying to find a cure, a therapy to address these foot structures that I found.

The book is written about how we can now eliminate chronic pain – not manage it by taking drugs, which are very toxic, by doing surgery, replacing joints, physical therapy, going to acupuncturists or other doctors every week for therapy. I'm talking about how chronic pain can be eliminated. That's what the book's about. It talks about my research, what I've found, what is the common reason for chronic pain and the therapy that is now available that can eliminate the pain.

DOCTOR ROSE: And how do people get your book?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Amazon is selling the book. If you go to Amazon.com and look under my name, R O T H B A R T, and you'll see 'Forever Free From Chronic Pain'. You can download the book, you can actually get an electronic copy or you can get a hard copy. Either way.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay. So, you need a Kindle or something to use the electronic copy?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Yes, Kindle for the electronic book.

DOCTOR ROSE: Yeah, I think I'm funny, I get so many PDFs from my guest, I'm going to go and invest in a Kindle because it gets, you know, it gets hard to read, it's hard to read on your computer a lot of times. Anyway, okay, so in your book you actually… if a person gets your book, they can do, they don't have to talk to you over the phone or they don't have to come to your office?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Basically, what the book describes is the history of my research, where it started, where it took me, my findings, the cause of the chronic pain, it actually goes in to how it all works on a biochemical, biomechanical, bio-neurological basis. It talks about the therapy, how it works, and it talks about what people can do to actually get out of chronic pain. However, the therapy to be done, it must be done by a physician, it's not something they can just pick up and do by themselves, they have to go to a physician, then going through the therapy, which is called Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy.

DOCTOR ROSE: Yeah, so they have to find someone that does that kind of therapy, right?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: That's correct. If they were born with one of the two foot structures that I discovered, you would have to go to a healthcare practitioner who has been trained to provide the therapy, (specifically for the foot structures) to eliminate the chronic pain.

DOCTOR ROSE: Okay. Now, I'm very interested in chronic pain because I've got… I had a daughter that had a Fibromyalgia and going through horrible experiences with doctors, because of the DEA and all, and they couldn't give her enough medication at times because that's what seemed to be the thing that was helping her, and she eventually became practically addicted to (name of medication withheld) and some other drug and she lost her ability, I think, to recognize her pains and when she got a pneumonia, she didn't realize how sick she was and she died. And it was just something that could easily have been prevented. But anyway, and I have another daughter that had twenty five operations, so she's in chronic pain, and they give her all kinds of drugs for pain, and, believe me, it comes to that one drug causes side effects so you get another drug to help that and not lose another drug, so she was in seventeen different kinds of prescription medication. And it's just ridiculous, and…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Drugs are not the answer. I know, in the United States, chronic pain is treated typically with drugs. Drugs are treating symptoms, pain is a symptom, pain is not the problem. When you go to your physician and he wants to give you a drug, the very first question you should ask, regardless of what you're going in for, is what causing the symptom. What's causing my pain? Why do I hurt there? Why do I get dizzy? What is it exactly that's causing the problem? If he can't answer that question, go to someone who can. Or maybe he'll say 'We don't know why you're having that symptom, so we're going to treat your symptom using medication.' But then he needs to realize you're going to be in a life-long process of pain management or symptom management because we don't know what's causing the symptoms, so we're just going to manage them.

Instead, what I tell patients is, if you're in chronic pain, the first question you ask, who ever you go to, why am I having pain? If they can't answer the question what the cause is, go to someone that can answer what the cause is. And then ask how are you going to treat it? How are you going to get rid of it? And they should be able to answer specifically how they're going to get rid of the cause. That's how you eliminate the pain. Not treating the symptoms, getting at the source of the problem and treating that. That's what my book's about, getting at the source, not treating symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is a constellation of symptoms, it is not a disease. It is a syndrome of symptoms, clung together, because we didn't know what caused all these many symptoms in one person. So, we gave it a name – Fibromyalgia. But treating Fibromyalgia is treating the symptom. Your question should be why do I have Fibromyalgia? What's causing it and can that be treated? When you do that, you can eliminate the Fibromyalgia. You don't need to take drugs, you eliminate the cause and you are healthy again. That's what my book's about.

DOCTOR ROSE: Well, there are two things that I would comment on. First of all is, you're talking about changing doctors. You know, when they don't find it, I know that I'm 79 and going to VA, changing doctors is not, you know, you can do it, but there's a… once you change it more than once then you get labeled as, you know, a chronic complainer or something. So, you've got to be very careful how you deal with it. And one of my daughters that is still alive, she was being treated for Crons Disease that she had an ilioscopy and then… so she was in the hospital for nine months last year, and they finally discovered that she wasn't Crons, it was what they called Ogilvie syndrome. And the treatment is totally opposite, in many ways, and now she's functioning a lot better. But I mean, it was three or four years before they figured it out. So, you can't change doctors there either that easily. So, you're stuck in that.

The other thing is, what I see as a therapist, as a psychologist and as a teacher is how many people are normally stressed that, like my daughter that had Fibromyalgia, I kept telling her, I said 'You're taking drugs because you're so stressed.' She had two things, she had a grandmother that was locked into her and making her feel guilty because she couldn't move somewhere else, she had a husband that wasn't… that was having some problems and she didn't deal with that, so her stress, I said 'Your stress is killing you.' And, so, how do you differentiate the kind of things like that, that people just are so stressed, and so they get different kinds of symptoms. What's your answer to that?

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Well, first of all, actually, it's a very good question. And it goes back to about forty six years ago, that was one of my mentors, and really, really made me start thinking. You cannot treat everyone alike. There's tremendous bio individuality, biodiversity. There's no more right or wrong, there's a PhD doc that tells… Austin…

DOCTOR ROSE: Oh yeah, my favorite guy.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Yeah, fantastic. He said you can't treat everyone alike. We are different, we're made up different, we're made up different biochemically, our organs are in different position, we are individual. And to treat everyone the same, just because you give them a label, then everyone is treated the same, is ridiculous. You can't do that. So, the question you're asking is, how do you handle these issues? And the answer is one by one.

DOCTOR ROSE: Good for you. Good for you, Brian.

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Each patient is unique. Every patient I see is unique. There are structural (biomechanical), biochemical (nutritional) and emotional issues that you can identify, but each patient has to be looked at as an individual, examined as an individual and determined specifically for that particular person what must be done and in what order

And that's the problem why the healthcare in the United States. They label people, you come in, you get your five or ten minutes with the GP, they put the label on you and then you get treated like everyone else gets treated with that label. That's not medicine, that's insanity. You can't treat that way. You can't treat that way successfully. That's how I see things.

You know, and my dad say, when he was practicing pediatrics back in the 40s and 50s, doctors were healthcare providers. We cared about our patients, we took time with our patients, and the number one thing on our minds was getting our patients better. Not paying for our yacht, not paying for our second home, not paying for sending our son to medical school, but getting our patients better. That's what medicine is about, that's what it's about. So, that gives you the question. You've got to look at each patient as they're unique and you've got to go through the process of figuring out what needs to be done for that particular patient. Forget the labels. What needs to be done to get that person better?

DOCTOR ROSE: Now, I applied that. You said there's a professor in Texas. that you…

PROFESSOR ROTHBART: Yeah, he was at the University of Texas in Austin, Department of Chemistry, I believe, 1975-1980. I know he died in 1986, he was 92. That's one…

DOCTOR ROSE: That was one of the major people that has changed my life, reading his book 'Biochemical individuality' and it was extraordinary, I used it all the time. And as a teacher because… And then the other thing is about labeling. And, but like…. I went into my VA doctor, I changed because the guy was an intern that was treating me and I could never find him. So, I finally got another doctor, and I get this doctor and I haven't seen a doctor for about a year and a half, so I had a lot of different things. I had questions and I had a little list. First of all, the doctor didn't even look at me when I came in and then he said 'What's your problem?' and I said 'I've got a list' 'What's that?' I said 'That's a list of things.' He said 'You've got 15 minutes you've already used up 2.' And that was the beginning of our relationship which was pretty chaotic. It works a lot better now, but that gives you the idea, you know… And here I know I'm a great well-educated person and I was ready to work with him, but there was no working with him. He was the boss and just… You know, you just shut your mouth, especially in the VA, you know.

Part 2 of this interview is published here.

If you suffer form chronic pain that never goes away and has not responded to any other type of therapy, you may be a candidate for Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that Professor /dr. Rothbart treats, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

A Patient Describes How Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy Ended Her Chronic Pain

Rothbart — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:00:04 +0000

For years, I've been telling people about the benefits of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy. This time, I'd like to let one of my patients tell you what it was like to go through therapy and come out totally pain free. Here's the letter she recently sent me.

Professor/ Dr. Brian A. Rothbart

***

Dear Professor Rothbart,

I can't believe I've reached the end of my therapy with you! I had so many questions and doubts when I started Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy that I wasn't really sure this day would come–right up until it did.

I was going to send you a testimonial. But then, I thought it might be helpful for people visiting your web site to read an article about my experience with your therapy. It may help someone answer the question, "What would it be like for me?"

Here, then, is my admittedly lengthy testimonial. Really, at seven pages, it's almost a novella! Feel free to publish it, or any part of it, in any way you wish.

With a thankful heart,
Bonnie Boots

It's been three years since I stood in the parking lot of an orthopedic surgeon's office, my hands shaking so bad I couldn't get my car key in the lock. Leaning against the door, sobbing, I begged God to let me die. People coming and going in the parking lot scurried past me like I was crazy.

I was. Crazy with pain and fear.

I'd just been told–for the eighth time, by the eighth specialist–that at age 58, I needed joint replacement for both knees, both hips and both major toes. Even then, they'd all assured me, I'd still be dependent on a wheelchair because the damage to my spine could not be corrected.

They gave me no hope whatsoever of getting better, assuring me, instead, that I would inevitably get worse. "The best we can hope for is to slow down the progression," one surgeon told me flatly. "You need to accept the fact that you have end-stage osteoarthritis. Your condition is permanent, irreversible, crippling."

I'd lived with pain most of my life. As a child, I was told the frequent joint pain I suffered was caused by one leg being shorter then the other, curving my spine and forcing my entire skeleton out of alignment. As I grew, so did the pain. Though the pain limited me in some ways ( I couldn't, for example, wear high heels, something that deeply saddened my 20-year old self) I had a reasonably active life.

Then in 1989, an auto accident amplified everything. My pain became chronic, and partially disabling. It took two years of extreme therapy and a ton of money to get me back on my feet. Although from that moment on I was never free from pain, I was able to return to work and carry on a somewhat normal, albeit limited life.

But in 2004, my pain began to escalate, month by month, until by 2009, my mobility was so limited I rarely left the house. To walk, I put tubular "patella bands" above and below both knees, then wrapped my knees with Ace elastic bandages and supported myself with a cane. That was the only way I could stand and walk for a few minutes at a time.

Even when my knees could hold me for a few minutes, the pain in my feet, my back, my neck, shoulders and hands was so severe that I was never fully functional.

For the last few years, my husband had taken over many of the household tasks that had once been mine. This allowed me to save what energy I had for my work, but even this was coming to an end.

As an award-winning writer, I was in high demand, but over the last year I'd stopped accepting all but the smallest jobs. Anything that demanded more than a few hours in a single week was more than I could deliver.

Faced with an income dwindling to zero, I spoke with an attorney to discuss filing for Social Security Disability. The papers lay on my desk for weeks. I couldn't bring myself to sign them, and thus officially admit that my condition was hopeless.

That's when I went on a whirlwind tour of doctors. I live in a large metropolitan area with vast medical resources. I searched out the most acclaimed specialists in arthritis, in pain management, in podiatry, in surgery. One by one, they told me to abandon hope. I very nearly did.

But then a phone call changed everything.

A gentleman identifying himself as Professor Rothbart said he wanted to thank me for the review I'd written of his book, Forever Free From Chronic Pain. He told me his wife's mother lived in my city, and his wife was coming to visit her in a few months. Could she take me out to lunch as a way of saying, "Thanks for the great book review"?

Stunned, I said yes. When the call ended, I went to find my copy of Professor Rothbart's book. And then I started worrying about meeting his wife.

I'd been working from home for the last few years, shielding my ongoing decay behind the monitor of a computer. I used a wild variety of excuses to explain why I only communicated by phone and email, even with my neighbors.

Meeting someone for lunch meant I had to put up a good front for at least a couple of hours. I'd have to get myself dressed, drive to the restaurant, walk in, carry on a coherent conversation and walk out–all without revealing what bad shape I was really in.

I worried for weeks. When the day came, I put every ounce of energy I had into "looking normal." And I was inwardly complimenting myself on doing a damn good job of it when Professor Rothbart's wife shattered my illusion by asking me why I was in pain.

I told her a little of my background, making light of my situation and stressing how in control I was.

She listened with tremendous sympathy–and a knowing look. "I was a chronic pain patient," she said. "I know what you're going through."

At the end of the meal, as we prepared to leave, my hostess said," Bonnie, my husband is a true genius. I've seen him save so many people that had been told there was no hope. I really wish you'd make an appointment with him and see if he could help you."

Then she hugged me. "Please say you will."

I had to say yes. But I wasn't really hopeful. I'd re-read Forever Free From Chronic Pain several times. I knew he only treated people who had a Rothbarts Foot or a PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity. I'd read his description of symptoms and I didn't see them in myself.

But I'd said yes, so I followed through, made an appointment, and mailed a disc with the dozens of x-rays, scans and medical reports all those specialist had made.

When I finally had my phone consultation with Professor Rothbart, he told me he'd studied the scans and x-rays, but hadn't read the medical reports. "I don't care what conclusions other doctors have come to," he said. "I prefer to reply on my own findings."

He explained what his findings were and said," I can help you. It's not going to be fast. Some people can be adjusted in a matter of weeks or months. But you have a very complicated problem. You're not going to be an easy patient for me. I can't cure you 100%. But I can conservatively say that after therapy, your pain will be reduced as much as 80%, possibly more. You may never be totally free from pain, but you will
not be in a wheelchair. I can assure you of that."

I wanted to feel like jumping for joy. But all I felt was skepticism. I'd been through all sorts of therapy over the years, tried everything but surgery, spent a fortune on everything and anything that promised pain relief, from TENS units to biofeedback to physical therapy to chiropractic. Each time I'd been told, "I can fix you."

And each time I'd been disappointed.

On the other hand, I was not willing or able to accept the idea that I was doomed to live the rest of my life sitting in a wheelchair being crushed by pain. I absolutely believe that the body has a miraculous power to heal itself. I'd witnessed miracle cures, and I believed one was possible for me.

So when Professor Rothbart said the focus of his therapy was to assist my body so it could heal itself, he broke through my skepticism. I agreed to be treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, and I made a commitment to follow it through to the end, no matter what that might be.

In brief, my therapy with Professor Rothbart involved my sending him a pair of shoes and a set of photos showing my posture. After detailed analysis of my posture, he made a pair of prescription insoles to fit the shoes and sent them back to me. I'd then take another set of photos so he could see how the insoles affected my posture. During the two years of my therapy, I had three different prescriptions for insoles.

Throughout, Professor Rothbart closely monitored my condition through my weekly written report and phone consultations. Each time we spoke, he repeatedly assured me that my body absolutely knew how to heal itself. All he was doing, he explained, was providing the circumstances that would allow it to do so.

He never wavered from his assurance that a wheelchair was not in my future, and I clung to that promise. I'd never had a doctor actually cheering me on to heal, and I believe that Professor Rothbart's constant and absolute conviction that my chronic pain could be eliminated was vitally important to my continuing improvement.

My first month of therapy was difficult but do-able. Because of the pain in my feet, I hadn't worn shoes in several years. When I was forced to leave the house, I depended on a dilapidated pair of loose-fitting sandals. Now, I had to force my feet into tightly-laced tennis shoes. Initially, I found the prospect terrifying, but once I got started, it wasn't as painful as I'd imagined.

I started by keeping the shoes on for one hour as I sat in a chair. By increasing the time I wore the shoes each day, sometimes only by minutes, I worked up to wearing them for eight hours a day. It took me one month to reach that 8-hour goal.

At first, the insoles caused me to experience brief periods of being dizzy and out of balance. Professor Rothbart explained that my brain was learning a new way of sensing how to balance my body. This lasted only a few days, and reoccurred for a short time with each new prescription.

By the end of the first month of therapy, my pain was slightly reduced. This didn't seem like a miracle, especially when Professor Rothbart's book contained numerous stories of people who were completely out of pain almost as soon as they put on their first pair of prescription insoles.

When I raised questions about this, Professor Rothbart reminded me of our first conversation, when he'd told me I wasn't his average patient; was in fact, one of the most difficult patients he'd taken on. He told me it would take time. I promised to persevere, no matter what.

Month by month, I got a little bit better, and then a little more, and then a little more. I started being able to help around the house. The hours I was able to work began to increase. Inch by inch, I returned to life.

Nearly two years from the day I started, my therapy is at an end, and I can honestly say that my chronic pain was not reduced by 80%. It was reduced by 100%. My feet no longer cause me agony. My knees don't scream when I stand up or walk. My back doesn't keep me from sleeping at night. My bones don't ache like they're in cold water. My thinking is clear and focused–no more brain fog.

Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy Ended My Struggle With Chronic Pain

Do I still experience pain? Yes, but it is not the bone-grinding chronic pain I lived with for so many years. It is the normal pain anyone would experience if they strained a muscle or sat too long in an uncomfortable chair.

Did I get my miracle? Absolutely.

But something I didn't anticipate at the beginning of therapy was how hard I would have to work to achieve that miracle.

The therapy itself sounded very passive. All I had to do was wear shoes with prescription insoles. But to achieve that 100% reduction in chronic pain, I had to take a very active part in my recovery.

A lifetime of chronic pain had taken a toll. My muscles were in terrible shape. I had almost no core muscle strength. Some muscles were atrophied from lack of use. When I did use my muscles, I was assailed by trigger point pain so severe it often left me in tears.

In addition, my skeleton was burdened by my being eighty pounds overweight.
Until the auto accident, I'd been pencil thin. After the accident, eating was one of the few activities I could use to soothe or entertain myself. And because my mobility was so limited, few calories burned off.

On top of that extra weight I piled an even greater weight of emotional pain. As I progressed through Rothbart's therapy, I realized I would also need to work on clearing away my emotional baggage.

And then there were the pain storms. Pain storms is the term Professor Rothbart coined to describe a period of intense, all-over pain that can come on suddenly during the therapy. I had three pain storms during therapy. Each was intense, lasting two or three days. They were bad, but bearable.

Perhaps the hardest challenge was simply staying with the therapy. There were patches where progress seemed slow, and toward the end there was a month when I felt I'd backslid so far all my efforts may have been wasted.

Each time something slowed my progress, Professor Rothbart suggested solutions I might consider, pointed me to resources and assured me that it was all part of the healing process. And when I felt discouraged and might have been tempted to say, "Enough. I'm better than I was. I'll settle for that," the Professor passionately encouraged me to persevere. I'm so glad my trust in him made me listen, because what actually happened when my body finally made that last subtle shift and all pain disappeared was an actual miracle.

The bottom line is this– I had to earn my miracle by being responsible for my own health. I had to follow through with the therapy to the end. In addition, I had to follow through on the suggestions and resources that were pointed out to me, and clean up the parts of my life that did not contribute to health. I work on that diligently, every day, with good nutrition, emotional clearing techniques, with tai chi, qigong and other techniques that work on both the physical level and the energy level. I have a long way to go to rebuild my body's strength, but it's work I do with a new joy in movement now that I'm no longer crippled by pain.

Now that I have reached the end of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy. I will not need another prescription for insoles, but I will continue to wear my prescription insoles for the rest of my life.

Professor Rothbart tells me that at the end of therapy, some patients need to wear the insoles for an hour a week just to remind the brain of its' new posture, while some need to wear the insoles all the time. But as I haven't been his typical patient, both Professor Rothbart and I will have to wait and see what happens to me now that chronic pain is gone.

Many people have asked me about the cost of my therapy. Was it expensive?

If I compare the cost of Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy to all the money I have spent on other therapies over my life, I have to say that Rothbart's therapy was the single best value I ever got for my money.

For many years of my life, most of my income went to pay for pain relief. With most forms of physical therapy, including three years of weekly chiropractic adjustments, I'd get just enough relief to get through a week of work so I could pay for the next week's therapy. It was an endless merry-go-round, with no way off.

Professor Rothbart took me off that merry-go-round.

I was in therapy with him for two years. He told me he's never before had a patient in therapy that long, so my cost was obviously greater than most. But now it's over. My crippling chronic pain is gone. I do not need ongoing "pain management." I don't need to be adjusted week after week, year after year. I do not need to take prescriptions for a lifetime. I do not need costly joint replacement surgery that even the surgeons admitted would not bring me back to a functional life.

I'm back to work. I'm back to having a life worth living. And for the first time in my life, I can expect a future without chronic pain. Was Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy expensive?

No.

I began this story by telling about the day I stood in the parking lot outside a doctor's office, crying in pain and fear. That day, I seriously considered suicide. It was not the first time that never-ending chronic pain drove me to that extreme thought. I dare say everyone that lives with chronic, intractable pain considers suicide at some time.

The surgeon I saw that day had not the slightest sympathy for me. He was cold, even callous. He spent a total of eight minutes with me, during which time he pushed me hard to make an appointment for the first knee replacement.

When I told him I wasn't ready to make that decision, he grabbed my big toe at a spot where arthritic bones were fused together and bent it down, hard. Searing pain cut through me.

"That hurts, doesn't it?" he sneered, glaring at me. "It's not going to get better. It will get worse. Now, are you going to schedule surgery or not?"

I was too shocked to speak. He made a sound of disgust, walked toward the door and said over his shoulder, "When you're ready to face reality, call my office for an appointment."

He was certainly the worst of the specialists I saw, but in fact, even the best doctors I saw were perfunctory. One never looked me in the eyes during my entire appointment. If I'd had a cabbage growing from my forehead, he'd have missed it. My time with these doctors seldom exceeded 15 minutes, barely adequate to discuss something like the flu, let alone a truly serious condition.

Worse yet, their deeply-held belief that my body was inherently flawed and irreversibly damaged left me feeling demoralized and powerless.

In contrast, Professor Rothbart gave me all the time I needed. His compassion was palpable. His unwavering conviction that the human body is naturally gifted with the ability to heal was inspiring. His assurance that I would heal, just as his previous patients had, gave me hope and courage. Even though my connection to him was though long-distance phone calls, Professor Rothbart gave me more personal time and attention than I'd ever received in any face-to-face office visit.

Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart is a rare breed of doctor. He stepped away from the well-trod path of standard American medicine where the dictum is "either drown it in drugs or slice it out," and asked the bigger question: what is the source of chronic pain and how can it be cured?

His breakthrough discoveries point to an entirely new way of treating pain. Rather than insulting the body's integrity with drugs and surgery, Rothbart's therapy is respectful and supportive of the body's natural ability to heal itself. I believe that some day, in the future, all doctors will think as Professor Rothbart does now.

Somewhere along the way, American doctors seem to have forgotten that healing was the point of their profession. They focused on treating symptoms rather than pursuing cures. They fell under the spell of profit-driven corporations that saw more value in managing pain than in curing it.

It is to Professor Rothbart's great credit that he's had the courage to step outside the medical status quo, to ask the big questions, to do the original research, and to follow the data, even when the data has lead to doors that other doctors, fearful of losing the good living drugs and surgery provide, didn't want opened.

Professor Rothbart is a remarkable doctor, and I am profoundly grateful to him for helping my body heal.

If you've been suffering with chronic pain for years, if you've been to all sorts of doctors, tried all sorts of therapies and found nothing that helps, then you owe it to yourself and to those that love you to find out if Professor Rothbart can help you bring about your own miracle.

Bonnie Boots, Finally "Forever Free From Chronic Pain"

Professor /Dr. Brian A. Rothbart says, "I'm humbled by Bonnie's letter, and grateful that I was able to play a part in her healing. It's because of stories like hers that I've devoted my life to finding and treating the source of chronic pain.

I, too, was a patient who struggled with chronic pain. I know what it's like to struggle through years of failed therapies, to feel desperate and to be disrespected by those you turn to for help. That's why I hold myself to the highest standard with every person that comes to me in pain.

I treat every patient with the utmost respect.

I give every patient the time and attention they need and deserve.

I don't apply "one size fits all" formulas – I customize my therapy for their unique needs. I only treat people that I am certain can be helped by my therapy. That is, only people that have one of the two inherited, abnormal foot structures I discovered.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that I treat, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

Foot Surgeries That Fail To Eliminate Chronic Foot Pain

Rothbart — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:39:41 +0000

There are two common foot problems that cause chronic foot pain. One is a flattening of the arches (fallen arches) and the other is pain in the ball of the foot due to a dropping or elevation of one or more of the metatarsal bones. The metatarsal bones are the long bones in the front of the foot, just behind the toe bones. Jim, a person with chronic foot pain, was suffering with the dilemma of having both!

Jim was in such pain that after trying numerous foot treatments to no avail, he finally considered foot surgery as a last resort. Though he talked to numerous surgeons, none of them knew what was causing his fallen arches and unleveling of his metatarsals. But they all agreed that foot surgery was the only procedure that would eliminate Jim's foot pain.

Jim decided to trust the expertise of a well known surgeon in Barcelona, Spain, who suggested a Subtalar Joint Prosthesis. He assured Jim that this procedure would solve his chronic foot pain problem, but that on the slim chance that it didn't; a second procedure; a Forefoot Reconstruction, most certainly would.

Before undergoing the surgery, Jim asked my opinion. I told him that both of these foot surgeries have their place, in the right conditions. But because he has an inherited abnormal foot structure, the Preclinical Clubfoot Deformity, both of these surgeries would fail.

Jim decided to go ahead with the Subtalar Joint Prosthesis. It didn't work. The surgeon then assured him that the Forefoot Reconstruction would. It didn't: Jim ended up in excruciating pain.

In order to explain why these foot surgeries didn't work, let's first take a closer look at the purpose of these two procedures:
A Subtalar Joint Prosthesis is commonly performed to correct fallen arches. An implant is placed inside the subtalar joint (the joint in the foot which is immediately below the ankle joint) in an attempt to decrease the excessive subtalar joint pronation (hyperpronation) In other words, a stopper (like a cork) is inserted inside the subtalar joint to prevent the foot from rotating inward, forward and downward (flattening of the arch).

A Forefoot Reconstruction is done to correct the unleveling of the foot metatarsal bones. The surgeon breaks one or more of the metatarsal bones, resetting them with screws, so that all the metatarsal bones sit level to one another and participate equally in supporting the body's weight (as the patient stands or walks).

When Foot Surgeries Fail To Eliminate Chronic Foot Pain

Now knowing the purpose of these two foot surgeries, we can better understand why they sometimes fail:

The Subtalar Joint Prosthesis works in some cases; but not if you have a Rothbarts Foot or PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity. This is because either of these abnormal foot structures creates hyperpronation when the body's weight is over the front part of the foot. The subtalar joint implant only works when the body's weight is over the heel bone.

A Forefoot Reconstruction is effective if you have one or more dropped metatarsal bones. But it doesn't work in the presence of a structurally elevated metatarsal bone, as is the case with a Rothbarts Foot or PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity.

If Jim's doctors had recognized the presence of his Preclinical Clubfoot Deformity and understood this abnormal foot structure, they would have never suggested he do either of these surgeries. Especially the Forefoot Reconstruction, which is irreversible.

Jim could have been successfully treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, which addresses his abnormal foot structure – the cause of his fallen arches and pain in the ball of his feet.

Jim's story of chronic foot pain did not have a happy ending. But yours can. If you have chronic foot pain, why struggle with temporary fixes or a foot surgery that can only make the problem worse?

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that cause chronic foot pain, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.

A Previously Unknown Cause Of Chronic Back Pain

Rothbart — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:22:37 +0000

One of my patients recently told me that back pain problems are so common in England, that many companies will not hire you if they find you have chronic back pain. If you, too, have chronic back pain, chances are that you can relate, as you are probably taking too much sick leave – lying in bed with an ice pack.

So with a dim prospect for future job opportunities looming in front of a large percentage of the work population, it behooves us to look at what causes chronic back pain.

Until very recently, researchers dealing with biomechanics thought that back pain is the result of poor body mechanics. They thought that the body, in a gravitational field, behaves very similar to how a building behaves (in a gravitational field). For example, in a building; when the foundation is unlevel, the roof cracks and the building is no longer safe. Similarly in a human body; when the foot twists (becomes unlevel) this twisting motion causes the ankles, hips and spine to twist (bad posture) and the final result is back pain. In other words, this incorrect theory is that back pain is the result of a physical chain reaction – poor body mechanics.

My research over the past several years has demonstrated that this is not the case. Postural distortions are not the result of poor body mechanics, but the result of faulty (distorted) signals received and acted on by the cerebellum (the postural center in the brain). This is how it actually happens:

A Common Cause Of Chronic Back Pain

On the bottom of the foot there are millions of mechanical receptors that are pressure sensitive. When you walk or stand, when pressure is placed on these receptors, they are activated. From moment to moment, different mechanical receptors are activated and produce what is called a Pattern of Stimulation. These Patterns of Stimulation send a signal to the cerebellum, which the cerebellum uses to determine where the body is in space (its' posture).

All this is based on an innate programming of the cerebellum, which assumes that the foot is moving in a linear fashion, from heel to toe.

But if, in actuality, the foot is twisting (excessively pronating) when you stand or walk, due to an abnormal foot structure (such as the Rothbarts Foot and PreClinical Clubfoot Deformity) the signals being sent to the cerebellum are distorted. They do not accurately describe or depict the position of the body in space.

However, the cerebellum assumes that these signals are accurate (not distorted) and acts on these distorted signals. The result is that the cerebellum places the body into a distorted position (bad posture).

The bad posture results in excessive strain on the joints and muscles, causing back pain. Over time, if the cause (the abnormal foot structure) is not correctly diagnosed and effectively treated, the back pain becomes chronic and more and more severe.
If your chronic back pain stops you from working or doing even the simplest chores around the house, why struggle with temporary fixes that only work in the short term, like lying in bed with an ice pack? Finding the actual cause of your chronic back pain is your first step to getting relief.

To find out if you may have one of two common inherited, abnormal foot structures that cause chronic back pain, take the Rothbarts Foot Questionnaire.

If you have questions about what's involved in being treated with Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy, see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page by clicking here.

If you would like to contact me regarding an appointment to resolve your pain, click here.