In 1959, at the age of 65, Professor Pedro
Bach-y-Rita, a college professor, suffered a catastrophic stroke
(Doidge, 2010; Hunter, 1987; Purnell, 2015). Once he reached an
appropriate level of recovery, and after consulting with all relevant
medical staff—including Paul and George, the sons of Professor
Bach-y-Rita—the hospital administration arranged to formally discharge
the Professor into their care. This situation ultimately marked the
beginning of a rehabilitation program developed by George, who was a
medical student at the time.
Initially, George felt uncertain about his next steps. Ultimately, he
determined that his father's rehabilitation model would be grounded in
the developmental movement progression of infants (Doidge, 2010). He
remarked, “The only model I had was how babies learn…to walk” (Doidge,
2010, p. 21). According to White et al. (2013), children start to
advance to crawling between six to ten months of age, building their
skills as a result of all the developmental movements that occurred
since birth, which continually shape the infant's brain and body.
And So, the Crawling Rehabilitation Began
The crawling stage also includes a markedly more advanced and
intricate movement progression that engages all four limbs. This complex
movement progression allows infants to navigate independently within
and around their environment.
This stage represents the ongoing development of both the brain and
body, ultimately leading to the point when, by the age of 12 to 15
months, infants can take their first steps without assistance, marking
the onset of walking (Adolph et al., 2012).
Keeping this universal developmental model in mind, George explained
to his father that infants ultimately learn to walk through crawling
(Doidge, 2010). Thus, the crawling rehabilitation commenced.
Three years of daily “child development
crawling” rehabilitation followed, resulting in what might be
considered a full recovery (Bach-y-Rita, 1980; Doidge, 2010; Hunter,
1987; Purnell, 2015). This rehabilitation approach and the resultant
recovery completely contradicted the prevailing medical wisdom of that time.
The Value and Significance of Crawling as a Holistic Rehabilitation Modality
Interestingly, related to this, George and Paul were ridiculed at the
time for allowing something as “humiliating” as crawling like a baby to
happen to their father (see Bach-y-Rita, 1980). Doidge (2015)
emphasises the importance of crawling by referring to the work of Moshé
Feldenkrais, who highlighted its value and significance as a holistic
rehabilitation modality.
Moshé Feldenkrais believed that walking depends on the neurological
and neuromuscular foundational support provided by crawling. According
to Doidge (2015, p. 189), Feldenkrais argued that any “attempts to
leapfrog through development is a huge error.”
The Return to His Position as a College Professor
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Doidge (2015, p. 189) also argued that “no one ever learned to walk
by walking. Other skills must be in place for a child to walk—skills
that adults don’t think about or remember learning.” As noted above, it
was this daily recovery regimen centred around crawling that ultimately
led to the situation where Professor Bach-y-Rita could return to his
position as a college professor three years after his stroke.
Famechon, Bach-y-Rita, Feldenkrais
With Moshé Feldenkrais mentioned, I'll include his story. I believe
this information about Feldenkrais, as with Bach-y-Rita, provides
valuable medical and holistic acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation
background that can be compared and contrasted to the ABI recovery of
former World Boxing Champion John Famechon.
Feldenkrais, Soccer, Judo, Physics
Moshé Feldenkrais was born in Ukraine in 1904, at that time part of
the Russian Empire. Three major influences shaped his life: soccer,
judo, and his studies in physics. His soccer career
ended after he sustained a knee injury. Although he recovered,
Feldenkrais continued to experience constant pain following the injury.
Due to this ongoing pain, Feldenkrais began to adjust his walking. He
also increasingly relied on his non-injured leg for movement. While
this helped minimise the pain, favoring his non-injured leg ultimately
led to signs of muscular atrophy in his injured leg.
While all of this was happening, Feldenkrais was also training in
judo. After injuring his knee, he could no longer play soccer, but he
maintained an interest in judo. Despite his knee injury, Feldenkrais
continued to pursue this interest. However, even with his involvement in
judo, Feldenkrais experienced difficulty walking, which, as noted, led
to signs of atrophy in his soccer-injured leg.
A Forever Life Changing Circumstance
In the mid-1930s, Feldenkrais was living in Paris. One day, while
walking down the street, he slipped and injured his ‘good’ leg. Now,
Feldenkrais had two injured legs, forcing him to hobble home. By the
time he finally arrived, he was utterly exhausted.
Due to this exhaustion, instead of administering first aid to his
recently injured leg, Feldenkrais chose to go to bed and rest (with the
hopeful possibility of sleep). He eventually fell into a deep and heavy
sleep. The significance of this injury to his healthy leg and his choice
to immediately go to bed, rest, and then sleep transformed
Feldenkrais's thinking and life forever (Doidge, 2015).
When Feldenkrais awoke, he discovered that he could now stand on his
long-injured and painful leg. He thought he was going mad. “How could a
knee that had prevented me from standing for several months suddenly
become usable and nearly painless?” Feldenkrais asked himself (Doidge,
2015, p. 165).
Reflection and Neuroscience
This prompted Feldenkrais to reflect on his interest in neuroscience
and his readings on the subject. His interests and studies led him to
hypothesise that the absence of pain in his previously injured’ soccer
knee” was due to changes occurring in his brain and central nervous system.
Feldenkrais believed that “the acute trauma”
to his now injured “good leg” somehow provided the neurological means
to alter his brain in a way that inhibited the motor cortex brain maps
of his ‘good leg,” which, as noted, was now his newly injured leg
(Doidge, 2015, p. 165).
According to Feldenkrais, these changes in his brain occurred
unconsciously, and as Feldenkrais reflected, “the purpose of which was
to protect [his newly injured leg] from further injury should he [try
to] move” that injured leg (Doidge, 2015, p. 165). This unexpected
recovery led Feldenkrais to conclude that it was his brain, not just his body, that “was in charge of his level of functioning” (Doidge, 2015, p. 165).
Improbable
Doidge (2015, p. 165) rightly points out that all of this does seem
like an improbable “new age wishy-washy fairy tale of recovery.” Two
injured knees: one long-term, one short-term. Both injuries result in
pain, and then, somehow, after walking home on these two injured legs
without any form of first aid treatment, Feldenkrais goes to bed to rest
and sleep. When he wakes up, the injury and pain of his newly injured
leg have “disappeared!” How was this at all possible?
References at link. If your doctor has not read all of these; THAT IS PROOF OF COMPLETE
%20FAMMO%20PORTRAIT.png.jpg?itok=If0mrpWw "Source John Famechon and Frank Quill The Method")
