Life can be funny. Just when we think we know what we’re doing for the rest of our lives, something new comes along and changes our path. When I went to PT school, I imagined I was preparing for my forever job. I managed to balance attending school full time with a part time job as a direct care staff for adults with developmental disabilities. I had worked with that population for ten years and enjoyed it immensely. My goal was to find a physical therapy job working with the same population. After graduation, I landed a job with one of the local ARC’s, I believed I had found the job I would have for the rest of my life.
For the first several years, I loved my job. I made a difference for the people on my caseload. I could advocate for them with Medicare and Medicaid to get them the wheelchairs or orthotics they needed. I helped some of them learn how to use assistive devices to walk and developed programs so staff could assist them with walking for those who could not walk by themselves. For others, I simply helped them with their range of motion, easing contractures, making them more comfortable.
I had one young man on my caseload with spastic cerebral palsy. He was blind, non-verbal and wheelchair dependent. He had such severe flexion contractures at his knees that the skin at the back of his knees would break down. I tried traditional range of motion techniques and could never quite clear it up. I was chastised by one of our doctors that I wasn’t “aggressive” enough with his range of motion, so I tried a little harder. We frequently both ended up in tears. He got so he would curl into a fetal tuck and whimper when he heard my voice.
About that same time, I just happened to take my first Myofascial Release course with John Barnes. I hadn’t planned on taking the course to make any big changes. I was just looking for a PT course to take to keep myself occupied while my husband was overseas. What I learned changed my life.
When I got back to work, I started applying the principles of MFR to some of my patients: only moving their limbs until I felt resistance, waiting at the barrier, letting time do the work, learning to “listen with my hands.”
Over the next few months, the young man with flexion contractures went from curling into a fetal tuck and whimpering when he heard my voice to laughing and clapping his hands when he heard me. He still had contractures, but the breakdown behind his knees cleared up and never returned. He was never able to walk, but he was able to lift each leg to assist staff when getting him dressed.
I was amazed at some of the progress I was making with other folks on my caseload with this new technique. I even started treating my friends and family after work or on weekends. I was hooked. I took more classes with John Barnes. I loved MFR.
As luck would have it, I got the okay to increase the size of my department with another PTA. I had hoped this would allow me to use MFR with more of the folks on my caseload, but the opposite occurred. The increase in my supervisory duties coupled with some administrative changes kept me chained to my desk. I was lucky if I could touch two people a day.
As my frustration grew at work as a desk jockey, I felt called to delve further into the world of MFR. I found myself able to affect greater changes in the people I was seeing outside of work. Over the next year, I took more classes, discovered the world of women’s health PT and slowly grew my own caseload. After a year of careful planning and growing, I started my own practice using MFR exclusively.
I have now been working as a Myofascial Release Therapist for a little over 12 years. I have been able to help so many people. Most recently, I was working with a gentleman who had suffered a stroke years ago. Traditional PT got him up and walking and able to do all the regular activities of daily living immediately after the stroke. We worked together several times over the summer. In September, he sent me a photograph himself playing golf, something he never thought he’d be able to do again.
I love what I do for a living. I am so grateful I’ve been able to assist so many people on their path to healing, Who knew how much my life could change just because I took a class to keep myself busy?
M’elle Pirri-Lee, is Physical Therapist and Expert JFB Myofascial Therapist. With over a decade in private practice, she has helped countless people dealing with chronic pain get back in the driver’s seat and get their lives back. Her goal is to empower women to find help for pelvic floor dysfunction other than buying Poise pads or taking meds. Her office is at 62 Beekman Street, Saratoga Springs NY. If you’re sick of being told you have to “live with” pain or dysfunction, reach out to 518 225-1440, or melle@adirondackmyofascialrelease.com and on Facebook at AdirondackMFR.
