Bring on the pain relief

Kalispell chiropractor offers innovative treatment for chronic muscle, joint aches

Kalispell chiropractor Jim McKiernan clearly recalls the moment he learned about the pain-release-reflex technique.

He was in a coffee house in June when his wife spotted an article about the technique in the Health section of the Missoulian.

His wife, also a licensed chiropractor, pushed the paper across the table.

"She said, 'Take a look at this,'" McKiernan said. "I was a little flabbergasted."

In the article, physical therapist Brent Dodge said the technique quickly relieved headaches as well as pain in joints and muscles, and the neck, jaw and lower back. McKiernan said it was like nothing he had studied during more than two decades of practice.

Unlike traditional manipulations and other rehabilitation techniques he used daily, the pain-release reflex involved a very gentle tapping, stretching and massaging precise points on the body.

After a little research, McKiernan learned that a physical therapist in Helena offered basic training. He immediately enrolled in the course and learned nearly 25 pain-release techniques.

He, like the Missoula physical therapist, described pain release as "kind of weird" compared with the techniques he had studied previously.

"It was like learning a new golf swing," McKiernan said.

The results were better than anything he had used before. Patients got lasting pain relief from these fast yet gentle treatments.

The Kalispell chiropractor soon left for intensive training in San Diego with John Iams, the creator of the technique. In his study group was a range of professionals, including neurophysiologists, physical therapists and chiropractors.

"It was really excellent," McKiernan said.

While at the training, McKiernan jumped up from his seat when Iams asked for a volunteer. The master of the reflex-pain-relief technique went to work.

McKiernan had suffered from chronic headaches as well as tenderness on the right side of his neck, he said. Regular chiropractic treatments helped but never resolved the pain.

He was amazed by the result he got from Iams' technique, which included having him stick out his tongue as the physical therapist tapped, stretched and massaged different points on his body.

"The tenderness decreased by 75 [percent] to 80 percent," McKiernan said. "It's exciting."

He left convinced that, within 10 years, all professionals involved with pain relief would incorporate Iams' techniques in their practices. Using advanced pain-release-reflex methods in his practice increased McKiernan's enthusiasm.

A patient of McKiernan's discussed the effectiveness of the treatments. She asked that the Inter Lake not use her real name to keep her health conditions private.

Judy, 45, said she injured her sciatic nerve in January, causing severe pain in her leg.

"It got to where it was unbearable," she said.

She thinks she injured the nerve by twisting at work, where she spends most of her time at a desk using a computer. Judy said the pain was so bad that she couldn't stay seated for long.

Even driving home from work, she had to stop and get out of the car. Judy also suffered from chronic pain in her back and knee, on which she had surgery after a skiing accident.

She never had tried chiropractic treatments for pain relief.

"I decided to give it a try," Judy said. "It's been a great experience."

The two worked as a team, with McKiernan following some of her suggestions and ideas. He said patients have valid insights about their bodies.

He tried the new pain-release-reflex techniques on Judy.

"I noticed a difference when I got off the table," she said.

She said she drove home without having to get out of the car to relieve the pain in her leg. After each of her two sessions, she said she got better.

A simple technique that people can try themselves is one McKiernan teaches to relieve stress and anxiety.

When feeling overwhelmed, right-handed people need only move their heads slightly to the right and hold the position for between 30 and 60 seconds. Left-handed people should reverse the movement.

The pain-release reflex has a failure rate of about 20 percent, McKiernan said. Typically, he said, he can detect whether a patient's condition requires a different approach.

"If there is a level of trauma you can't get to, you can evaluate that right off the bat," he said.

The chiropractor said the techniques allow patients to get over the initial "pain hump," and move sooner to rehabilitation.

He said the technique works with the primal protective reflexes of withdrawal and startle, which influence muscle function. Both come hardwired into the spinal cord and brain at birth.

When the body experiences trauma, pain, disease or chronic stress, McKiernan said it becomes "up regulated" as these reflexes tighten muscles around our joints, resulting in pain.

He said the up-regulating "fight or flight" (sympathetic) nervous system dominates the down-regulating "relaxing" (parasympathetic) nervous system.

"We're better off operating out of the parasympathetic nervous system," McKiernan said.

The technique stimulates this down-regulating system of the body, relaxing muscles and reducing or eliminating pain by breaking the stress-trauma cycle.

For McKiernan and other chiropractors, it solves a problem with treatments not holding, forcing patients to return time and again for pain relief.

"We see longer holding patterns," he said.

For patients such as Judy, the technique did more than alleviate her sciatic nerve problem, she said. It also relieved pain in her back, knee and neck.

"It's gentle and it's quick," she said. "What more could you ask for?"

People interested in finding out more about the pain-release-reflex technique can visit the Web site at www.theprrt.com or call McKiernan at McKiernan Chiropractic and Sports Injury at 756-2626.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.