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Why I Became MELT Instructor…

Up until 5 years ago I had led a pretty active life. In my early years of adulthood, I enjoyed running, biking, swimming, and mountain hiking. In the summer of 1986. I biked over 100 miles to San Diego, climbed Mount Whitney, competed in a team corporate challenge quadrathlon, and did my first triathlon, all in the course of a month! When my daughter was born in 1988. I assumed I would get back into the swing of things, but quite frankly, it didn’t happen. Sure, my husband, Allen, and I continued hiking, with baby in tow, but priorities shifted, and I traded my running shoes in for some comfortable walking shoes. The only problem… it wasn’t comfortable walking. In fact, my feet hurt.

When I first began running in college, I experienced chronic pain in my right knee. I went through several brands of running shoes, trying to find the right fit. After a trip to a podiatrist, I was fitted for orthotics. The orthotic on my right foot included a heel lift which helped to compensate for an apparent leg length discrepancy. Both orthotics helped to stabilize my tendency toward pronation.

Now, that I wasn’t running anymore, I just inserted the orthotics into my walking shoes and continued on my way. Unfortunately, my feet still hurt. I had developed bunions on both feet which would become inflamed after a short walk around the block with the stroller. At 28 years of age, I felt like I had the feet of an eighty year old! Before too much time passed, I decided to have a double bunionectomy to correct the problem. So, as my daughter, Catherine, was beginning to walk, I, too, hobbled around as I recovered from surgery.

Fast forward 25 years…

The bunions are back. What have I learned? Bunions are a symptom, not the culprit. Leg length discrepancy is a symptom, not the culprit. While there can be many factors contributing to chronic pain in the feet, for me, the main two symptoms are improper spine alignment and stuck stress stored in my connective tissue, or fascia.

My foot pain was the least of my problems. Four summers ago, I had pulled my back out taking brownies out of the oven. (Brownies can be dangerous!) I went the traditional treatment route first… orthopedic evaluation and MRI to verify no disk issues, following up with standard physical therapy to build strength back. “Building strength back” requires that there was some kind of strength to begin with. (If I had had proper core strength, I would not have injured myself making brownies.) I made a few healing steps forward through manual therapy and Pilates sessions, but these changes were short-lived.

I was introduced to the MELT method by my friend and instructor, Nicole Anderson. I had known Nicole before she experienced debilitating back pain as a result of a sports injury, and I had witnessed her steady progression toward recovery using the MELT method. She “put a face” to the method, and I was a believer! Could a simple self-treatment method work for me as it was apparently working for her?

Absolutely!

Now, I, too, have become a MELT instructor, like Nicole. As an instructor, I plan to teach others how to get out and stay out of chronic pain using the MELT method of self-treatment. It is helping me to live a pain free life, and I believe it will help others too.