Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Nadine at Xmas

Nadine walked on a walker for 300 feet the other day (on a walker but on her own). Not bad when you consider a short time ago they were happy with one foot step.

Here is some pics from Xmas day.  In one she is learning how to use a cassette player from her grandson. In the second she is using a cell phone to talk to her family. Notice which hand is being used.


Friday, December 24, 2010

The best Xmas present of all- ever!!!

Some news about Nadine in an email from her daughter. For those unfamiliar with Nadine she had a stroke 6 weeks ago and suffer complete left side paralysis. We started working on her 4 weeks ago. Check this blog for further details. Kevin Kunz

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Thanks for forwarding.  I agree with her.  There is now hope for mother's life, not just an existance, in her future. 
 
Mother finally arrived at the acute rehab center about 3:00 yesterday afternoon...
 
Prior to the move yesterday, she successfully took a few steps using a walker, and actually helped in the transfer process from her wheelchair to the transfer van's chair.  Amazing! --- particularly when one remembers her condition a month ago.  In addition, she is regaining memory of her current home, which has significantly reduced her frustration level.  She's coming back "on-line" and for that our family is exceedingly grateful.
 
There is no way to adequately thank you, Barbara and the others who have been instrumental in mother's recovery.  Without the enormous investment of time and hard work that you and Barbara are contributing, I don't believe she would be in the acute rehab center now; she would be facing an existance in a long term care facility, daily living her worst nightmare.
 
Definitely the best Xmas gift of all - ever.  Thank you.
 
--- Dale

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Good News for Nadine!!!

We just received great news about Nadine, our friend who suffered a stroke six weeks ago. She is being "upgraded" to a acute rehab center which means she did very well on her evaluation today. It means that Nadine will get more therapy.

Worked on her yesterday with the intent of giving her the best chance to do well with the evaluation. Hooray I think it worked.

Kevin

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Nadine Took Steps

We just got the phone with Nadine's daughter. Nadine took 4 to 6 steps unaided today while simply holding onto to parallel bars. Dale said she did it a couple of times.

I am getting Dale to send us an email. She was called by the head of the physical therapy department. Dale said the head and the other PT's are extremely excited and talking about past patients that should get a hold of us. They are quite eager to meet us. 

More to come...
All the best,

Barbara and Kevin 

More Nadine News

Good news! I received a call this afternoon from the woman in charge of physical therapy for mother. She reported the following (drum roll, drum roll).

* Mother was able stand, without anyone holding onto her, while she gripped the parallel bars today.

** She was able, while holding the parallel bars, to take 4-6 tiny steps unassisted today! Not only that, but she did it more than once!

Of course, this pleased mother, and the entire physical therapy staff is just overjoyed by her progress (as is her family!!!). Thank you SO MUCH for all the hard work you've put in on helping her get to this point. Without all of your help, she wouldn't have been able to grip the bars or take those steps.

This is definitely a major (no pun intended) step forward

Monday, December 13, 2010

Nadine lifted her left leg

This is latest video on Nadine who suffered a right side stroke 5 weeks ago. We are starting our 3rd week of working on her as of yesterday. This video is from yesterday. She lifted her leg a total of seven times on request.


Kevin Kunz


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Reflexology and Paralysis

More video on Nadine's progress. Notice her holding the handle on her water jug.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Nadine's Left Hand- Reflexology and Paralysis

About a month ago Nadine had a stroke. It paralyzed her left side. Because of all of the shuffling that goes on in these situations we didn't get to her until three weeks later. The family got started with instructions I phoned in. I emphasized focusing on the eye/ear area because of our unique experiences with spinal cord injury.

While we have a lot to say of this subject but pictures speak louder than words. This video was taken at her third session.


When we were working with spinal cord injury we noticed a crossover effect when you applied pressure  to the eye/ear area. This is the key area for paralysis. See http://www.reflexology-research.com/paralysisreport.htm 

The eye/ear area is not an exact mirror image area unlike the rest the reflex areas. It is according to recent functional MRI studies a "polysensory area" which means it involves several senses. Eyesight for example involves more than one sense. And the same area in the brain that lights up in brain imaging is also associated with stroke. 

We would be working on one foot and the hand (quadriplegia) or the foot (paraplegia) would move. We called it the "crossover effect". Interestingly we had more effect on the quadriplegic than the paraplegics. 

It makes me wonder if because the interruption is outside of the spinal cord and in the brain itself if this could explain the quickness of the results.  One week is a really short time for this kind of response. 

How will this hold up with other stroke patients? We don't know. But we are damn well going to find out.

All the best,

Barbara and Kevin 





Friday, December 3, 2010

Free Friday- Free Reflexology Stuff

Free Friday- Reflexology Stuff

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Featured Freebies

New Widgets and Apps

New app for your Iphone or Android- Definition, research, forums and more


Large Interactive Charts for your Website, blog or Facebook page.

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Specials

Order 250 personalized or plain Charts and get a free copy of Complete Reflexology for Life. Offer ends next Friday (December 10th, 2010) 
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Freebees 




1. Free Iphone/ IPad/ ITouch Reflexology Chart App. Take your reflexology with you.This handy app goes on your IPhone, IPad and Itouch. 


2. Free Interactive Foot and Hand Charts

Done with a design team from Kunz&Kunz and DK these charts are wildly popular and a great teaching tool as well. 


3. Free Widgets

These interactive widgets are free to put on your web site, blog, Facebook page and other social networking sites. 

Foot reflexology widget

Hand Reflexology Widget 

Complete Reflexology for Life- Free Widget with contents of this blog

What Reflexology Research Shows. Free Widget with Reflexology Research Results. 

Yahoo Reflexology Community Forum- Free Reflexology Forum Widget with posts from the members

Nursing and Reflexology Research. Free Widget with Reflexology Research Performed with Nurses

Free Twitter Widget to Follow the Tweets on Kevin Kunz


6. Free Facebook Reflexology Forum- A causal forum on reflexology for anyone to join

Kevin's Facebook page that might as well be a forum. Lively, fast paced and a real treasure trove of information