The Cane Story

Photos and story posted to journeytosolidarity.org by Jay Breitlow.

The first week in Ghana I had a very difficult time remembering all the Ghanaian names and the unique personalities that went with them. One man, Kweku, seemed different and from the start we have had a bond that allowed the two of us to get along swimmingly.

The infectious smile of Uncle Kweku

Kweku is a 75 year old retired man, who comes to see me two or three times a week. His salt and pepper gray hair swiftly receding from his brow reflects his age. His dimples that swell when he flashes his ear-to-ear schoolboy grin, sets him back decades in a sort of youth restorative time capsule. His walking cane, however, brings your attention right back to the fact that this man’s body has weathered the storms of life, despite the age defying spirit that infuses any room he enters.

The ‘Cane story’ goes back over 100 years in Chiropractic, to a generation when the ‘Developer of Chiropractic’ Dr. BJ Palmer was in his prime. You see back in the early 1900’s when the profession was merely in it’s infancy, people didn’t know about the miracles of a nervous system free of interference. When people started getting positive results without surgery or drugs, stories started to become larger than life. With respect to canes; people were getting positive results eerily fast from the care of Dr. Palmer.  In fact when they walked in with canes, the story goes, they became so excited when they left ‘cured’ that the once needed canes were often left at the door. A bit far fetched to have such a fast and quick turnaround, but not totally out of the realm of possibility, at least for a few folks. What is most likely closer to the truth, is that BJ had a fetish for collecting strange canes of the world and when patients were getting better after repeated treatment, they would leave their canes in token gratitude to add to the collection. You get the idea…

This story is not all that different, despite my current cane collection being at zero, it will hopefully not be long until I have the first one. ‘Uncle’ Kweku has been walking and standing with the assistance of a cane since he had an accident about 5 years ago. As he recovered from the fall he began walking and standing with the aid of a cane. Time passes and the body adapts, and Kweku’s body got used to the idea of the cane. Subsequently the left knee never healed correctly and the cane became an extension of him. When we first met, he had a noticeable limp to the right side (the same as the cane in hand) and could not get up any stairs without considerable effort and/or help from his son. Chiropractic was new to him, although before I had arrived he had a few adjustments from a young doctor in Accra who was adjusting with an instrument. His results were generally positive from a spinal standpoint; however, the knee was not recovering swiftly as the practitioner was focused solely on the spine.

Working on Kweku

When I examined him I found nothing of significance spinally except that he (like the rest of us) was subluxated in the pelvis and mid lumbar region. The right knee was in pretty good shape and strong for a man of his age. This was no surprise to me as most Ghanaians of age are grizzled and tough. The left knee, which was the effected knee, had become fibrotic. The fibrous tissue meant that his muscles and ligaments surrounding the knee were becoming taught. This is the body’s way of protection, when something is hurt it knows that the safest thing to do is to surround and immobilize. This is great for healing, however this veteran was in need of a knee that would once again have his actions as spry and wiry as his personality.

I knew that my job was to immediately begin work to keep removing spinal nervous interference while restoring the joint space and eventually (hopefully) motion. There are two large leg muscles that act in coordination with human locomotion, the quadricepts and the hamstrings. Both of these muscle groups were tight and offered little to no motion when challenged. The joint space had also been locked down and offered much resistance in my efforts to traction the knee. There is a muscle behind the knee called popliteus that is also a major player here. Clinically I adjusted the knee both with an instrument and with standard ‘Palmer Package’ manual adjusting/traction. I also supplemented this care with a focused soft-tissue release system called ‘Active Release Technique’ or ART for short. The ART when combined with the adjustment has proven to be quite powerful. If you have any friends who are Ironman triathletes, they will tell you that their success is tied in knowing a good ART doctor.

After 4 visits in just over one weeks time Uncle Kweku tells me that he has a surprise for me. So he calls me in a very ‘look at me now mom’ manner to where he is standing with his cane. Then he proceeds to stand sans cane. Voila! It was only a few brief seconds, but it was major progress. In my head I was picturing a Monty Python song and dance moment for us, instead an appreciative hug and a photo would do for now. I told Kweku that before I leave I wanted to take this same camera in the same spot with and make a new photo with him NOT using the cane at all.

Uncle Kwiku with the Author. This was the photo taken right after he stood without the cane for the first time in years.

Since that day has passed, I have seen Keweku 9 more times over the course of a month. I am please to report that he can now walk from the adjusting table to the cane (about 15 feet) and stand for a few brief minutes without support. The cane is still very necessary, but this is real tangible progress. His knee has about twice as much motion as before and the muscles around the knee are stronger and more limber than previous. Kweku is not yet chasing his grandboys around the backyard, yet I remain confident that through your generosity we will soon have a photo of him with the cane laid deftly on the floor.

Tags: active release technique, ART, Chiropractic, chiropractic mission, chiropractic missions, chiropractic travel, compassion, culture Ghana, Ghana, Health, knee, Service, travel