Fred Baker - The Man and the Massage By Laurie Long "Does it hurt here?", asks Fred as he presses steely fingers into the side of my neck.

"Um, yea, that does hurt," I reply. "How about now?" he inquires, rotating my head up and left. "That's much better," I sigh. The questions and answers continue as Massage Therapist Fred Baker pulls, pushes, bends and straightens my head and neck. Fred is giving me a demonstration of a new massage technique that focuses on releasing tension in the muscles around the first two vertebrae at the base of the skull, C1 & C2.

Fred has been using this technique for several months now to allow more energy and blood movement to the brain and up and down the spine. "The increased movement of blood and energy throughout the body is essential to everyone I see, but it is especially important to my MS clients," he explains. Fred should know. He sees seventeen MS patients currently, and almost all of those have been with Fred for more than three years. Fred's goal with his MS patients is to retain and, if possible, enhance their range of motion, their coordination, and their ability to feel and control their extremities. In addition, his work helps his clients have less pain. To accomplish this, Fred uses a number of different techniques: neuromuscular therapy designed to enhance communication between the brain and the muscles, muscle-energy techniques where the therapist moves the limbs of the client, passive-positional muscle release, where flexing, bending and turning the area in question allows tension in the muscles to be released and some deep-tissue work on large, heavy muscles. Fred has now added this new neuromuscular therapy on the C1 and C2 vertebrae to his repertoire.

"It makes my clients happier, gives them more energy and makes them feel better. That's what it's all about," says Fred. "I went to one patient's house," Fred remembers, "and gave her boyfriend (who also has MS) my C1/C2 therapy treatment while I was there. He called me up a little later and said 'Before you did that I was having a crappy day. Now I'm having a good day!'"

Fred has discovered that, in addition to increased blood flow to and from the brain and increased energy, this technique gets rid of headaches. "I used to get headaches quite often," he explains, "but now, as long as I get this treatment once a week, I don't get headaches any more." His clients are equally impressed with the added treatment.

MS client Todd Quackenbush, who has been seeing Fred about a year, explained, "I've had some blockages and spinal issues. Fred has helped me with my balance and the dexterity and feeling in my hands. The C1/C2 technique made me feel so much better that it has convinced me to see a chiropractor as well. Fred is not afraid to direct people to someone else if that is what's called for."

Todd adds, "He does two things I really like: He tracks down and relieves issues going on in the body, and he's an expert at getting rid of pain - both short and long term. It has made a real difference in my life."

67 year-old Ed Boyle has been seeing Fred every week for almost 3 years. He went to Fred initially because of MS related spasticity and numbness in his left leg. "With MS your wiring gets mixed up and you end up trying to get two muscles to do opposite things at the same time," Ed explains. "By showing me how to isolate my muscles Fred taught me how to direct energy to the appropriate muscle. The stretching and relaxation exercises he gave me really helped too. I've gotten the feeling back in my leg," Ed notes, "but the interesting thing is that other pains that I've had for years have disappeared. "He adds, "I think that, with Fred's help, my 70's will be better than my 60's".

Fred began practicing massage therapy nine years ago, in 1993."When I started doing this", Fred remembers, "there were hardly any massage practitioners working with MS clients. Now I personally know of more than twenty who work with MSers." Fred admits that he is partially responsible for this change. Fred has begun to teach classes to other massage practitioners on how to best help clients with MS through massage. He has trained twelve people so far, and one of his students has gone on to teach his own classes in MS massage in South King County. Fred has also helped co-found a non-profit organization, The Baker-Conaway Foundation, to provide low cost or free massage therapy to people with MS, and instruction on MS massage techniques to other practitioners. "The Foundation is in limbo right now," Fred sighs. "We are stalled from lack of money."

Although disappointed at the arrested progress of the Foundation, Fred is not letting that slow him down. He is constantly watching for new or better techniques to help his patients, and is more than willing to teach other massage practitioners the secrets of his success. He also has a good working relationship with Cheri Markos, the Doctor of Chiropractic featured in last year's summer and fall Contact newsletters. Cheri practices a relatively new chiropractic technique, Advanced Biostructural Therapy, on her MS clients with some amazing results. "I see this new C1/C2 technique as an adjunct to Cheri's ABT," Fred explains. "It sets out to produce similar results by similar means. But instead of concentrating on the spine, we focus on the muscles connected to the spine."

"Cheri and I have had a lot of long discussions on this topic," Fred laughs, "but we still keep referring clients to each other." Both Cheri and Fred stress that chiropractic and massage are palliatives, not curatives: they cannot cure the disease, but they can relieve the symptoms.

Because many of his MS clients cannot work and no longer have insurance, Fred often discounts his fee to allow his clients to keep seeing him. He feels that it is extremely important that people with MS receive as much continuing movement exercise, including massage, as possible. "Any kind of massage for MSers is better than no massage," he explains. And Fred's feeling towards his work? "Working with people's bodies is just so fantastic! Each person is so different that I never get bored."

Fred escorts me from his office with a big bear-hug and a wave. "This has been great!" he exclaims, as though I have given him the free massage. And he is right about the new technique: I feel much better walking out than I did walking in, partly from the massage and partly because Fred is just - Fred.

Fred Baker is a licensed Massage Practitioner You can contact him at  Myotherapy Northwest in Shoreline, WA 206-542-4187 myotherapy@juno.com

Fred Baker has also written an book on massage called: "Enhance Your Quality of Life with Massage for Multiple Sclerosis" (pub. 2007). If you would be interested in purchasing a copy, please call or email Fred at the numbers opposite.

 

 

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