Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 21 Aug 2012 17:39

Ever heard of it??

Check it out..

http://www.rubenfeldsynergy.com/

My story:

A bunch of my family members have recieved treatment...

Dad: My dad and uncle had gone fishing with a group of friends a few thanksgivings ago (I was actually invited to go, but it was too cold, so I declined, thankfully) and, long and the short of it is, they were all crossing this bridge next to a dam and my Dad's friend, Mario, slipped on black ice and fell into the hypothermic waters below. He got sucked into the dam and my uncle jumped in after him, but the water was too cold and he was nowhere to be seen. They had to give up, or else we would have lost my uncle too. Mario drowned. A few weeks later, my Dad developed this LITERALLY paralyzing pain in his leg that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried. I remembered hearing cries from downstairs one night, then I walked out of bed and saw my Dad at the bottom of the stairs laying on the floor, crying. He was soon recommended Rubenfeld Synergy for his pain. He spent a bit of time with the lady and after a few sessions, she helped him release the pain from his leg. It never came back. The synergist said the pain was from regretting not jumping into the water or doing something more to try to save Mario. The regret manifested itself as a terrible pain. He also went to the synergist for some severe shoulder pain he had ast year. She cleared it right up.

Mom: My mom had a semi-paralyzing pain in her back due to some of the discs being messed up. Synergist helped her with it.

Grandmother: Went for her back, as well... Cured it.

So I called a Rubenfeld Synergist tonight and scheduled an appoint for tomorrow night at 6:00 pm for my shinsplints. She seemed pretty positive that she could help me out. So I will give a write up as soon as I get back from the synergist. I'm really excited for it. Treatment is sort of pricey, but apparently it's madd good. Time will tell. Stay tuned for the personal feedback sometime tomorrow night.

Feel free to voice your opinion.
Nick Polini

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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by PoisonTaffy » 22 Aug 2012 00:35

The problem is that there really is no useful info about it. I don't see any real scientific evidence that it works on the website or otherwise. Anecdotal evidence is not useful, what with the placebo effect and the regression towards the mean, and as you can find anecdotal evidence for every method out there, and obviously not all of them work, you shouldn't take that as evidence at all.

One interesting thing I found in "About RSM": The Rubenfeld Synergy Method (RSM) is an alternative healing method which combines touch and talk together to help people deal with the stresses in their lives.

If your shin splints aren't caused by stress in your life, then according to their own definition, it shouldn't help.

Irregardless, it may be worth it just for the placebo effect alone.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 22 Aug 2012 12:01

I just barely skimmed your post because I don't want any bias during my treatment tonight. Rubenfeld Synergists have to go through 4 years of Rubenfeld schooling to become a licensed therapist. I kinda think they have something there if it takes that much schooling.

I'll be able to judge it in 2 hours..

Going into this, my mind is gaping wide open...

Maybe you don't believe it, but seeing is believing.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 22 Aug 2012 19:04

This was seriously a cool experience... if you have an open mind.

I walked in the office with some pain in my shins.. when the treatment was finished, I expected to still have some pain in the shins, but to my surprise, my shins felt new and full of energy! Still going to take it easy for a little while, but man, my legs feel like they haven't felt in almost a year. But no lie, my shins ached going into it and they were also tender the press on, and when I got off of that table, my shins were no longer tender. I haven't been able to press on my shins like that for a while due to pain. I was seriously amazed.

Write-Up of My Treatment:

I walked up to the door and there was a beautiful zen-like fountain next to it. I knocked on the door and a nice lady answered. We introduced ourselves. She had a very calm manner about her and perfect posture. I went into her office and signed a few forms for her. Then I demonstrated what footbag was. She thought it was really cool and she definitely showed interest by asking me a bunch of questions. We both found it interesting that both footbag and Rubenfeld Synergy were invented in Oregon. Next, I hopped up on a soft table and laid on my back. She told me to do some deep breathing to start. Once that was finished, she started touching my feet and asking me how they felt when she touched them in certain ways. Then she moved on to my legs... I went through a sequence of "When I touch here, what does it feel like?", which went as follows:

Touched right knee: I felt a clear spinning orb
Touched left knee: I felt a red spinning orb
Touched down right shin: I felt a flowing waterfall down my shin, out my toes, and into the air
Touched down left shin: I felt a path of music notes flowing down my shin
Touched my feet: I felt like my feet were lion's paws
Touched hip: felt like it was a gearthat was shifting left and right
Touched my right thigh: felt like a soft log
Touched my left leg: felt like a soft rock

Then she put her hand under my butt and pulled all the energy down my body on each side, twisting her hands downward toward my toes. I literally felt a weight of negative energy follow her hands and move out of my legs. She then went about messing about with my feet and legs again. it felt different this time. They were loose and limp and felt amazing.

She, somehow cracked into my head and helped me realize that my flipside (my more injured side) is feeling left behind.. like I used to feel with my group of friends, because I never quite fit in with them.. and also how I have been feeling since my injury has occurred. I didn't realize it until tonight, but since I haven't been able to play and drill like I used to and a bunch of friends always text me highlights of them improving, I have been feeling left behind in footbag... It gave me chills when she determined that...

Oh and one last really awesome part of the therapy was when she told me to imagine myself cured of shinsplints and hitting something I used to be able to hit but can't anymore due to my injury... I haven't hit Ripped Warrior b2b since I got injured.. So I imagined that... back to back to back to back to back, etc... like Clavens used to do for warm-up :P It felt so good. then I started hitting Jackknife> Ripped Warrior rpt a shitload of times. I was having such a good time being completely healed in my head, that I started giggling and laughing out loud and smiling when I was doing it. She was at the foot of the desk, holding my legs. That was my favorite part, by far. The amazing thing was, when I was finished imagining those drills, SHE DESCRIBED TO ME WHAT I WAS DOING IN MY HEAD. I was blown away...

Then I got off the table slowly and touched my feet to the ground and felt my shins... No pain. Pressed them... no pain. Felt like brand new shins and they were charged, I tell you. CHARGED. I felt no pain that I had felt walking into the office. I started laughing and smiling while talking with her. She was laughing and smiling too. She said she had a lot of fun with this treatment. Her favorite part was my Ripped Warrior imagining because she was never able to pinpoint something like that so well.

I am supposed to check back with her in a day or two and let her know how I am doing.

I am seriously amazed how well it worked... Maybe it's a placebo effect but when I feel my legs, I have no choice but to doubt that option.

I highly recommend Rubenfeld Synergy to anyone with pains that they can't get rid of... Even shin splints.

Seeing is believing.



(Feel free to comment or ask me questions)
Nick Polini

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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by Jeremy » 23 Aug 2012 03:05

What you're describing is a form of "therapeutic touch" - an alternative medicine therapy, which incidentally was once debunked in a study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a 9 year old girl.

Edit; I wonder if you could rewrite your experiences using only non-metaphorical language. I don't want ask questions about it when you don't mean exactly what you say.

edit2; So for example when you say that you "felt negative energy" - you obviously can't actually mean that, so can you explain what you mean in more clear terms?

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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 23 Aug 2012 10:10

Jeremy wrote:
edit2; So for example when you say that you "felt negative energy" - you obviously can't actually mean that, so can you explain what you mean in more clear terms?
I obviously did mean that because that's what I typed. That's as clear as I can make it. When you feel negative energy being pulled out of your body, you know you feel that. When she was pulling it out, I felt my mood change and I was much happier after she did it.

This stuff might sound crazy to people with a not-so-open mind.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by Jeremy » 23 Aug 2012 15:40

But when you say "energy," you're obviously not actually talking about "energy" in a precise sense of the word. There's no such thing as "negative energy." If you were saying that you felt like you had "more energy" I would understand. If you're saying you felt less tense, or warm, or something like that I would understand. But I don't know what you mean by "negative energy." If you can't explain the experience using terms that actually exist, can you at least explain what you mean by "negative energy"?

Edit; I thought I'd add my own "miracle cure" for shin splints. I used to get terrible shin splints, but also be compelled to play everyday. I would rub deep heat on my shins, take opiate pain killers and just play through the pain (this was foolish). Then a post came up, I think on Flipsider. It ran through a series of exercises aimed at strengthening calf and lower leg muscles, and said this would prevent shin splints. I took a few weeks off footbag (I think because I rolled my ankle) and started doing those exercises. My shin splints went away, and have never come back - although I also stopped playing whenever I thought I could feel them coming back, but after a while of doing the muscle exercises (which were really just raising yourself on your tippy toes and stepping up and down steps, or balancing on the edge of steps), I never felt like I was getting shin splints, and it's now 8-9 years since I've had them.
Last edited by Jeremy on 23 Aug 2012 18:51, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by Outsider » 23 Aug 2012 17:38

The exercise that I was taught to help shin-splints was to walk on my heels, with my toes pointed up, off the ground.

I used to walk up and down the hallway of my college dorm like that.

I've never had shin-splints since. On the other hand, I also stopped doing certain moves like symposium mirage. I couldn't say with certainty which one resulted in no more shin-splints, but the heel-walking exercise was something that I could really feel developing some under-developed muscles.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 23 Aug 2012 20:46

Hey Jeremy, sorry for not explaining clearly. But what I mean by negative energy is when she did that motion with her hands down my legs, I could feel negative feelings in my legs leaving. It's hard to explain, really, but I just remember she did that then it felt like my leg was on a private vacation in paradide and I couldn't help but smile widely. That might not be the answer you were looking for, but that's all I can really say :/ You just have to experience it for yourself, I guess. It can be hard to describe a feeling to someone.

Also, thanks both of you guys for the shin splint tips. I've given the toe raises a try... They seemed to help a bit. But I have yet to try the heel walking, Jon. I'll probably start to do that tomorrow. I also just got foam shred mats, so they should help further.

So maybe the Rubenfeld didn't cure me completely, I didn't expect that at all. But I feel like it did help in some areas. Either way, I don't regret going because it was certainly quite an exprience.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by jimmyjames » 29 Aug 2012 20:25

You should check out any of the many expose's by James Randi or Derren Brown on faith healers and other "healers" and the tricks they use to mislead people. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYjgeayfYPI) another interesting video about deception: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Z7KeNCi7g

The brain is an interesting thing; even though nothing physically changes are you are not healed, you experience less pain because of the combination endorphins from the experience and believing that the novel intervention is actually doing something. This is why control groups exist and randomized double blind studies are the gold standard of evidence.

From a rational scientific perspective, shin splints are an overuse injury that can be treated with reduction in volume and intensity of training (eg. play shorter periods and less impact like symposium tricks) combined with the exercises that can strengthen the anterior lower leg muscles as mentioned previously in this topic.
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by Jeremy » 30 Aug 2012 01:40

I love the "Miracles for Sale" Derren Brown show. It was brilliant, and I even thought about posting a link in this topic. Good work :)

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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 31 Aug 2012 00:13

That makes my wallet hurt, now that I know that :(
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Re: Rubenfeld Synergy Treatment for Shin Splints?

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 08 Aug 2013 19:50

The thing that healed my shins was not the Rubenfeld. That just made me feel better about not being able to play footbag. I fixed my form and now play on my toes. That seemed to fix a lot. Also, changed my gait from heel-toe to flat foot, with more weight toward toes, but heel never fully touches. Also, walking on my toes for a few feet, then switching to my heels *rpt x a lot REALLY helped so much for me. I also started riding my bike everywhere instead of walking. That took a lot of pressure off of my legs. One other thing I did was buy Zensah shin compression sleeves. They are a little pricey, but I swear by them. They really work well.
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