The Ming Method

About Ming Manual Therapy and The Ming Method

fas·ci·a (fsh-) n. pl. fas·ci·ae (fsh-, fsh-)

1. Anatomy A sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue enveloping, separating, or binding together muscles, organs, and other soft structures of the body.

I'm a science guy, trained as a physical therapist in the Western medical model (see my bio). But I've also intensively studied alternative therapies—especially a variety of techniques for releasing the fascia. And from my background as a Chinese American, I have a knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

For 25 years, I went out of my way to understand every aspect of the body that I could learn about. Then I synthesized it all into a practice of my own. The result is Ming Manual Therapy and the Ming Method, which go way beyond other treatment modalities.

The unifying element in my work is a profound experiential knowledge of the body, gained through experience in the gym and on the mats as a champion bodybuilder and practitioner of Brazilian jujitsu. Because bodybuilders train every single part of the body—nothing is missed—I know every detail of it intimately. I learned precisely how particular injuries are related to how you practice a sport or do athletic training.

To understand why MMT is so powerful and effective, you need to know a bit about the fascia. This least known of all tissues—almost completely ignored in medical schools and physical therapy training—consists of tough sheets of connective fibers that envelop and weave through every muscle, nerve, and organ. Fascia is a universal tissue that ties your whole body together. It enables you to maintain correct posture, holds your organs in place, prevents muscles from tearing, and tethers tendons to bone, giving the muscles the mechanical stability they need to contract forcefully.

For muscles and joints to function properly, the fascia and nervous system must both be healthy. This means moist, soft, flexible fascia and nerves that send full-strength signals to the muscles. Injury, overuse, and underuse can all result in tight, restricted fascia that shuts off nerves, weakens muscles, restricts movement, and causes inflammation—and pain. What I do in MMT is use my hands to release scar tissue in your fascia that prevents muscles and nerves from working properly.

The big difference between my work and traditional orthopedic medicine and physical therapy is that they don’t address the fascia. Treating the fascia enables me to heal problems where these standard approaches can't. Just ask the Nets and Yankees players who are out there running and jumping on knees that their own team doctors couldn't cure, but that I fixed in a few sessions. (Many other professional athletes consult me quietly, without the knowledge of their team physicians.)

Most doctors just scratch their heads if you mention fascia—they never learned about it in medical school. But fascial therapy is a great alternative to the standard medical model. Are you aware that surgery itself is an injury? It creates scar tissue, which is exactly what my work is designed to get rid of. Scars naturally contract toward their own center, pulling the surrounding tissues with them. If these tissues include a nerve or joint, the result is pain and restricted movement. That’s one reason why surgery often fails to resolve pain and can even make it worse. Surgery should always be your last option.

An MMT treatment session lasts about 50 minutes. Most types of pain problems require five to six sessions. Be aware that MMT is very different from standard medical treatments. Whereas conventional medicine and physical therapy treat only the part that hurts, I look at the body as a whole. You may find me placing my hands at a point far away from the injured area. That's because the fascia is continuous throughout the body, and I'm treating a tight or restricted section of it that is actually the underlying cause of your problem.

Your session will also include treatment with one of two cutting-edge therapies: microcurrent or cold laser. Microcurrent uses an extremely low level of electrical current, while cold laser uses a laser beam that produces no heat at all. With both, treating a painful area significantly decreases pain and swelling and increases joint flexibility. Treating the pathway of a nerve that isn’t working stimulates the nerve to start firing again. In minutes, the muscle supplied by that nerve is 40 to 50 percent stronger and more flexible—and it stays that way.

MMT is one component of my comprehensive program—the Ming Method. My hands-on work is supplemented by a personalized homework program that consists of five components:

• Hydration: I'll tell you how and when to drink adequate water to get your fascia moist and supple.
• Anti-inflammation diet. Inflammation = pain. Certain foods trigger inflammation in your fascia, and you’ll learn how to avoid them.
• Supplements to support fascial health.
• An individually designed stretching program to decompress your spine and release individual contracted areas in the fascia. Far more intense and focused than any stretches you may already know, these unusual, astonishingly effective stretches are designed to release tight, restricted areas by putting long chains of fascia into tension.
• Personalized strengthening exercises to lock in the effects of MMT and make your cure permanent.
• Simple self-therapy techniques to facilitate the program as a whole.

You’ll use this homework program not just while I treat you but for maintenance, to keep your body pain-free for good.

This may sound odd coming from a professional soft-tissue specialist, but it’s true: I tell everyone they’re their own best therapist, not Ming Chew. My intention is not just to heal you with my hands but to empower you with the knowledge that you can cure yourself, even if I’m not around. The Ming Method goes beyond my powerful hands-on treatment: it’s a complete healing program that can spare you many unnecessary medications, possibly unnecessary surgery, and a whole lot of misery.