Alignment First, a successful back-pain clinic could trace its roots to Geoff Dakin’s extensive study of acute injury and chronic pain, his athletic training – including time working for the Vancouver Canucks, but Dakin believes helping his father was the real stimulus for the Alignment First Protocol (AFP).
“My dad was very athletic, but he struggled with chronic, recurring low-back pain most of his adult life,” says Dakin, a Registered Massage Therapist and owner of Alignment First. “The therapy techniques, and the remedial exercises I had been taught in school, weren’t helping him. It wasn’t until I started experimenting with corrective exercise systems that I started to see lasting change.
The Alignment First Protocol treats the root of pain not the symptoms. It is designed to reduce nervous system load and mechanical irritation with a series of ten specific corrective exercise progressions. When a patient begins at Alignment First, the clinic uses 3D Motion Capture Technology to give an overview of the positional relationships between the major joints.
“People are often startled to see how malaligned they are,” says Dakin. During the initial Discovery Session they determine if the client and the Alignment First Protocol are a good fit. “We can only do so much on the treatment table – to have lasting success we need to leverage the benefits of a consistent, evolving practice of personally prescribed corrective exercises. The posture re-education process is transformative!”
Dakin says many patients fall in love with their daily Alignment First Protocol practice and see their exercises as medicine they can’t do without. “Throughout the journey, we figure out what the minimum corrective exercise dose is for each patient so that we maximize the odds of the training being done, while minimizing the odds of boredom and burnout.”
After almost 35 years in rehab care, Dakin has seen all types and styles of therapy. “Although nobody will dispute that the cause of pain often originates distant from where it is felt, it is rare to see care delivered in a way that respects that,” says Dakin.
Dakin places huge emphasis on helping his existing clients maintain their success – likening maintenance care to semi-annual dental checkups, and his purpose in life is to help his clients live pain free. “It’s amazingly fulfilling to help people reclaim their lives.”
This comes full circle to understanding the body, and how to work with it, not against it: “Imagine your body as a finely tuned orchestra. Each muscle, bone and nerve is an instrument. If one section is out of tune (like your pelvis being crooked or having a functional leg length difference), the entire symphony can sound off. But, if you fine-tune each instrument (through diligent daily practice of the AFP), the result is harmonious and pain-free movement.”
Photography by Graham Mckerrell
Alignment First
119-8989 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB T2H OM2
403-719-9192
Website: alignmentfirst.ca | Facebook: alignmentfirst | Instagram: alignmentfirstinc
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