Structure and Function 

Dooley Noted: 3/14/2015  Take a look at the spinal and pelvic radiographs of my friend and colleague, Lynne Ellen Kershaw.   You want to see these. Go ahead. I’ll wait.  Now, I want you to attempt a guess at where she experiences discomfort.  Look closely again at the structures.  Think you’ve got it?  Lynne Ellen has pain nowhere. She feels amazing.  She is 61 years old, with idiopathic scoliosis.  She works 14 hours a day, … Read more

When Breathing Matters Most

Dooley Noted: 3/13/2015 While teaching Immaculate Dissection today in Sydney, I noticed my own breathing had a truncated exhale. I had been dealing with some SCM pain, and I asked a beautiful colleague to work on its sore insertion. That not only made the muscle tighter, but it made my breathing even more labored. So I decided to stop rubbing it to death and put the focus back where it belonged. I practiced quiet breathing … Read more

Strength Equals Control

Dooley Noted: 3/12/2015 Sometimes you think you plan everything out.  And sometimes, things go awry anyway. The Immaculate Dissection team had a rough morning yesterday.  If there was a roadblock, we hit it.  Taxis wouldn’t come.  When they did, they dropped us in the wrong place.  Printers couldn’t be accessed.  The hits kept coming.  I started breaking down as the roadblocks piled on.  Then, an amazing thing happened.  A seminar attendee, Jacqueline, handed me a … Read more

Showing Scars 

Dooley Noted: 3/11/2015 In Immaculate Dissection I: Core Concepts, we discuss abdominal scars in detail.  We note the changes of abdominal stability in patients with abdominal incisions. Scars absolutely alter motor control, while people often avoid touching them.  They even avoid talking about them.  And they certainly avoid showing them.  But my collaborator, Danny Quirk, pointed out something special at our workshop.  He said, “I was so surprised how people at the seminar took something … Read more

Immaculate Dissection I: Melbourne

Dooley Noted: 3/10/2015 On Mon and Tues, we conducted the Australian premiere of our anatomy and corrective workshop called Immaculate Dissection.  It was our second seminar to date  – but it was on another continent, in another hemisphere!  We helped the 13 Melbourne attendees palpate the core muscles and their attachments.   Live models were painted with anatomy by the great Danny Quirk to demonstrate anatomical locations. After day one, attendees were already emailing me … Read more

Finding the Down

Dooley Noted: 3/9/2015  While teaching NKT Level II in Melbourne, we returned from a lunch break.  My friend Riccardo did something I had always wanted to do: climb a rope to the ceiling.   I watched as he ascended to a three story ceiling.  I was in awe.  I immediately thought, “Am I even strong enough to try?” Riccardo must have seen my fascinated face.  Riccardo:  “Come on, Kathy. Give it a go!” Dooley: “I … Read more

Injuries as Punishment

Dooley Noted: 3/7/2015 I see a small share of the world’s patients. While I still have enormous work to do, I’ve noticed that my patients have a commonality. Every single one of them expressed that they deserved their injury. They state things like the following: “I overdid it.” “I did something stupid.” “I wasn’t paying attention.” “I went too far.” People do incredible jobs of punishing themselves, well after the injury occurred. But I don’t … Read more

Travel Review: United Airlines

Dooley Noted: 3/6/2015 Lately, I fly quite a bit. And lately, I’ve had a rough track record of delayed and cancelled flights. Yesterday was my first experience flying with United Airlines. It was one of the most impressive flying experiences of my life. In the middle of a New York winter storm, the airline’s employees worked tirelessly to expedite our process of getting in the air. They worked like a well-oiled machine, communicating clearly with … Read more

The Calm in the Storm

Dooley Noted: 3/5/2015 I’m honored to be an anatomy instructor for Albert Einstein College of Medicine. It’s one of the most incredible anatomy labs in the world, elevated six floors from the world below. You can watch as snow falls heavily onto the streets of the Bronx. Today, we finished our semester of anatomy. It’s always a bittersweet day, grading the exams and watching students move on. But today was more sweet than bitter. I … Read more

Anatomy Angel: Dorsal Sling

Dooley Noted: 3/4/2015 The dorsal sling is a functional movement system, mostly located on the back of you. This sling connects the latissimus dorsi to the opposite gluteus maximus, via the triple-layered diamond of thoracolumbar fascia. Through this system, we can transmit force generated from one foot to the opposite limb. This specific system helps us generate and transmit forces, especially for extension and gait. Stand up. I’ll wait. You used both sided dorsal slings … Read more