Articles And Education | Brown Brown & Associates 'What's New' Blog

By Matthew Nolan B.Sc., LMT, MTI, CEP, CPT

Ever looked at a crack in the wall of your house and wonder when did that happen? For some people the fix is quick and easy, patch it and forget about it. A few months go by and lo and behold another crack needs mending. Maybe a few more months later and you wonder when did that door become hard to open? For the average Joe, the thought that they need to deal with their foundation doesn’t hit until well after every room in the house is impacted by the shifting forces. Left unattended, we have all seen old houses whose walls are gone and roof is so pitched, it would be unsafe to walk under it!

Ever have a moment getting out of a chair or up out of bed and wonder, is that a new pain? When did that start? Well your body has a foundation also, the pelvic girdle. It connects with the legs at the hips and also the spine at the SI (sacroiliac) joints. So if the hips have “shift”, it is not unusual for the forces to be off all the way up the spine! Your body has a goal for your head to remain facing forward and to keep your eyes fairly level. So if one side of the pelvis changes position, there is an alteration in the “foundation” and the rest of the body has to adapt by shifting as well. You may experience this anywhere in the kinetic chain; meaning that you may feel tightness and pain in your shoulders, neck, head or even the jaw. Yes, your “TMJ” issue may be coming from your hips and pelvic girdle. Think about it, your “foundation” shifted and left unattended your “roof” can no longer handle the change in forces. Most of the time these “compensatory” injuries show up on the opposite side of the body. Try a little experiment, stand up and place all of your weight on one leg. Feel how the rest of you has to move to keep the balance? Why would anyone not notice? In the course of a life you have to get things done so you keep going. Most of us wouldn’t recognize this shift as an injury. We begin to consider it “normal”, and don’t seek to correct the foundation problem. So the next time you get headaches a few days in a row or your shoulder “suddenly” doesn’t want to do what you ask ~ have a professional check your hips/pelvis to make sure you don’t need a “foundation repair”. And, oh, by the way, taking a pain killer is like patching the crack, sure you don’t see it anymore but that doesn’t mean you’ve fixed the origin of the problem!

Ever looked at a crack in the wall of your house and wonder when did that happen? For some people the fix is quick and easy, patch it and forget about it. A few months go by and lo and behold another crack needs mending. Maybe a few more months later and you wonder when did that door become hard to open? For the average Joe, the thought that they need to deal with their foundation doesn’t hit until well after every room in the house is impacted by the shifting forces. Left unattended, we have all seen old houses whose walls are gone and roof is so pitched, it would be unsafe to walk under it!

Ever have a moment getting out of a chair or up out of bed and wonder, is that a new pain? When did that start? Well your body has a foundation also, the pelvic girdle. It connects with the legs at the hips and also the spine at the SI (sacroiliac) joints. So if the hips have “shift”, it is not unusual for the forces to be off all the way up the spine! Your body has a goal for your head to remain facing forward and to keep your eyes fairly level. So if one side of the pelvis changes position, there is an alteration in the “foundation” and the rest of the body has to adapt by shifting as well. You may experience this anywhere in the kinetic chain; meaning that you may feel tightness and pain in your shoulders, neck, head or even the jaw. Yes, your “TMJ” issue may be coming from your hips and pelvic girdle. Think about it, your “foundation” shifted and left unattended your “roof” can no longer handle the change in forces. Most of the time these “compensatory” injuries show up on the opposite side of the body. Try a little experiment, stand up and place all of your weight on one leg. Feel how the rest of you has to move to keep the balance? Why would anyone not notice? In the course of a life you have to get things done so you keep going. Most of us wouldn’t recognize this shift as an injury. We begin to consider it “normal”, and don’t seek to correct the foundation problem. So the next time you get headaches a few days in a row or your shoulder “suddenly” doesn’t want to do what you ask ~ have a professional check your hips/pelvis to make sure you don’t need a “foundation repair”. And, oh, by the way, taking a pain killer is like patching the crack, sure you don’t see it anymore but that doesn’t mean you’ve fixed the origin of the problem!

Matthew Nolan B.Sc., LMT, MTI, CEP, CPT, holds a Bachelor of Science from State University of NY, College at Cortland, 1982. Major: Physical Education (Kinesiology) with emphasis in Exercise Science, and is a Certified Personal Trainer, Licensed Massage Therapist, Massage Therapy Instructor, and Continuing Education Provider, Texas. Matt has over 1,000 hours of training in a variety of massage and bodywork techniques. He has taught in Texas, Montana, and Wyoming, and offers continuing education classes and consulting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. Specializing in Clinical and Orthopedic Massage, his practice is located in Richardson Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas) both in private practice as well as partnering with area chiropractors in assisting their patients. Clients include athletes as well as people from all walks of life. Contact Matt at www.p2kfitness.massagetherapy.com, email p2kfitness@aol.com, or 214-676-8512. His office is located at 2060 N. Collins Blvd, #201, Richardson, 75080.

The structure of the Eiffel Tower was based upon the structure of the human body.

By Matthew Nolan B.Sc., LMT, MTI, CEP, CPT

Ah, Paris in springtime, and what would a trip to Paris be without visiting the Eiffel Tower? The creation of Gustave Eiffel is the tallest building in Paris at a height of 324 meters (1,063 feet for Americans). Gustave sought a way to build a large structure of iron that would not collapse with the weight of iron required to build it so tall. Few people realize that he turned to the human structure for his answer. He studied bones, primarily the femur (thigh) bone for inspiration and answers. The end of each long bone is made of “spongy bone” or trabecular bone tissue. This particular bone tissue is less dense than the bone making up the shaft of the bone and it has more surface area. One of the amazing factors of the design is the ability to withstand the forces of gravity on the body in motion. The trabeculii help to dissipate the forces so that we don’t break our legs every time we jump or run! This is what Gustave understood and used to design a tower that although is made from iron has “a lower density than a cylinder of air occupying the same dimensions as the tower”[1] Truly amazing and wonderful. Our human body is an architectural wonder from the arches of our feet to the pulley systems of our tendons. Take your form out and say thank you, perhaps by sipping French Roast in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower?

[1] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower

Matthew Nolan B.Sc., LMT, MTI, CEP, CPT, holds a Bachelor of Science from State University of NY, College at Cortland, 1982. Major: Physical Education (Kinesiology) with emphasis in Exercise Science, and is a Certified Personal Trainer, Licensed Massage Therapist, Massage Therapy Instructor, and Continuing Education Provider, Texas. Matt has over 1,000 hours of training in a variety of massage and bodywork techniques. He has taught in Texas, Montana, and Wyoming, and offers continuing education classes and consulting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. Specializing in Clinical and Orthopedic Massage, his practice is located in Richardson Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas) both in private practice as well as partnering with area chiropractors in assisting their patients. Clients include athletes as well as people from all walks of life. Contact Matt at www.p2kfitness.massagetherapy.com, email p2kfitness@aol.com, or 214-676-8512. His office is located at 2060 N. Collins Blvd, #201, Richardson, 75080.

By Matthew Nolan B.Sc., LMT, MTI, CEP, CPT

‘Reach out and touch someone’… some of you may be old enough to remember when AT&T used this as their marketing slogan. In these more modern days we have a number of technological advances that allows for us to remain in ‘contact’ with our friends, families and well, just about anyone and everyone! While high-tech has made it possible to keep up minute-by-minute with the world, our need for plain, old-fashioned touch is just as important. In his landmark book, ‘Touching’, Ashley Montagu calls touch the ‘mother of the senses’ and states that it is the first of our senses to become ‘functional’ during fetal development. He also recounts how in the early 1900’s doctors in medical institutions could not understand how mortality rates for infants admitted was almost 100% for each institution. It wasn’t until Dr. Fritz Talbot was visiting a hospital in Germany that he discovered a ‘secret’. He witnessed an old woman carrying around a baby on her hip and when he inquired as to who she was, found out that when a baby wasn’t doing well and the medical team did everything they could, they called her in and she would ‘turn the child around’. Dr Talbot brought back to the U.S. the concept of touching infants; holding them, rocking them, stroking them. Amazingly infant mortality rates dropped from about 35% to just10% in one year!

Dr. Tiffany Fields established the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School Of Medicine in 1992. Her goal: to really understand the importance of touch by creating studies that look at the impact of touch throughout a lifespan. Touch is so powerful that she list the benefits on the website (www.miami.edu/touch-research) and includes this statement: (touch) “enhances attentiveness, alleviates depressive symptoms, reduces pain, reduces stress hormones and improves immune function.”

Learn to identify the ‘styles’ of your staff (or committee) members to improve communication.

In any workplace, there are eight classic styles of behavior: commander, drifter, attacker, pleaser, performer, avoider, analytical, and achiever. By learning how to identify the general characteristics of each style, managers can optimize their interactions with staff members.

In particular, you will learn what motivates each style of behavior; how to give effective feedback to each behavior style; and tips for getting the best out of each behavior style.

by Grant A. Simpson, FAIA and Jim Atkins FAIA

I don’t know why I get into gunfights. I guess sometimes I just get lonely.
Billy Clanton from the movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Once upon a time in the West
The architect’s documents in this part of the world have always been inherently conceptual. Additional information has typically been required by the contractor from the architect during the construction phase. Up until the 1970s this information was transferred informally during face-to-face meetings or by telephone. Most construction contracts were lump sum and the concept of the contractor delivering a “complete” building was alive and well. No documentation of the discussions were needed or prepared.