Neutral point of view means presenting "both", or all points of view

While I was trying to improve an article about Da Costa's syndrome for Wikipedia two anonymous editors wanted to impose their own bias on the page. At one stage they tried to merge it into a brand new one called "Somatoform autonomic dysfunction (essentially imaginary symptoms caused by the mind). They also tried to change the emphasis to anxiety disorders by moving the novel Soldier's heart to the top line to leave the impression that the ailment was due to the fear of battle.

In fact some authors regard "Da Costa's syndrome" and "Anxiety state" as alternative labels for the same condition

I therefore suggested that if they were serious about making Wikipedia a neutral point of view they should leave it up to me to write the Da Costa's syndrome page, and set up a brand new one called "Anxiety state" and put all of their ideas in it, and then link the two together, and let the readers decide what to think for themselves.

However, it was obvious that they had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.

I will therefore do it in the chart below

 

 

The two Wikipedia editors were in fact so opposed to any mention of my theory that their response was offensive and hostile in the extreme, which can be seen here.

The Chest pains - physical or psychosomatic

politics in the argument

When I was 25 years old I had many health problems which were getting worse, but my doctor was unable to explain or relieve them so I began to study the problem myself. I started by making detailed observations and notes on my own symptoms and by reading medical dictionaries and books of anatomy to get clues about the possibilities.

The general view in the literature was that the symptoms did not show up on x-rays and were therefore the imaginary symptoms of hypochondria, or were not physically based but were caused by such things as anxiety and fear. Hence they were regarded as the psychosomatic affects of mental factors.

One of the many ideas was that anxiety affects the breathing pattern which strains the chest wall to cause areas of weakness between the ribs and occasional pains, and there were suggestions that the symptoms often occurred during exercise for similar reasons related to the fear of exercise.

However I had been involved in gymnastics for about 10 years and had absolutely no fear of exercise whatsoever, and knew that sometimes the chest pains would occur for no obvious reason when I was sitting in a chair doing nothing, and that sometimes when I was jogging along the beach I would get pain in the left side of my chest each time my left foot hit the sand.

I therefore ultimately came to the conclusion that the pain was occurring because I had a slightly stooped spine and that when I leaned forward to read the weight of my head and shoulders was pressing down on my chest to compress my ribs together and caused tenderness and weakness between them which occasionally resulted in sudden sharp pains. I later noticed that I also had sideways curvature of the spine which would cause the abnormal compression of one side of my chest, and abnormal stretching of the other side which would explain why the pains would mainly occur on one side.

In the meantime, when I was studying the range of health problems I found that the same problems were seen in the common symptoms of pregnancy, and hence drew the conclusion that they occurred because the womb was becoming larger and pressing upwards against the stomach liver and chest during the pregnancy period;

Many years went by when I saw the picture of the internal anatomy of a nineteenth century woman who wore a tight corset, and immediately concluded that they would all be likely to have the same type and range of symptoms that I had explained in poor posture. I subsequently read, and then purchased a copy of that book to confirm that was true.

 

Consequently I wrote essays and a book and a website which I called The Posture Theory in which I described how poor posture, the enlarging womb of pregnancy, and tight waisted corsets could cause the range of symptoms, including the chest pains, because of

mechanical pressure on the ribs.

I was also aware that the range of symptoms had been given many labels including Da Costa's syndrome, so I was writing about that ailment and drew the following conclusions . . .

 

 

However, when I joined Wikipedia in 2007 I saw the following article about that topic which described it as an anxiety disorder, and did not mention any of the other evidence or possibilities. The complete text which I saw in December 2007 is copied below for you to see.

 

 

I therefore started adding information to that page, and included a brief summary of my own theory.

Almost immediately two editors started criticising me and calling me a worthless, non notable, fringy kook, and deleted everything about my theory within a month. They also put me on a watchlist and spent the next twelve months nitpicking and deleting almost every word I added, even if it was from the most reliable top quality independent research journals. For example, they would argue that most of my references were old, and that Sir James MacKenzie was an ordinary man, and that a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association was just an op-ed written by a non-expert.

They managed to give other editors the impression that was a disruptive troll and get me banned in January 2009.

If you read Wikipedia now you will see that Da Costa's syndrome is still described as an anxiety disorder and their comments that there is no evidence of physiological abnormality. They also present it as a psychosomatic disorder with the additional comment that anxiety is the cause of the physical symptoms, and they refer to it as a mental illness involving somatoform (imaginary) symptoms.

 

Nevertheless they have contradicted themselves by keeping my recommendations about improving posture and physique in the treatment section, as well as the relevance of wearing loose clothing etc, but have not acknowledged the fact that they got that information from my research into the topic. See the article dated 10th January 2010. here, ∂ßalmost a year after I was banned

 

Since I have been banned I have been providing evidence that my two critics are liars but nothing has been done about it. I can only assume that they have managed to round up sufficient support form other editors who favor the anxiety theories, and that nothing will change because they don't want the public to know about the other possibilities. i.e. the information in Wikipedia will be determined by vote, rather than merit, in much the same ways as people will vote for their favoured political party in the elections, and not another, who they regard as their "opposition". While I was in Wikipedia the two editors were acting like trumped up dictators, and now they have support. Their article is obviously a violation of the rules which require them to present a neutral and unbiased point of view by giving the readers "alll" verifiable information, not just the prejudiced view which they prefer.

The differences and improvements in consideration

One of the reasons for the difficulty and disputes in understanding the important effect of posture on health is because, in the past it has been considered in relation to two dimensional, black and white, x-ray images taken in the stationary position at any single point in time.

My theory takes into account 1. The effect in three dimensions, and 2. the effect on internal anatomy, and 3. the effect on the human body while it static, and how the effect is different when it is in motion, and 4. the difference in the effect of occasional movements, repetitive movements, and over short and long period of time, months or years, and 5. the information that has been accumulating throughout history.

I have studied literature from the past, and have translated 17th century concepts into modern language, and am familiar with medical language, but have written my ideas in plain English to make it easier for as many people as possible to understand. M.B.

The seventeenth century intellectual elite referred to the plagues of influenza being spread by the sprinkling of star dust, to the mind being influenced by the moon, and the symptoms being due to the imbalances of the liquids of melancholy and the effect of evil spirits which were the finer fluids formed by the bodies boiling of others. It impressed the world in general and their were grains of truth in it all, as there is in the modern concepts, but my critics don't seem to see any faults in their own ideas and lack the practical merit of my ideas. They can impress other people with their jargon, but they can't solve problems, unless, like me, they look at practical outcomes.

 

The basic problem in the study of posture and health

When I became interested in the medical literature the cause of the slouched or hunchback posture was unknown in more than 80% of cases.

For example . . . "Approximately 85% of cases of kyphoscoliosis are of unknown cause" Reference Wintrobe M.M.et.al (editors) (1970) Harrison's Principle's of Internal Medicine 6th edition p.817. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York. (kypho means hunchback, and scoliosis means sideways curvature of the spine, and kyphoscoliosis is the combined feature. see also here

Since then I have written a theory and published a 1000 page book on the subject.

The problem of acquiring the knowledge that is needed to understand the relationship between posture and health is the limitation of the scientific method which would require a person to walk around with a two ton X-ray machine strapped to their back, together with probes and leads from the body to a computer, to monitor the changes that occurred for 24 hours a day, every day for fifty years. Until that happens the subject has to be considered with careful study, experience, and the power of logic and reason. People who do not accept that self-evident fact are worse than useless. It leaves a climate of doubt about whether pain is real or imagined, and all of the consequences that are avoidable by science and imposed on the 80%. THE BASIC ANSWER

 

Poor posture can't be the only cause of chronic fatigue

Many years ago I walked into a building full of people with chronic fatigue, and noticed that they did not all have the typical stooped physique that I expected, so I gave the matter some thought and came to the conclusion that there must be different causes. In fact there are many diseases which have multiple causes, such as heart disease which can be caused by drinking excess alcohol, smoking too much tobacco, eating too much fatty food, or stress, and the condition is more likely to occur in individuals who combine those factors.

I have also met individuals who complained of chronic fatigue, but they also played vigorous sport or climbed mountains, whereas individuals with Da Costa's syndrome find it impossible to do strenuous exercise. I therefore thought about that and eventually came to the conclusion that there must be at least two types of chronic fatigue syndrome. The first major group is Sleep disorders where the main symptom is tiredness but the individuals have the normal capacity for exercise, and the second is Conditions that are primarily exercise disorders which also include problems with tiredness.

 

I am sure that many people who have read about the Posture Theory, would be skeptical about it, because they didn't read enough to understand the reason for the "apparent" discrepancies.

 

A humorous posture education video on YouTube

Avis Films Inc. (2008) Posture Pals, YouTube video, with assistance from The Burbank Unified School District and The Los Angeles City School Districts Health Services Branch, Corrective Physical Education Section

This humorous video provides a useful account of the teaching of posture in schools of the past. The recognition of the importance of posture education has varied from insignificant to crucial from teacher to teacher, school to school, country to country, and decade to decade for the past 100 years, reflecting the differences of opinion relating to the lack of absolute proof about the relationship between cause and effect.
This relates to the fact that human anatomy is covered by a layer of skin, so children and adults cannot see the internal function of the body. It would therefore be useful if someone could produce an animated 3D YouTube video of the changing shape of internal organs when the person has different postures - kyphosis, scoliosis, or lordosis, and long, narrow, flat, or receding chests, and what happens when the sternum has a forward or reverse angle when the person leans forward at the waist or hips, and what happens when the person slouches and the spine and sternum twists as the hand moves from left to right, and down as they write, and what happens when they wear high heel shoes. and compress their waist with tight waisted belts or corsets. The Posture Theory Challenge: To produce such a vide

(When you are watching the You Tube video called Posture Pals, you will be able to see that the teacher was wearing high heel shoes, and a tight waisted dress which would have adversely affected her own posture and health).

Aspects of The Posture Theory which distinguish it from other theories

Poor posture is primarily caused by poor nutrition, and infectious illnesses involving weight loss during childhood here

The other main factors which contribute in combination with those two are the mechanical forces on the spine and the duration of those force - such as carrying heavy kit bags too and from school for half a mile or more, each morning and afternoon during the period of school life - up to 7 years at primary school, and 5 years at high school, or up to a total of 12 years. Described in the YouTube video here

 

Poor posture combined with chest shape influences the number and severity of symptoms here

 

Compression of the chest damages peripheral vessels, which is the cause of chronic fatigue here

 

Chronic faigue is due to reduced physical capacity for exercise here

 

Mechanical factors such as tight belts, corsets, chest straps, and shoulder binders can alter the shape of the skeleton and cause poor posture here

 

Bending at the waist with a flat chest pushes the lower tip of the sternum into the esphageal and stomach junction to cause esophageal achalasia here

 

The severity of fatigue can be determined by tilt table tests and aerobic exercise tests here

 

Exercise within limits may reduce, but not always cure chronic fatigue here

 

Poor posture strains the spinal muscles and compresses the chest and abdomen to cause multiple symptoms (not just back pain) here

main

About The Author

This item was probably started in 2008, with some minor changes since then. e.g. the addition of the photo in March 2012.

The following information was added to this website after several Wikipedia editors asked me to provide details about my own research and publications, and to make it available online so that it would be easy for them to check. My eBook called The Posture Theory is available through Amazon.com here, and a YouTube video of that theory is here.

 

Before and after my research project (1982-84) Before I did my research the general attitude was that chronic fatigue was not a physical problem, but was all in the patients mind, or was due to laziness, the lack of exercise, or the fear of exercise, and they were being encouraged to run faster and faster each week with the idea that they would regain normal energy levels and normal health, and hence a cure. However all of the patients dropped our of the courses. I presented very detailed descriptions of the fatigue and the response to exertion to show that it was different to normal, and that the problem was physical. I then said that each person had their limits which were below normal, and that if they trained within their limits they would be able to improve, and continue until whatever their upper limit was. Some of the patients trained for more than six months.

 

Max Banfield

In 1982 the head of the South Australian Institute for Fitness Research and Training invited me to design a program which would solve an international research problem - How do you get scientific data on patients with chronic fatigue, when they all cannot, or will not train.

The principle was to have them exercise within their own limits, and it was successful.

That principles has since been duplicated many times all around the world.

In 1969 I was a gymnastics instructor and was offered three scholarships to do youth leadership training in the Group Work course at the South Australian Institute of Technology. The first was from the National Fitness Council of Australia, N.S.W. HQ. ("responsible for . . . the organisation of training courses in physical education"), which was followed by a South Australian State Government Department of Community Welfare offer of full time study on full salary, and then a Commonwealth Government offer for part time study over four years, which I accepted, and completed.

In 1975 I became interested in fitness and fatigue research, and in 1981 I approached Tony Sedgewick, Head of the S.A. Institute for Fitness Research and Training, which was associated with the University of Adelaide, I discussed the international research problem of not being able to get useful data on fatigue patients, because they either refused to train, or dropped out of the programs too soon to get meaningful results. He asked me to develop a methodology for solving the problem, and a few months later I provided him with a programme design to consider, and the principles were (1) The condition involved different degrees of severity, (2) the patients should train within their own limits, and (3) they should improve at their own rate.

I was then invited to co-ordinate a research study on the subject, which initially involved obtaining a small research grant from the South Australian State Government Department of Recreation of Sport, and establishing a programme committee, I also obtained the co-operation of a medical journalist for the states afternoon newspaper who wrote articles for the purpose of recruiting trainees who had persistent or recurring problems with fatigue. The medical examinations were conducted by two of the institutes research cardiologists.

Over the next two years the IFRT received more than 200 enquiries, and 80 patients were medically assessed, and their exertional capacity was measured using standard scientifically reliable graphs of pulse over load on an ergometric cycle. 9 participants completed training which consisted of light exercise, and walking, or jogging. They were two hourly sessions for two nights per week, for three months or more, and 5 completed 6 months or more.
The results showed (1) those who didn't train stayed at the same ergometric capacity (2) three improved for 3 months and then leveled out below standard levels, and (3) one improved slowly for the first 3 months, and then significantly improved in the second term. In one group six individuals trained in the same class for three months and their position from first to sixth while walking or jogging around the oval corresponded to their scientifically measured aerobic capacity. A lifestyle questionnaire was also included at the outset, and those who had previously changed and restricted their lifestyle because of their fatigue were found to have low to very low aerobic measurements, and those who did not need to change lifestyle had average to above ergometric results. A general account of the results were reported in the major newspapers in 4 of the 6 Australian states between 1982 and 1983. e.g. See a copy of one of those newspaper reports here. Some years later, when reviewing the results I came to the conclusion that the mixed data was the result of recruiting patients with fatigue, which, in relation to the dual meaning of the word, would bring 3 different groups to the programme (1) those with sleep disorders who were abnormally tired (2) those who had a physical disorder which affected their capacity for exertion, and (3) those who had a mixture of both.
(The research design principles, results, references, charts, and 48 interviews on cause and symptoms can be seen here)

Nowadays (2008) similar programs have been implemented and assessed with several studies showing variable results, where some patients benefit from the programme and others have problems. In the latter case it is probably because they increase their exercise levels at too fast a rate, or exceed their limits and experience the type of symptoms that deter them from continuing. That could be prevented by voluntary participation, with the individual initially walking at a casual pace of their choice, and progressing at their own rate, if and when possible. The condition involves varying degrees of severity from person to person and day to day which requires progress, if any, to be flexible, rather than regulated or expected according to an orderly gradient of improvement, with the person free to choose to stop training, if and when they reach a level of improvement that ceases to benefit from additional training, or to remain at that level as part of a maintenance programme. Other groups of patients, such as those with asthma, arthritis, obesity, or heart disease, may also be limited in their capacity for exertion, but to a different degree, and for different reasons. M.B.

***

Graded Exercise Therapy, or "GET is one of the most common treatments for CFS" (chronic fatigue syndrome) Another similar method of treatment which relates to keeping within exercise and lifestyle limits is called "pacing" and there are several versions of it based on the general principle of "Self-controlled rest and exercise".

"Self-controlled rest and exercise, "pacing": "Pacing" is being advocated by many patients as one of the few really effective means of minimising homeostatic disequilibrium. The principles involve acceptance of the patient's limitations (by both the patient and any coaches), awareness of the early signals of deterioration e.g. increased cognitive difficulties, pain, clumsiness, muscle weakness, respiratory problems; and stopping exercise/activity before exceeding limitation or "crashing." A good rule of thumb is to never exert more than 70% of capacity. An understanding nurse, doctor or physical therapist may be of help."

Reference 1 : Hurst, J.W.; R.B.Logue, R.C.Schlant, N.K.Wenber (1974). The Heart 3rd. edition. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co.,, 1552-1555 - The authors of this paper stated "attempts by Cohen and his associates to alter these abnormalities by physical training were unsuccessful since the patients could not or would not follow the prescribed training programme." and commented that previous studies of a small number of patients by Holmgren in 1959 and Levander-Lindgren in 1964 has shown that training programs had shown some benefits. It was the comment that these patients "would not or could not train" that prompted me to design a programme that patients "could and would train" if they were instructed to train within their own limits.

Reference 2: Wikipedia, Chronic fatigue syndrome, history of edits, 18:38, 27-9-07, 5.1.2.

Reference 3. E.M. Goudsmit, Howes S. (2008), Pacing: A strategy to improve energy management in chronic fatigue syndrome, Health Psychology Update (BPS), 2008, 17, 1, 46-52.

>See also Wikipedia "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 2.3, & 2,4, & 5.1.2" (30-12-07), and click on the history tab and scroll down to the date 30-12-07, and the end of 5.1.2 to see the "pacing" paragraph, which was deleted from the wikipedia CFS page at 11:22 on 5-1-08. Note that the links will now only lead to the current page on CFS where the pacing details have been removed.

Wikipedia (1-1-08) - CFS ref.. 178. The "Gibson Report" Report of the Group on Scientific Research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (2006)

Wikipedia (1-1-08) - CFS ref. 188. Peter D White, Michael C Sharpe, Trudie Chalder, Julia C DeCesare, Rebecca Walwyn for the PACE trial group (2007). "Protocol for the PACE trial: A randomised controlled trial of adaptive pacing, cognitive behaviour therapy, and graded exercise as supplements to standardised specialist medical care versus standardised specialist medical care alone for patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis or encephalopathy.". BMC Neurology 7:6. DOI 10.1186/1471-2377-7-6. 

See also: Better Connect Channel (20-1-08) - Chronic fatigue syndrome and Exercise:: Health and medical information for consumers, quality assured by the Victorian government (Australia).

see also: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 17th edition. New York U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2703=2704. The text of this summary links the former term "effort syndrome" to the modern condition of "chronic fatigue syndrome" and refers to graded exercise regimes which have "proven" effective in relieving symptoms and improving exercise tolerance.

 

See also; The Disease of a Thousand Names Compiled on-line by medical consumer Melissa Kaplan, last updated April 19, 2007.

"The cause of CFS is unknown, although a large number of causes have been proposed, and several proposed causes have very vocal and partisan advocates. In a basic overview of CFS for health professionals, the CDC states that "After more than 3,000 research studies, there is now abundant scientific evidence that CFS is a real physiological illness."[50] The cause of CFS may be different for different patients, but if so, the various causes may result in a common clinical outcome."

Reference: Wikipedia, Chronic fatigue syndrome, 10:21, 8-1-07, 3. and, ref: (50) CDC - CFS Basic Overview (PDF file, 31 KB), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. See here and here.

Chronic fatigue syndrome includes a large range of ailments which involve the symptom of fatigue as one of the main features. Throughout the history of these conditions there have been differences of opinions and controversies about cause and nature, between doctors from one specialty to another, and from those who believe it is "all in the mind" to those who think it is physical, and from doctor to patient, and from one individual or group of patients to another. It appears as if different causes are being argued about as if they relate to the same condition, so in order to clarify the difference between anxiety, sleep, or exertional disorders, for example, it is necessary to clearly, accurately, and precisely identify each of the many sub-types of which Da Costa's syndrome is one of the exertional disorders, where the patients do not necessarily have a fear of exertion or heart disease, and they don't necessarily have agoraphobia or panic attacks, and are not necessarily depressed or having nightmares, and may or may not have recollection of previous exposure to viral infections or toxic chemicals, etc. M.B. 

Leadership by example

When I studied leadership I came to the conclusion that I had one natural aptitude to "lead by example". I am not a dictator.

In relation to chronic fatigue I have studied the problem and know how to manage the symptoms, but I don't expect anyone to believe me if they don't want to. It is up to each person to decide if my methods help them or not.

The History of theories about the supposed fear of exercise, and how I changed the course of medical research.

1919 Sir Thomas Lewis was studying fatigue in soldiers which had been called Da Costa's syndrome, and Soldier's Heart, and he renamed it the "Effort Syndrome" because of the relationship of the symptoms to physical exertion.

1939 J.L. Caughey reviewed the relevant medical literature of that time and gives a typical example of the patient where "He 'was never allowed' to take part in competitive sports and has felt inferior physically to others of his own age".

1956 Paul Wood O.B.E. Britain's top authority on that topic attributed the symptoms to anxiety, and concluded that the abnormal response to exercise was due to the fear of the normal symptoms. He described it as a psychiatric condition which usually involved an anxiety state where, in many cases, the adult had been a timid child "far too dependent of maternal protection. At school, kindly doctors and soft mothers protected them from the hazards of football, swimming, and the gymnasium". See my report here.

1974 J.W. Hurst wrote a reference book for cardiologists which included this topic and these words . . . "the patients could not or would not follow the prescribed training programme.

1975 I began treating my own ailment with rest and mild exercise at the S.A.Institute for Fitness Research and Training, and later, when I read research papers and books which attributed the symptoms to the fear of exercise I knew they were wrong, and began explaining the physical nature of the problems and how they differed from the normal response to exertion.

1919 I explained my ideas to Tony Sedgewick who was the head of that organisation and he immediately recognised their importance, and when his own professional research cardiologists were too busy on other studies he asked me to design and co-ordinate it. The project was successful through three consecutive training periods of 12 weeks each, and proved that the problem was physical, and was not due to the fear of exercise. The principles included training within limits, and stopping if there were any problems before resuming again.

1987 Simon Wessely began studying chronic fatigue and using the same principles which he called Graded Exercise Therapy.

2012 Simon Wessely was given the John Maddox Prize for courage in science in relation to his study of Graded Exercise Therapy for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

December 2012 Simon Wessely was knighted for his contributions to medicine in relation to chronic fatigue treatment for civilians and Soldier's.

The Graded exercise program of Sir Thomas Lewis in 1919

As you can appreciate, in 1975 I was experiencing problems with exertion which was not responding to any form of medication or treatment, so I had to determine how to treat the problems for myself. I did so by trial and error, and 7 years later was asked to design a research project where I established that other patients with fatigue could also benefit.

However many more years went by when I became interested in the history of the subject, and I found a book by Sir Thomas Lewis which had been published in 1919. At that time the condition had many labels such as Da Costa's syndrome and he renamed it the "Effort Syndrome".

Given that nobody had ever told me about such things I was surprised to find that he had used Graded exercises in his research.

His main objective was to determine the fatigued soldier's capacity for duty, and to try and return them to full service.

The instructors were chosen from those who were experienced in normal army drill, and applied exactly the same exercises.

They were told to start with light exercise for 15 minutes, and in due course to increase the number and strenuousness of the exercises, and to increase the time to 30 minutes. In the next levels they included slow marches for 1-2 miles in the afternoon, and eventually longer marches of 4-5 miles at ordinary pace.

The instructors were required to report instances where the soldier's had difficulty with the exercises and they were then sent for medical assessment. Otherwise the program would continue to the next level. Nevertheless, some officers decided to increase the levels automatically, and assess the complaints as they occurred.

Some of the soldiers' were unable to exercise, or had problems with light exercise and were discharged from duty. Others who had a higher capacity were recommended for light duties, and others with full capacity returned to full military duties.

In his concluding comments he wrote these words . . . "In the majority of the patients progress occurs to a point and there is no further improvement, health remaining impaired or imperfectly restored".

My method of exercise which I developed independently in 1975 has some similarities

I began with light exercises which meant no push ups or heavy lifting. I started with slow walking for short distances and very gradually increased the pace and distance, as it became possible to do so. If I had any problems I slowed down or stopped and started again, and kept training for the same period of time as others in the exercise program. For example, if everyone else was jogging or running for 30 minutes, then I would be walking or slowly jogging intermittently for 30 minutes. If they walked a mile in 8 minutes, then I would walk and intermittently jog slowly until I covered the same distance. I kept doing that for almost a year, up to six times a week, before I injured my knee and stopped.

My aerobic capacity was scientifically measured at the start and after the first 12 weeks, and again some time later. It increased significantly in the first period, but then, despite training at improved levels, for longer distances, more often per week, my aerobic capacity remained the same.

When I designed the research project 7 years later I advised the instructor to put people with fatigue in their own group where each individual was required to exercise at their own level regardless of what others were doing.

Since then it has been possible to train some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome in a reliable and consistent way by using those principles, and they can be seen in programs called PACING and Graded Exercise Therapy.

There are a number of other differences which I may discuss later.

My interest in sport many years before developing Da Costa's syndrome

This item was added in April 2012. See an earlier item here

My main interest as a teenager was gymnastics, in which I would attend the gym up to three or more times a week, often for up to five hours at a time. On other days, and on weekends, my other interests included athletics, sport and swimming. I participated in one mile, and cross country races, and could easily swim from jetty to shore, or across rivers.

However, one of the most popular ideas about the cause of Da Costa's syndrome is that such individuals did not play sport when they were young because the didn't want to, or their parents wouldn't let them do anything where they might get hurt. Consequently, it was argued that the person never learnt the difference between the normal symptoms of exercise, and the symptoms of lung or heart disease.

It was suggested that when they exercised, and the normal symptoms occurred, they thought it was due to disease, and the anxiety made the symptoms worse so they avoided exercise.

It was then thought that they became unfit because of the lack of exercise, and hence 'exercise intolerant', and therefore experienced more severe symptoms in relation to exertion than a 'fit' person, so they continued to avoid exercise.

Therefore it was said, that all you have to do is convince them that their symptoms are normal, and to get them to exercise at gradually increasing stages to overcome their fear, and return to normal levels of activity.

One of the exponents of such ideas was Paul Wood O.B.E., who was very influential, and changed the general attitude towards anxiety theories after the 1950's, and those ideas are still very popular among many researchers today.

However, while such ideas sound 'plausible' and may have a grain of truth in some cases, and while it is sensible not to mention anything which would make such individuals worry, it nevertheless, has to be said that such problems are "exercise phobias", or "cardiophobias", and not Da Costa's syndrome.

In fact, many people who played sport when they were young, including myself, had to give it up because of the abnormal response to exertion which occurs in Da Costa's syndrome.

I had often ran myself to exhaustion from one end of a sports field to another, being pursued by other players, or when overtaking dozens of other runners to beat them at the closing stages of a cross country race, but the ordinary symptoms of such normal exercise are not even remotely the same as those of Da Costa's syndrome.

In fact the symptoms of Da Costa's syndrome are physically based, and consistent in their nature, and are different from the symptoms of normal or vigorous exertion, and are are also different from the symptoms of fear, anxiety, or any other emotion. The confusion relates to the fact that they all involve factors which influence heart rate, blood pressure, breathing pattern, chest pains, faintness, and fatigue. See my reports here and here.

 

One of the references which is very typical the ideas about psychological cause, and psychological "conditioning" is T. Troosters et. al. (1999) Physical performance of patients with numerous psychosomatic complaints suggestive of hyperventilation. European Respiratory Journal, 14, p.1314-1319. (The author traces this problem back to Da Costa of 1871, and Lewis 1918, whose research papers he used in his reference list as number 1, and 2).

This is a quote from his conclusion . . .

"It seems therefore, that the sequence of events responsible
for symptoms and breathing abnormalities during
exercise in this group of patients is as follows. Firstly, a
psychological conditioning process generated by, or linked
to exercise, might be the origin of the many symptoms, i.e.
the high anxiety level and a peculiar breathing pattern. The
symptoms, when marked, result in a tendency to hyperventilate
during and following exercise, with production of
new symptoms (paresthesias, dizziness). The learned response
is then reinforced by every new trial to exercise.
Finally, the occurrence of symptoms with the slightest
exertion leads to a reduction of physical activity and an
ensuing deterioration of exercise tolerance." See here

 

A second reference to such ideas can be seen in Paul Wood's book of 1956, Diseases of the Heart and Circulation. 2nd. edition, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, p.937, and 947. He convinced the majority of researchers that it was an anxiety disorder, and that is still the prevailing opinion today. See also the opinion of a Wikipedia editor praising his credibility here.

He attributes the symptoms to a variety of "fears". This is a quote from his book where he discusses the type of adult who develops the ailment . . .

"They are timid children, far too dependent upon maternal protection. At school kindly doctors and soft mothers protected them from the hazards of football, swimming, and the gymnasium. . . . Fear of football, and fear of swimming are common in childhood".

See another website which reports on an individual with chronic fatigue who had previously led a very active life here.

 

 

 

Nobody told me that I was supposed to be afraid of exercise???

Because of my experience with sport, I was aware that exercise was excellent for health, but because of Da Costa's syndrome I had to give it all up. However, I spent the next five years trying to determine the cause of that ailment, and was eventually able to identify a subtle, but definite relationship between the various symptoms and poor posture, and develop methods of relieving them, and ultimately wrote The Posture Theory. In the meantime I wanted to return to my former activities, and I thought that I might be able to do that if I did very mild exercise, and gradually regained my former fitness levels.

I saw an article in a newspaper about an organisation which was conducting medical research into the relationship between illnesses and fitness, so I made some enquiries, and enrolled. After undergoing some medical and fitness tests I began a three month course of training.

There weren't any courses for people with chronic fatigue, so I joined a general class which included healthy people, and those with lung diseases, asthma, and arthritis etc.

I was walking and slowly jogging, and coming last in the exercise sessions, but managed to complete the course and have my fitness level retested. I then continued for another 3 months, and then a third, but after a couple of months passed I injured my knee cartilage and had to stop. Nevertheless I had established that I had abnormally low fitness, and that it improved with training, but then plateaud and did not return to normal regardless of how many hours, or how many times per week I trained.

I continued to read medical books and research papers to find or develop some methods of improving my health when I found a statement which said it was not possible to get research data about this type of ailment because "these patients could not or would not train." Other article referred to the patients being too lazy to train, or afraid of exercise, or didn't want to get better. etc.

I later met a friend of mine who knew the head of the fitness research institute, and recommended that I discuss my ideas with him, so I did, and, during that discussion I told him about the problem that overseas researchers were having with getting scientific data, and explained to him that if I could train, then so could other people with the same ailment, if they did it my way.

He agreed, and then he asked me to design a research programme. The medical staff were too busy on other studies, so he eventually asked me to organise and co-ordinate the programme myself.

It consisted of twice weekly classes of mild aerobic exercise, and walking or jogging within their own limits, and improving at their own rate, and medical and fitness tests at three monthly intervals. It continued successfully for about a year, while I was there, and for some time after.

During that time I was able to establish that it was possible to get some of those patients to exercise, and that they did have abnormally low fitness levels, and that some improved, and some didn't, and it was due to physical, rather than mental factors. In particular that the poor level of fitness was not due to the fear of exercise, or the lack of exercise, and the tiredness and fatigue was not imaginary, and not just normal tiredness.

Most notably the fitness levels of some of those patients was below the level that is seen in people who do sedentary work, and don't play sport, and who don't do any exercise at all. In other words it is not possible to simply attribute the ailment to a lack of exercise. See more details about that research program here.

See more details about my response to exercise before and after developing CFS here.

 

See more information about my experience surviving many other illnesses here.

 

Attempts I have made to earn a living

In 1975 I was experiencing severe health problems which had been getting progressively worse for several years, and none of the treatment methods were helping, so I decided to take long term sick leave without pay to recover. After a year I was still having many health problems but was required to give an explanation about why I wasn't attending work. I didn't know what to do so I consulted a union official. He said that he had seen many men just like me who never recovered, so he advised me to apply for my superannuation benefits which was 40% of my annual salary, and would be a lot better than trying to survive on a poverty line pension. I told him that I didn't have any medical evidence of illness, and that I didn't want to attend a tribunal of men in suits who were twice my age, and be cross-examined while in such a poor state of health. I was later told to go back to work and work hard or be sacked. My basic reply was that they couldn't sack me because I would resign , and sent them a letter of resignation the next week. It meant that I didn't get my long term leave entitlements or my superannuation benefits.

I wanted to recover and get a job in the private sector so I thought that it would be better to report that I was a resigned public servant that a sacked mental case.

When my doctor decided to increase the dose of sodium amytal to 750mg per night, I knew that I was already addicted to it, and didn't want to get any worse so I asked him to prescribe a less addictive drug. He prescribed mogadon, and I went through three months of horrendous withdrawal symptoms.

Some time later I joined an exercise program at the SA Institute of Fitness Research and Training, starting once per week, and later up to 3 times per week at their venues and 3 times at local ovals. After about 10 months i damaged my knee cartilage and had to stop. In the meantime I had learnt that I had physical limitations, and that I could prevent problems if I confined my activities to walking, sometimes fast, but avoiding running or rapid sprinting.

I tried to earn a living as a commission salesman by working a few hours a day twice per week and built it up to four part days per week and became exhausted and had to stop. It took me 3 months to recover and then I began window cleaning for about a year and had to stop for similar reasons. I recovered again and took notes during my next work selling fire fighting equipment to business on a commission basis part time. I became exhausted again and when I recovered I read my notes and wrote a theory on the abnormal and gradual build up of fatigue, and how to prevent it by limiting lifestyle.

I also wrote a theory on the cause of the fatigue. I then wrote a theory on posture and health, and later got a part time job selling miscellaneous items to newsagents.

I was then invited to design a research project at the SA Institute for Fitness Research and Training to study exercise and chronic fatigue. I continued successfully for more than a year from the time I started designing the program to the time I finished writing the final research paper. By then there were more than sixty files which had been assessed and the workload was more than I could manage, so when i was asked to do a study of 200 people, I left, and started looking for a job where i could earn some money.

I tried to get work for short periods of time such as a stand up comedian and an entertainer, and was part of an amateur entertainment troupe for a few years. I also got some casual work as an extra on some TV movies such as Sara Dane.

I suppose about 10 years went by before I was feeling almost healthy for some days of the week, but always had to stay within my limitations. I gave up ever doing a full time job and went on a pension, but continued my attempts to earn money in other ways. I tried to invent a better tap, and a better power outlet for walls, but couldn't, and then I invented a one word a day calendar and published it for 2 years, and then gained a contract to publish it for a public speakers organisation called Rostrum as their Australian Bicentennial product. I was hoping to do it each year to get a regular income, but the contract wasn't renewed. I then invented a board game and sold it for about a year, and then a New Zealand board game company decided to manufacture and sell it on a copyright basis for 3 years, but I didn't make a profit. During that time I was diagnosed with cancer, and told that my body was riddled with it and that I had a life expectancy of 2 months with no hope of a cure and that I should rewrite my will.

I didn't think I could invent a cure for cancer in that short time so I didn't even try, and left the treatment up to my doctors.

However, I had just started a small booklet of about 20 pages on posture and health, and decided to keep writing it until I died, and sell it to school and public libraries to help them prevent health problems in future generations of children.

I wrote a sentence, or a paragraph, or drew a diagram each day, and an occasional essay for six years until it was 1000 pages and stopped. During that time I also developed angina heart disease and was advised to have bypass surgery, but I read a book about the Pritikin diet and decided to try it. I took medication for six months and then stopped and the problem was cured.

I learnt to type and brought a typewriter from an auction for $5, and later a computer for $100, and then did some courses in Pagemaker which I used to publish my own books instead of paying typists and computer operators. I then did a course in Dream Weaver website design but became confused and didn't learn how to use it, but kept with a simpler program called Pagemill.

I then started a computer course in accounting but toward the end my cancer specialist told me to go to hospital immediately and have surgery and chemotherapy or risk death., so I didn't learn that either.

While I was still recovering for the side effects of a stem cell transplant i published a small book on the health of Robert Louis Stevenson, and then did a CD which contained a talk on how I cured angina with a vegetarian diet in 1997.

Some years later i did another course in Dreamweaver, and by the second or third week was about to give up, but it all "clicked" and made sense and I completed the course successfully and have been using it for my website ever since.

In the meantime I started buying Apple computers from auctions and selling them to the public for a profit while I was recovering from the cancer and chemotherapy.. A few years later all of the second hand computer shops in Adelaide closed, and a few years after that I couldn't sell those computers any more.

In the meantime I was able to enter the stock market, and managed to make enough profit to enable me to go off the pension and lead a financially independent life in the future, but then the stock market crashed and my main shares went from $13 each to $1, and I lost all my profits.

I then tried to learn how to service microsoft windows PC's. I had problems with that for various reasons and had to stop one day when I was in a three car chain collision crash where I was in the front car. All of it's doors were jammed together, and my spine was similarly effected. However i didn't start getting pain until the next day and it got much worse over the next 2 weeks. Pills and physiotherapy didn't help, but massage therapy reversed that problem which subsided over the next 6 weeks and then I had about 3 years of mild recurring head aches.

I then went for an audition at an acting school and got a job on a TV pilot program, during which I practiced a stunt by jumping a fence. I injured my shoulder and within six months the pain became gradually worse and required surgery. Three months of complications followed and I now have scar tissue in the joint and occasional problems with aching.

I also did other voluntary work, and applied for part time work helping intellectually disabled people. When I filled out the medical part of the form i didn't think anyone would give me a job but they did. i started doing five hours a day once per week and then twice, and then for 8 hours of Thursday and five hours on Friday. However I was getting tired on Thursday, and when I woke up tired on Friday morning I was having difficulty maintaining my concentration while driving six people in a bus with cliffs on one side of the road and large trees on the other, so I knew that I would never be able to do it full time. However, I liked the people and the work, so i decided to continue working as a volunteer for five hours each Friday.

I kept doing that for four years when I started to get a back ache in my lower spine as I bent down to connect seat belts to the base of the bus, and within a few months it got gradually worse, regardless of what I did to prevent it, and it was causing me problems for the next day, and then for 2 days after, so I stopped.

I also started editing Wikipedia and in the first year added about one paragraph to six topics. I was not allowed to do a page about my own ideas, but when a woman sent me an email to tell me how useful my book had been to understanding her problems i asked if she would write a page, with me helping to ensure it's accuracy, and she agreed. it was posted onto Wikipedia and deleted a few months later for various reasons, supposedly "non-notability". I then started editing a page about Da Costa's syndrome but was being constantly criticised by 2 editors who managed to get me banned. In the meantime 2 neutral editors asked me to write the article outside of Wikipedia and post it back. I t was ultimately about 3 or 4 fullscap pages long, and supported by more than 60 top quality references. My 2 critics deleted it and replaced it with there own ridiculous version which included much of the information which I provided and their own interpretation.

I then became a critic of those 2 editors, and although I had no intention of criticising Wikipedia itself, in some respects that was unavoidable.

I also noticed that they were stealing my ideas by transferring them to other pages, and it became apparent that other people have been copying my ideas for many years, so although I continue to develop concepts I don't publish them anymore.

I suppose that I stopped trying to earn a living several years ago when the stock market crashed, but since then I have published my two main printed books as ebooks. They are full of facts and evidence and ideas but are not well written and I am not selling many.

I now criticise my two critics, and copywrite thieves, and produce ideas on any health problems which occur, but I don't publish them.

Faster, faster, faster, you can do it, you can do it, try harder, try harder, was bad advice for chronic fatigue patients

In 1975, as a patient with chronic problems with fatigue and abnormal responses to exertion I was being told that my problems were all in the mind and caused by a fear of the normal reactions that affect everybody who exercises.
I was given advice that all I had to do was ignore the symptoms and was encouraged to run faster, and faster, and faster until I reached a maximum level, and then keep doing it on a regular basis, and I was assured that if I did so I would return to normal health.

However I had previously been involved in gymnastics, and knew exactly what the normal symptoms of exercise were, and it was obvious that the symptoms at that time were quite abnormal.

I knew that the advice I had been given was wrong, and that the only way I would ever be able to train regularly, and in a consistent way was to walk or jog at a slow speed several times per week, and in doing so I did observe gradual improvement,,
However after six months of training up to four or more days per week I had reached a level of fitness which plateaud, and did not continue to improve any more, no matter how often I trained.
It was obvious that my limitations were due to some sort of physical impairment, and all good researchers know that their isn’t a complete cure for the ailment, so the fact that I didn’t return to normal levels should not surprise anyone.

The method has been widely used since then by people who have given particular names for it, and some claim to have invented the idea, but they either copied my methods and got the same success, or have found them indirectly from other people who have copied me, or have come to the same conclusions separately (after me).
I would describe my method as “training within your own limits” or (TWL), but other people gave it the label of “Graded exercise therapy” or (GET), some others call it “PACING” and refer to it as the best, and most effective method available in the world today.

There are also some anonymous editors in Wikipedia who have described my methods as nonsense, and deleted the information from a page called Da Costa’s syndrome, but others have produced a specific page called “Graded exercise therapy”, which is just a rewording of all of the details which I defined and developed.

People made worse by graded exercise are doing it wrong
After describing the favorable aspects they claim that 30-50% of patients are made worse. by using that method, but the editors did not provide a reference as evidence or proof of such an absurd statement.
Furthermore, any failure would not be due to any fault in my method, but would occur if the patients were advised, or forced to go faster than what they perceived as their limits.
If they trained properly within their limits they wouldn’t have problems and the exercise couldn’t make them worse.

Also, as a basic common sense principle of preventing exercise from making the patient worse, anyone who has problems with exercise should not be forced to use it as a treatment method.
See newspaper reports about the success of my research methods here
and the Wikipedia page here

Note also that if other researchers are jealous or spiteful about me being the developer of that method, then they could deliberately force the patients to run too fast, and then argue that exercise was a useless and dangerous method.

I accuse Wikipedia of breeching my copyright for CFS exercise methods
I am publicly accusing anonymous Wikipedia editors of stealing my ideas without acknowledging me as the true source, and am holding the Wikipedia administrators personally responsible for fixing that crime by acknowledging me as the author of those ideas and using my essays and books and website as links and references.

The details used in their page called Graded Exercise Therapy (as of 18th December 2012) are exactly the same as those which I developed for the South Australian Institute for Fitness Research and Training in 1982 except that the people who copied them, including anonymous Wikipedia editors, have written up the same principles in different words.

It is the equivalent of them using the ingredients of Coca Cola and calling it Graded Cola and then pretending that it is something different.

Of course some of them know that they are copying my ideas but they don't want the readers or public to know so they are trying to hide the fact and make it look as if they weren't.

 

The time frame for breech of my copyright

1975-1976 I developed the method of training within my own limits to treat my own fatigue. (Essentially if I ran fast I would get abnormal symptoms and had to stop, so I decided, that instead of quitting, I would slow down and keep going, even if all I could do was walk).

1976-1982 Some time during 1976 and 1982 I read research papers which argued that patients such as myself were fatigued due to lack or exercise, and the fear of exercise, and that scientific data about their response to exercise could not be gained because they "would not, or could not train".
1982 -1983 I was invited to design a program for the South Australian Institute for Fitness Research and Training to enable other people with those symptoms to train. See here.
5:58 on 16th December 2008 I added the following information to a Wikipedia article about Da Costa’s syndrome in which one of the main symptoms is fatigue . . .

“From 1982 -1983, researchers at the South Australian Institute For Fitness Research and Training examined more than 80 volunteers with persistent fatigue and found similar results, and a training programme was designed on the basis that they would participate if they kept within their own limits and improved at their own rate. Eleven who didn’t train were examined 6 months later with no significant change. Ten completed three months training of 2 hours per night twice per week, and six completed six months or more. Three cases improved but plateaud after three months below 600 kgm/min, and 3 of those who were initially recorded as below 400 kgm/min showed significant improvement. Twelve months after starting the training programme one of the participants entered a six mile marathon and completed it." (end of quote).

Although the results were not published in medical journals the general findings were reported in several Australian newspapers.” See here

December 2008 to January 2009 Two editors criticised me relentlessly for the next 12 months, describing my ideas as non-notable fringy nonsense etc, and

deleted the information about my research. e.g. here and here and here

 

At 13:57 on 18th December 2008 a Wikipedia editor named SpiderDawn started a brand new page called Graded Exercise Therapy with these words . . .
“A treatment for people with chronic fatigue syndrome (or other disease-induced fatigue) which involves monitoring and logging a person's daily activity levels to establish a threshold point (when symptoms are worsened by such activity) for experiencing chronic fatigue symptoms. This data is used to manage a person's physical therapy routines with the goal of improving the person's quality of life in respect to the illness.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]
(As you can see that instead of providing a reference or comment on who actually developed that method they have placed the words “Citation Needed”, which means reference needed).
They have also added the words dubious, with a request to discuss it. here
They have also put it in the category of category of medical treatment.
At 16:17 on the same day an editor named VVerbal added the following words
“This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)” See here

At 15:36 on 28th January 2009 I was banned from Wikipedia here

 

At 18:01 on 5th August 2010 another editor named Moon Rising added these words to the page . . .
“Graded exercise therapy (GET) is physical activity that starts very slowly and gradually increases over time. This approach is used as part of a treatment plan for [[chronic fatigue syndrome]] (CFS) and certain other conditions. This method avoids the extremes of the "push-crash" cycle of over exercising during remittance or not exercising at all due to concern of relapse. <ref> http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/general/treatment/options.html#get </ref>”

and . . .
“Typically the GET begins with active stretching, followed by range-of-motion contractions and extensions, done for five minutes per day for a completely inactive individual. Avoiding extremes is key, and activity must be balanced with rest. Exercise sessions should be preset by the number of repetitions or amount of time. The duration is determined by the patient using trial and error, with the goal of stopping before becoming tired. Research has shown that gradual, guided physical activity can be helpful for those suffering from CFS. <ref> http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/general/treatment/options.html#get </ref><br />” See here

At 1:56 on 15th August 2010 another editor changed the words to read as follows . . .
“'''Graded exercise therapy''' (GET) is physical activity that starts very slowly and gradually increases over time.This approach is used as part of a treatment plan for [[chronic fatigue syndrome]] (CFS) and certain other conditions . This method avoids the extremes of the "push-crash" cycle of over exercising during remittance or not exercising at all due to concern of relapse.<ref>http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/general/treatment/options.html#get</ref>” See here

At 15:21 an editor named BornGinger added some comments regarding doubts about the vaiue of the value of the methods See here

At 12:02 on 13th October 2012 (2 months ago) the most recent version can be seen as much the same here

 

The instruction sheet which I designed for the field instructor for chronic fatigue patients in 1982 (thirty years ago) can be see here
The principles which I developed are also described on my website here

 

The monitoring of symptoms in CFS

Wikipedia's monitoring method

Note that the Wikipedia article says this about monitoring progress with the exercise . . .

"A treatment for people with chronic fatigue syndrome (or other disease-induced fatigue) which involves monitoring and logging a person's daily activity levels to establish a threshold point (when symptoms are worsened by such activity) for experiencing chronic fatigue symptoms. This data is used to manage a person's physical therapy routines with the goal of improving the person's quality of life in respect to the illness.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] (end of quote) here

See also this report by a website called the Bulletin of the IACFS/Me by Tom Kindlon, on the harm supposedly being caused by GET here.

My monitoring method

Note also that 33 years earlier, in 1975 I was making notes on symptoms changes on a minute to minute, and day to day basis, and recording my pulse rate etc after every training session, and having three monthly scientific measurements of my pulse and heart function while sitting on an exercise bike strapped to wires which connected my chest, arms and legs to a cardiograph etc.

i.e. I was doing everything scientifically, and not just scribbling notes on the back of a piece of scrap paper.

Also note that there was no such thing as specialised classes for chronic fatigue, so I had to invent a method while training in a standard class where everyone else was a lot healthier than me and were running faster and out lapping me on a four hundred yard oval track.

Note that when I joined exercise classes at the Institute for Fitness Research and Training each person was given a card to record the date of their training and pulse rate etc. See here.

The Semantics of Graded Exercise Therapy

When I read the medical literature I found a comment by other researchers that it was not possible to get scientific data on the effects of exercise on patients with chronic fatigue because they "could not or would not train" for long enough.

Do solve that problem I explained that the patients had physical limits, and that if 100 of them were asked to exercise then probably 50 would not even start. If you set the goal of low levels of exercise in the first month, then it might be too much for some of the patients so, probably 30 would drop out before the end of the month. If you then increased the level in the second month then it would probably be above the level of some of them, so when they would start to get the distressing symptoms and 10 more would drop out. If you then increased the level again in the third month, then the remaining 10 would drop out, and there wouldn't be any left, so the attempts to get scientific data would fail.

I therefore explained that if you tell someone to exercise and they train regularly and consistently, then their fitness may increase, so the that should be the objective of the course - to keep the patients training.

The only way to do that is to start them at the level which they are already comfortable with. In other words, if they can walk, then just tell them to walk as they normally do, but regularly, and in an organised way that can be scientifically monitored.

If they continue to train their fitness might improve, and then they will be able to increase their level of exercise without any adverse symptoms, but if they do have any problems then just drop back to whatever level is acceptable.

The research program proceeded according to plan and 9 people trained for three months, and five for six months or more. Four improved their level of fitness, One dropped slightly and left the course after the first period, and one dropped slightly after 3 months but continued training and returned to the previous level.

In other words I had scientifically proven that it was possible to get chronic fatigue patients to train if you designed the exercise program appropriately.

Since then many people have copied those principle without acknowledging me as the source. For example, they have called the method "", with the emphasis on "gradually" improving fitness levels, instead of vigorously and quickly.

The types of programs which fail are those where the people in charge set increasing weekly targets, in which case the patients try to achieve them until they get the adverse symptoms and drop out.

The types of program which succeed are those which copy the details of my method.

Namely, they add in their description of "Graded Exercise Therapy" some words like these . . .

The patient should determine the level of exercise . . . and . . . slowly, carefully, and gradually increase their levels of exercise . . . and . . . "Avoiding extremes is key" . . . and . . . It is important not to continue exercising if you experience problems, so as to avoid the push/crash cycle . . . and . . . to avoid relapses of the fatigue etc.

(See where those details have been copied into Wikipedia by anonymous editors here).

 

In other words they are not just using a simple "Graded Exercise" method . . . They are using my method where the patient determines the level, and is improving according to their own judgment, and is avoiding the type and levels of exercise which causes problems.

The medical ideas of 1975

When I was consulting my doctor in 1975 he had sent me to various medical tests but was unable to diagnose my health problems, or explain the cause, or treat any of the symptoms effectively. He had previously prescribed numerous medications, and at that time I was taking one 500mg capsule of a drug called Sodium Amytal. When he increased the dosage to 750mg I decided to stop taking pills and begin studying medicine to find the cause myself. There were many symptoms, where the main ones were chest pains, palpitations, breathlessness, faintness, fatigue, and abdominal pain. The only fact that I knew at that stage was that they were made worse by leaning toward a desk all day. However,I didn't know how that could be causing symptoms because I knew absolutely nothing about anatomy or physiology.

My ideas from 1975 onwards

Within a few years I was able to observe the details from my own experience and identify that poor posture was the cause of most if not all of those symptoms, and later that sideways curvature of the spine had an influence, as well as chest shape, where people with broad and deep chests would be unlikely to have the symptoms, and those with long, narrow, flat or receding chests would be more likely to develop the problem. I also later established that similar problems affected nineteenth century women who compressed their chest and abdomen with tight waisted whalebone corsets, and pregnant women whose internal anatomy was compressed as the enlarging womb gradually rose in the abdomen.

I had developed the idea that the faintness was due to the long term affects of postural compression of the air in the chest which impeded the flow of blood between the feet and the brain, and that the chronic fatigue was due to the fact that such repeated pressure strained and damaged the blood vessels below the chest, to produce weak circulation. I also developed, and reviewed other ideas about displacement of the internal anatomy, or visceroptosis being a cause.

I had also observed, and later scientifically proved that the problems with exercise were related to a chronically reduced aerobic capacity, and that the symptoms could be significantly prevented by exercising within individual limits, and extended that idea to include modifying lifestyle to avoid hurrying and worrying, and get more rest, more frequently than healthy people.

 

 

 

The medical theories up until 1975

Nowadays, I can look back at that experience, and I have acquired a knowledge of the history of medicine, and I can report that in1975 the medical literature of the 1950's and earlier had included some suggestions that poor posture may have been the cause, but nobody had pursued the idea, and they had been abandoned in favor of the anxiety theories. Similarly, in the early twentieth century the relation between exercise and symptoms had been reported, and graduated exercise programs had been recommended as a treatment. However those programs lost their popularity largely because of negative results where patients would have dropped out of the training when they went beyond their own limits. The general attitude was that the patients could not or would not train, with the implication that they were too lazy, or didn't want to get better, or were easily discouraged by effort and adversity, or that the symptoms were due to a fear of exercise, the fear of sport, the fear of heart disease or death, and the fear of people, or the fear of everything (agoraphobia). It was also thought that they were afraid of the normal symptoms of emotion and exercise and it was observed that many of the patients were anxious or depressed so, in 1975, the only treatments available were medications to dampen down the symptoms, and psychotherapy for anxiety or depression.

 

 

Wikipedia 2007 - 2012

While I was involved in Wikpedia between 2007 and early 2009, I added some of my own ideas to a page about Da Costa's syndrome and two arrogant and ill-mannered editors described me as a worthless, non-notable fringy kook whose contributions were nonsense, and they argued that the information must come from medical journals and be based on the formal and brief definitions found in dictionaries. Amongst their rather arrogant and offensive statements they suggested that "i meant well" and that I had a "noble" cause, and that I "believed" that my own ideas had practically saved my own life, and that I was "trying to help other people" with my own ideas about "how the body worked" but it was not "appropriate" for Wikipedia. See on of my reports of their

They deleted all of the scientific evidence and proof of physical cause, and all independent scientific evidence which verified my ideas, and replaced it with descriptions of anxiety and imaginary disorders, and mental illnesses. However, they did not recommend psychotherapy, but kept my description of the best way of treating the symptoms which were based entirely on my theory about posture, and my research about exercise.

I recommended improving posture, wearing loose garments, exercising within limits, modifying lifestyle, avoiding stooping, and standing up slowly when necessary to avoid faintness.

They managed to get me banned in January 2009. but my treatment recommendations are the only ones which are still in the article more than three years later, in April 2012, because none of the other editors has had any reason to dispute any word of it. However, my two critics obviously resent the fact that I developed the ideas, and don't want the public to know, so they haven't mentioned my name or acknowledged me as the real source of the best information in the world today - 2012.

See the current treatment section here, and how they tried to delete all of my contributions and all information about my theory here, and one of my reports on how they defamed my character here, and examples of their offensive and ill-mannered behaviour here, and their ill-mannered response to me here.

The Arguments

My theory - Posture "is" one of the causes

When I wrote The Posture Theory it was a way of explaining the cause of my own symptoms largely based on my own observations, but at some stage I came across a portrait of the physique of the typical patient, which was exactly the same as my own, and confirmed my conclusions. However, I also set up and attended other groups of people with the same ailment and noticed that they didn't all have stooped spines, so ultimately I came to the conclusion that such a physique "disposed" to the problem, or made it more likely" to affect those individuals, and that it was "part" of the cause in some cases, and possibly the "main", or "only" cause in others, but that there were also other possibilities. In other words, the fact that my physique is exactly the same as the typical physique described by some of the top researchers in the world is more than just a coincidence.

Critics who say it can't be the cause because some patients have good posture

Some people are simpletons who can't actually think carefully enough to solve problems themselves,. They argue that if the ailment can effect people with good posture, then it is "nonsense" to say that poor posture is the cause. They are like the people who argue that cigarette smoking can't be the cause of lung cancer because their uncle never smoked and died of lung cancer at the age of 40. However they don't take into account that other factors such as industrial air pollution can cause the same problem.
Critics who say it is nonsense because it is not consistent with "modern" opinion

The other main argument as presented by two Wikipedia editors was that it wasn't consistent with "modern" ideas, and was therefore nonsense. However many of the ideas which were considered "modern" in the nineteenth century have since been proven wrong. Furthermore, as recently as the 1980's it was popular to believe that nothing could live in stomach acid, and that it was therefore impossible for stomach ulcers to be caused by microbes, and must be psychosomatic. However, it has since been found that some microbes are "acid resistant" and that the cause is microbial, and curable by anti-biotics. In other words, just because an "opinion" is "modern" and widely accepted, does not mean that all other ideas are wrong.

 

The Posture Theory diagram and copyright

The Posture Theory diagram is unique to my theory, and is subject to my copyright, and so, to ensure that people are aware of that I have included the copyright symbol on it.

It shows the types of pressure and strain on internal anatomy that occurs when a man is stooped at a desk.

However, the theory does not attribute disease to the constant stoop, but to the process of repeatedly leaning forward and back at a desk, and repeatedly compressing the chest and stomach etc.

Therefore, at a later stage, I decided to show that movement in picture format. In order to do that I needed to draw the same man in the upright position, and then use aindexn editing process to make the two diagrams swap over each time the mouse is moved in and out of the top one. The net result is to give the readers of my website a good visual impression of what happens to the internal anatomy when the man stoops forward and back at the desk. The diagram also explains that the worse the shape of the mans spine, and the worse the angle of stoop, the more the pressure on internal anatomy each time.

Hence it also explains why some people can lean forward all day without any effect, and others can't. i.e. Those with stooped spines who bend at the waist will be compressing their internal anatomy, and those with straight spines and lean from the hips won't be doing any harm.

 

The proper use of my research theories and diagrams

Everything original in my books and website are my intellectual property and subject to my copyright, but they have been provided to help other people understand or research health problems, and so, from what I understand of the copyright laws they can use small quotes, or some of the diagrams, and make brief summaries of the ideas for the own reviews or articles on similar topics, as long as they acknowledge the source of the information.

I naturally have no objection to that, because I have had to study the work of many other intelligent people to find the clues which I used to construct my ideas, and without them I would not have been able to solve a lot of mysteriesl. That process can continue.

 

A note on the violation of my copyright

I began studying medicine after doctors were unable to explain my many health problems in 1975, and it took me five years of making detailed observations to draw the conclusion that most of them were caused by a common factor, namely poor posture.

In the thirty years since I have been involved in many other activities but have often resumed my study and published my ideas.

On one occasion in about 1994, I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and told that I had only two months to live, so I decided that it would be impossible to cure it myself, and started writing about posture and health again. Over the next eight years I continued to live, during which time I added about 100 pages per year until I was cured of cancer by a stem cell transplant in the year 2000.

In the meantime I sold most my books to school and public libraries where they could be read by teachers and the public for free to gain a better understand the nature of posture related health problems. In particular I wanted parents and teachers to know how to prevent postural problems in the next generation of children.

As you can see I don't have objection to anyone using my ideas and diagrams as long as they show their gratitude by acknowledging the source by mentioning my name, book, or website.

However, many unscrupulous people have breached my copyright and stolen my ideas by using my diagrams without mentioning the real source, and have been giving the false impression that they were their own ideas.

One such group of individuals were reading my website, copying the information, rewriting the words, and anonymously adding the information to various topic pages. They were also defaming my character by arguing that I am a non-notable fringy kook.

Unfortunately, in the process of defending my rights I have had to criticise those editors.

However, many other people who previously used my ideas or diagrams for honest reasons may have felt as if I was criticisng them, and deleted those items from their own websites.

I would like to reassure honest, respectable, and ethical people that if they wish to mention, quote from, or review my ideas and diagrams in the appropriate way that I have no objection, and if fact invite them to do so. All they need to do is use the copyright symbol on the diagram, and acknowledge the source of the diagram or any other information they use.

 

In the meantime one of the problems which has arisen from me having to respond to couple of hostile critics is that it seems to have made me appear to be a somewhat unreasonable person when in fact, I am only doing what I consider to be necessary.

 

A note on the violation of my copyright by Wikipedia
Re: One of many examples

The Posture Theory and the cause of chronic fatigue

In order to understand this matter you need to know that the main symptom of a medical condtion called Da Costa's syndrome is fatigue, and that there are more than 100 labels for the same problem, and more than 100 theories about the cause. The main theories are that it is due to a disorder of the mind or the nervous system, and I have said that it is due to a disorder of the blood vessels.

 

Chronic fatigue is one of the most common ailments in the world today, affecting 2-4% of the population, or more than 200 million people. There are many possible causes, and not every person with chronic fatigue has a poor posture. However, in 1980, I presented a theory in which I suggested that people with stooped spines, who sat at a desk all day and repeatedly leaned forward to read or write, were repeatedly compressing the air in their chest, and partially blocking the blood flow between their feet and brain to strain and damage the blood vessels below the chest. The result would be a weakness in the blood flow between the feet and the brain, which would dispose to poor concentration, and faintness (particularly if the person suddenly moved from the laying to the standing position), and a tendency to be more tired than usual. The inefficient flow of blood between the feet and heart would also reduce the capacity for physical exercise, and cause a tendency to become fatigued more easily than usual.

I was the first person in the world to say that chronic fatigue was specifically due to a disorder of blood vessels.

In December 2007 I added those ideas to a page in Wikipedia about a medical condition called Da Costa's syndrome, where fatigue is the main symptom, and an editor named Arcadian deleted the link to my website, and added links to other websites which had lists of mental illnesses. Another editor, who became my main critic, put the topic into the category of "Anxiety disorders", and teamed up with another to tell everyone else that my ideas were nonsense and crap, and delete them, and eventually arranged for me to be banned.

However, one of the modern labels for that problem is "Orthostatic intolerance", and, on 28th July 2011, the editor named Arcadian, put the article about that subject in the category of "Vascular diseases" (i.e. blood vessel disorders)

I therefore accuse him and Wikipedia of defaming my character and breeching my copyright, and I want that organisation to do something about it.

 

For the evidence see here and here and here and here and here and here.

Some of the many arguments started in December 2007 and went through to 14th February 2008, where my main critic said arrogantly that Da Costa's syndrome was just "garden variety" orthostatic intolerance. here,

That editor knew that my responses to her arguments were correct but didn't want to admit it in the Da Costa's discussions, so two weeks later, on 29th January, she went to the Orthostatic Intolerance page without telling me, and tried to redirect it to "Orthostatic hypotension". See here

However, fourteen hours later on the same day Arcadian changed it back to Orthostatic Intolerance. It was described as a disorder of the nervous system here.

Another editor changed the category from "Cardiology" to "Neurology" in October 2008 here and I was banned a few months later.

However, two and a half years after that, in July 2011, Arcadian changed it from "Neurology" to "Cardiovascular diseases", and then, to Vascular diseases" here.

(i.e. the arguments have gone full circle back to what I said about Da Costa's syndrome in 2007)

If you have a close look at both pages you can see that the symptoms are the same, except that the Da Costa's symptoms are mentioned in one "paragraph", and the Orthostatic Intolerance symptoms are mentioned in one "list".

The editors who were arguing with me about Da Costa's syndrome, were also making changes on several other pages to make them agree with my ideas, suggestions, research, and theories. See here.

(I don't expect the editors to agree with my theory, but they should have included it in Wikipedia for the public to consider along with all the other theories (which change every decade). However they didn't have to, but if they used the components of my theory on other pages they should have acknowledged me as the source, instead of looking for someone else to attribute it to. I have researched this topic, and I am the author of the information and ideas).

The main argument for deleting all of my ideas is because, in the opinion of two editors they are not "notable", or worthy of being mentioned in Wikipedia unless they have been published in a medical journal.

I have had more than 100 letters and essays published in newspapers and magazines, and have written a 1000 page book, and had a website for more than 15 years, and apparantly that isn't good enough?

However there is a page about an American baseball player who hit one home run in a game more than 100 years ago?

 

How my critics are deceiving YOU the intelligent readers

Most intelligent people can easily understand what I am about to say, except for the fact that they haven't studied the problem before, and won't be familiar with the jargon, so to make it easy for intelligent carpenters, journalists, mathematicians, or physicists to understand I will give you a quick description in plain English.

According to my theory poor posture compresses the air in the chest and puts strain on all of the blood vessels below and eventually stretches and weakens them, and makes them more likely to stretch whenever more postural pressure is applied, or whenever the person exercises.

About ten years after writing that theory I found that nineteenth century women who wore tight waisted corsets had exactly the same symptoms, so I wrote a theory that those corsets damaged and weakened some or all of the blood vessels below the waistline.

My two critics told all of the other editors that my ideas were stupid and deleted them. However, in order to fool you into believing that I was wrong, they went to the page called "Orthostatic Intolerance" which has the same symptoms with a different name. They don't want you to know that they are the same, and if you asked them they would say they were 'slightly different' in ways that only 'sophisticated' editors like themselves understand.

I would like you to accept that for the moment, because I will now explain how they are trying to make you, or anyone else who understands this topic, think that my ideas are ridiculous.

The page about Orthostatic intolerance includes a section on how to manage the symptoms which says

"using postural maneuvers and pressure garments" (end of quote). See here

I now want you to know what they are doing - I said that the ailment was caused by tight garments, and they are telling their readers that the symptoms are relieved by tight garments.

Now you can see how they were trying to make me look ridiculous to their colleagues, and to you, if you have understood their arguments.

However they haven't mentioned a couple of simple details because they don't want you to know, so I will now give a clear and plain English example so that you can easily understand.

If you was to wear a very tight and narrow leg garter just above your knee for several months, the blood vessels below the garter level would be under strain, and become weak and stretch. In other words you would get "varicose veins". Those veins therefore have a larger diameter and hold more blood, so there would be slightly less blood available to your brain and you would have a very minor tendency to faintness and fatigue.

I added that information to the Varicose veins page and two editors deleted it, so you can't see it anymore.

Now, if you wear a slightly tight leg stocking that covers the entire length of your leg, it will relieve the symptoms by stopping the weak varicose veins from stretching.

You can now understand that poor posture only compresses the chest, and tight corsets only compress the waist, and stretches the veins below to cause symptoms. However, wearing a whole body stocking which covered all of the chest and abdomen would prevent those veins from stretching and relieve the symptoms.

Now that you know the facts you may be able to see how my critics are trying to make you believe that tight garments relieve the symptoms and therefore my idea that tight garments cause them is ridiculous.

I hope that you are intelligent and that my explanation has stopped them from fooling you. See more of my reports here and here and here and here and here and here.

Solving problems is not a popularity contest

Many people resent me for proving that the symptoms of hypocohonrica were not "all in the mind"

I began researching the medical literature in 1975 for one reason, and one reason only, to try and solve the type of health problems that my own doctor had been unable to relieve for many years.

I didn't think the task would be easy, so I was only interested in using the best and most reliable methods and information that I could find.

Consequently I had to use facts, and facts only, and that required me to distinguish facts from assumptions, opinions, lies, and nonsense.

Part of that process involved making observations, and checking and double checking them, and comparing them to anatomy and scientific research findings, over an over again and again, year in and year out.

My intentions were very focused and serious, and I had absolutely no intentions in mucking about with any thing dubious or useless.

However, I was aware that many ordinary people who studied medicine were only interested in making money out of gullible patients, so they would set up clinics and claim to be able to cure diseases by waving crystals about, or by using complicated looking machines.

I was also aware that most highly qualified graduates would only do research if they were paid, and stop if the funding of their projects ran out, so they would be highly motivated to produce ideas or results which pleased the organisations, such as the tobacco or chemical industry, which provided the funds. Typically they would hide the harmful effects of cigarette smoke and toxic spills, and write something favourable about them.

In other words I was aware that money and politics influenced the general literature, and that if I wanted to solve a health problem I had to cull them out of consideration.

After seven years of study I was aware that the symptom of chronic fatigue was generally regarded as having a psychological cause, and was "all in the mind", and was the main symptom of hypochondria, which is portrayed as an illness which involves imaginary symptoms.

However I also found that many different researchers had a wide variety of ideas about cause, and at one early stage I was able to recognise that it had been given at least 30 different labels.

Therefore in my search for facts, evidence, and clues I looked for information through indexes to research papers which had the titles of Da Costa's syndrome, neurocirculatory asthenia, and anxiety state etc.

I also looked for information under the topic of 'hypochondria' and found that it originally referred to a disease which started in the upper abdomen. (hypo means below, and chondros means the cartilages of the ribs, and hypochondria means a disease just below the ribs). See here.

About seven years after I started I was invited to design an exercise program for patients with chronic fatigue at the South Australian Institute for Research and Training where I was able to scientifically prove that it was a real physical ailment, and within a year was completely successful. See here.

I didn't set out with the objective of solving one of the world's most confusing medical mysteries, but that is what I achieved.

I was also aware that it was very ironic for a person like myself, who was supposed to be mentally weak, to solve a problem that the most intelligent doctors were not able to solve.

However, the fact remains that I was not mentally weak, and the doctors who thought that were wrong, so they shouldn't be embarrassed by the fact that I was able to achieve such a result, because any intelligent person, either inside, or outside of the medical profession, could do the same if they applied themselves to the task.

At one stage I determined that for every doctor there was 1000 patients, and many of them would have very high IQ's at much the same level as top researchers.

When I decided to leave the research program I was asked to prepare a report for publication in a medical journal, but I didn't have any training in writing up research papers so I asked the head of the institute if one of his cardiologists could do it for me, but they were too busy so I did it myself and submitted it to two journals. It was not accepted for standard reasons, such as it was not written in the appropriate academic format.

In the meantime I contacted a freelance journalist in Melbourne by phone, and he prepared a newspaper summary of the project and sent it off the various newspapers. At one stage I became aware that versions of it had been published in four major Australian newspapers, and I assumed, but could not confirm that such items would have been included in many major international newspapers as well.

One indication of it's widespread distribution came when the head of the Adelaide institute invited me to a meeting where he explained that one of his researchers involved in our project had transferred to Sydney (more than a thousand miles away), and had seen the report in the Sydney Morning Herald, which was probably Australia's most famous, and largest selling newspaper of that time. He said that he thought the article was excellent, but that he was a bit concerned at me mentioning the word "hypochondria", and suggested, in a matter of fact manner, that it would be best if I didn't do that in future.

I fully understood and appreciated what he meant, and didn't want to cause anyone any fuss or embarrassment.

However, my situation was awkward, because the only way I was able to solve a problem that no-one else could solve was by adhering strictly to the facts, and considering "all" sources of cluese, and it was a "fact" that the ailment had previously been categorised as imaginary, and hypochondria, and that many clues to the physical cause were in that literature.

Ultimately I just stuck to the facts.

The consequences of that were largely unnoticed because I was no longer involved with formal research, but twenty years later, when I joined Wikipedia I was confronted by a lot of hostility from two editors in particular, who obviously resented information about my findings being included in their articles. See here.

More recently I noticed that the Lancet medical journal, and Nature magazine have awarded the John Maddox prize to a psychiatrist named Simon Wessely for his "courageous" research into chronic fatigue and exercise, which he started in 1987.

It is much the same as my research which I completed three years earlier in 1984.

I have watched a Youtube video of the presentation and it seems that the people involved are all sincere, and are not aware of my research, or they would have given me that award. Whether or not Simon Wessely got his ideas from me or not is irrelevant, because the first person to make the finding is the one who gets the credit. See my report here.

For example, there were several people who were developing ideas about evolution in the nineteenth century. Charles Darwin was the first so he deserved the credit.

 

The popular medical theories which I have proven wrong

When I was young I always got along well with my doctors, so I have never had any particular reason to dislike or despise them. However, in 1975 I had acquired many health problems which they were unable to diagnose or treat effectively, so it became imperative that I study them myself to develop an understanding on the cause and how to treat them more effectively.

I did not set out with the intention of proving medical theories wrong, or of embarrassing doctors, but that does appear to be the consequence of finding the actual causes of some ailments.

I have tried, for the most part to be diplomatic by avoiding any mention of the fact that my theories prove others wrong, but in many cases it has been obvious, and unavoidable. Nevertheless I have always found that in the vast majority of cases doctors have accepted my suggestions in a matter of fact manner without concern or offense. Nevertheless there have bee some occasions when it was obvious to me that a doctor or researcher were extremely embarrassed or resentful of the fact that I have proven their ideas wrong.

This became most apparent to me, woman who I have never met, sent me an email to let me know how useful my book about posture had been to her understanding of her own health problems, and I asked her to write a review of it for Wikipedia, I assisted her in making it accurate by summarising it myself, and asking her to rewrite the aspects that she agreed with in her own words, so that it complied with the requirement of being an independent persons assessment.

During the next few weeks I suggested that she make some slight improvements in the wording to make it more accurate and precise, and to cover all of the most important aspects.

The article essentially said that many symptoms were caused by poor posture, and with her excellent writing style being better than mine, and with Wikipedia's excellent fonts and layouts being better than mine, the article was looking excellent in every respect.

However, I then asked her to mention that the "many symptoms" that were caused by poor posture were collectively known as "hypochondria".

In other words, in one brief instance the article went from being about poor posture being the cause of many symptoms, to poor posture being the cause of the symptoms of hypochondria". In other words it became an article which proved that the symptoms of hypochondria are real not imaginary, and proved that the old and popular widely accepted medical theory was wrong.

Within the next eight hours about seven different editors rushed into a discussion and said . . .

"Speedy delete, delete, Speedy delete, Delete, Delete, Delete, Delete", and each of them gave somewhat different reasons, or objections, or excuses for wanting it removed entirely (not just changed back to "poor posture causes many symptoms"). Their reasons included accusations that the author had broken the rules of "copyright violation", "original research", "single-purpose account", Non-notable", "WP:Fringe" (fringe theory), and "one guy's theory".

It was very obvious to me that the seven anonymous editors were probably anonymous doctors or psychologists who resented or even hated me for proving their ideas wrong, and that they were utterly determined to get my theory thrown out of Wikipedia as soon as possible, if not immediately.

Soon after that I found a page called Da Costa's syndrome so I began editing it and within a short time I was confronted by two editors who proceeded to delete everything I wrote about my own ideas, and inventing policy reasons as their excuse for deleting everything else I added from top quality independent sources.

Their criticism could be summed up as an arrogant, resentful, spiteful. vindictive, ill-mannered, disrespectful, hostile, raging, never ending, ranting and raving, hysterical series of temper tantrums which didn't stop until I was banned. In the meantime they called me a worthless, fringy kook who wrote nonsense and crap based on poor quality references, that no other editor had ever agreed with.

It is obvious to me that many people do not want me or my ideas in Wikipedia for several reasons, one of which is the fact that they resent me for proving them wrong, and they don't want the public to know.

I am a friendly person, and I don't resent or hate doctors, but I have to defend myself from the criticism of my ideas, so I will give a list of many of the popular and widely accepted medical and psychological theories which I have proven wrong, at least in my case, if not more generally.

I have proven that . . .

1. The symptoms of Da Costa's syndrome are not imaginary

2. The chest pain is not imaginary

3. The chest pain has a physical basis

4. The chest pain is due to inflammation and tenderness between ribs (due to poor posture).

5. The breathlessness is not imaginary

5a. The breathlessness is not the same as the hyperventilation of panic attacks.

7. The faintness is not imaginary

8. The fatigue is not imaginary

9. The abdominal pain is not imaginary

10. The abnormal physical response to exercise is not imaginary

11. The symptoms are not fake

12. The symptoms are not due to a lack of exercise

13, The symptoms are not due to a fear of exercise

14. The symptoms are not due to a fear of sport, See here.

15. The symptoms are not the result of being molly coddled by mothers when young

16. The symptoms are not due to being protected from the dangers of sport when young

17. The symptoms are not due to weak will power or the inability to persevere against the normal adversities of life

18. The symptoms are not due to depression, sadness, moodiness, or a sense of hopelessness

 

 

The symptoms are not due to mysterious, subconscious psychological factors of any sort.

See also my report on the John Maddox Prize here

 

Let me introduce myself and my ideas

My name is Max Banfield. In 1975 I had many health problems which were not responding to treatment so I began reading the medical literature to determine the cause and treatment myself.

At that stage my symptoms included a high pulse rate, the occasional need to take extra deep breaths, and fluctuations in blood pressure, which were made worse by physical exertion.

One of the first ideas I developed were based on the fact that the adrenal glands produce adrenaline which increases pulse rate and breathing rate etc. so I concluded that it may be due to a disorder of the adrenal glands.

In my experience the faintness had sometimes been caused when I leaned toward a desk, or a bench, which led to me drawing the conclusion, after four years of consideration, that leaning forward was putting pressure on the air in my chest and slowing down the flow of blood between the feet and brain to cause faintness, abnormal tiredness, and abnormal responses to exertion.

I also noticed that tight belts, collars and shirts seemed to aggravate the symptoms so I concluded that they were pressing on internal structures which in turn compressed blood vessels and had a similar effect, and later found that nineteenth century women who wore tight waisted corsets were always feeling faint and were easily exhausted, and that they relieved their faintness by unlacing the corset, but continued to be prone to faintness and fatigue. Another cause of their fatigue could be displacement of the internal organs, called visceroptosis, which has various adverse effects, and alters the pressure within the chest and abdomen.

I also noted in the literature that the same symptoms were regarded as the common complications of pregnancy, so I concluded that the enlarging womb of pregnancy was causing upward pressure on the stomach, heart, and lungs, and compressing the air in the chest to produce the same effect.

I also concluded that shock waves could pass through the human body to shake the nerves, or the blood vessels, and interfere with the blood flow by that means.

I also considered that the brain and central nervous system controlled the bodies reflexes to ensure that pulse rate, blood pressure and breathing rate was stable, and that something abnormal about the nervous system may be responsible for the symptoms. My general observations led me to conclude that it might be a disorder of regulation of the nervous system rather than an excessive response.

A similar concept was mentioned to me by Tony Sedgewick in 1982 when I was discussing my ideas with him in relation to an exercise program for chronic fatigue at the South Australian Institute For Fitness Research and Training.

I suggested that the symptoms could be treated by keeping exercise and lifestyle within appropriate limits.

I also found that many patients seemed to develop those symptoms after a viral infection such as glandular fever, or the flu, or typhoid etc.

I have had the flu many times myself, and sometimes it involved a week of muscle and skeletal pains, and other times nausea, and other times a week of fatigue. Furthermore, i read a report that some people would recover from the viral infection, but continue to be easily exhausted by effort, so it seemed to be a reasonable possibility, although not in my case..

Other people have reported that they experienced chronic fatigue after being exposed to toxic chemicals such as pesticides etc. so the possiblity is that those chemicals have damaged the nervous system etc.

I also read about people who experienced a psychological trauma such as the death of a family member, or the devastating financial and social effects of a flood or a drought, so that possibility also seemed reasonable.

I also read that extreme exertion in cold and wet weather while being poorly fed could cause similar chronic problems, and that excessive exertion of other sorts could be a cause. For example many runners become extremely exhausted after a marathon, but recover quickly, but those who do several marathons in a row, or those who attempt world records sometimes experience chronic fatigue, so I concluded that they overdo it to the point that their bodies can't recover properly, and that they only partially recover, and therefore have problems with chronic fatigue afterwards

 

I rarely discuss my theory of a postural cause with the people I meet, because the whole area is full of controversy, but when I do the most common reaction is that it a very logical idea, or they describe it as brilliant, or refer to me as the most creative person they have ever met.

However, when I discuss it in the media or on the internet with people who I have never met, they tend to assume that I am a fringy kook who thought up that idea in five minutes, and that I only have one idea, and they become almost instantly insulting and hostile toward me, and treat me as if I disagree with their ideas. All of my ideas are discussed in my 1000 page book called The Posture Theory which was published between 1993 and 2000 See here.

I set up self help groups in 1984

Between November 1984 and March 1985 I arranged for several newspaper article to be written to invite people with chronic fatigue to attend a meeting to discuss the problem. Since then I have been telling the well intended and humorous joke that half the people who phoned said that they would be too tired to come to the meeting, and half of those who came fell asleep while I was talking to them.

I suppose about thirty people attended some of those meetings.

My objective was to get other people to help me do the research, where some would study the neurology, and others the endocrinology etc, and then we would meet once per month to exchange information and ideas.

However, while some of them were prepared to make their homes available as venues, to save the cost of renting a hall, and while they were prepared to make cups of tea and scones etc, none of them wanted to do research.

I also invited academics and business leaders to attend with the same objective, but had the same response.

I came to the conclusion that it took several hours to organise such meetings, and several hours to set them up and give the talks, and that I would be better off spending that time doing the research on my own.

Some years later I saw an article in the local paper about another group for chronic fatigue patients, so I attended.

A group of about 20 people were crowded around a desk where a woman was giving her talk.

She was discussing the idea that a virus was causing the problem, and at that stage I thought that poor posture was the only cause, so I was tempted to argue.

However, there were several reasons why I didn't say anything.

The first was that I was pleased that someone else was trying to solve the problem re; two heads are better than one.

The second is that if anything happened to me, it would be good to know that someone else would still be trying to solve the problem.

The third is that I was involved in other activities and didn't wish to go back to chronic fatigue research.

The fourth is that I had already established a slow and patient way of doing my own research if and when I thought it was going to be useful.

I also didn't want to get into an argument and discourage anyone or see that group fold.

About ten years later I saw a newspaper article about another group, and attended. I did get into a couple of arguments in the early stages, but then came to the conclusion that there must be several different causes and types, and less reason to argue in the future.

 The Posture Theory 11th edition

Ordering information

Published by the books author M.A. Banfield, Unit 6, No.6 Hartman Ave, Modbury, South Australia 5092

Ph. +61 (08) 82635735, email: posture@chariot.net.au

Book Details:1005 page hardback: 300 illustrations: 180 references: more than 2,400 index entries.
Cost per book, A $64.50 within Australia, U.S. $57.90 to other countries, and these costs include postage. You may purchace the book by posting a cheque or money order to the above address (overseas buyers will need to send a bank cheque).

Various editions of The Posture Theory are also available in many Australian and overseas public and academic libraries.

ISBN 0 9585390 2 2

The eBook version

Printed versions of the book are no longer available, but the 12th edition can be purchased as an eBook from October 2012 for $9.99 here.

Links to other websites about posture

The Alexander Technique	Posture video by Aaron Parnell	The Washington Post	Hunchback posture and ergonomics	Ergonomic sitting posture
Posture Page	Posture diagrams	A website about posture	Posture and tuberculosis	Posture is important
Sport Posture	Womens posture by Aline Personal Training	Shoulder health and posture	The PostureJac a strap jacket for improving posture	Posture and foot deformity correction and here
Posture Pals	Evolution and posture 1928 by W.K.Gregory	Posture and breathing website	NASA posture studies	Napoleon's hemmorrhoids
Teachers and posture	Computer posture at school	Posture and backpack weight	Posture assessment Grids	National Posture Institute

 

 

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My research expeience is introduced here
My theory on posture and chronic fatigue here
See violations of my copyright here

Note that other authors are welcome to use my ideas as long as they are within the terms of standard copyright laws, and that they acknowledge the source. The fact that I have retrieved and organised clues from history in a manner that has not been done before is also my copyright.