What is Perrin Technique?
Perrin Technique is a process of diagnosing CFS/ME; providing patients with a realistic prognosis; providing gentle osteopathic treatment which aims to improve poor lymphatic drainage, promote proper regulation of the sympathetic system and stimulate healthy fluid dynamics around the brain and spinal cord and the prescription of self-care routines.
The best results are achieved when integrating manual techniques, pacing, a mindfulness practice, self-care, nutritional support (from a naturopath, functional medicine doctor etc) and mental health support.
What is CFS?
A condition characterised by:
- Post-exertional fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Headaches
- Cognitive dysfunction (eg “brain fog”)
- Depression
- Back pain
- Neck pain
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Irritable bladder syndrome
- Increased sensitivity to light/sound
The path to Diagnosis
As CFS/ME is still a diagnosis of exclusion, patients can wait years for help. A study published in the British Medical Journal investigated the use of five physical signs (as compiled by Dr Perrin) vs the standard rheumatological and neurological clinical examinations in accurately diagnosing patients with CFS/ME.
An excerpt:
“When using the standard clinical neurological and rheumatological examination, the sensitivity of the physician was 0.44 (95% CI 0.30 to 0.59) and the specificity was 1.0 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.0). These results show that while able to identify correctly all healthy controls, the physician struggled the most out of all three practitioners to identify correctly people with a positive diagnosis of CFS/ME. There was a significant bias in the diagnosis by the physician relative to actual diagnosis (p<0.001), also favouring a non-CFS diagnosis”
The manual therapists, using the five signs, were almost twice as likely as the clinician to identify people with CFS/ME.
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/11/e017521
The symptoms of fibromyalgia differ from CFS in that the primary complaint is widespread, persistent pain in the body. Osteopathy has been found to be helpful in the management of fibromyalgia.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12090649/
Long-COVID
The symptoms of Long-COVID show significant overlap with CFS/ME, leading to patients seeking help from allied health professionals trained in Perrin Technique. Visit my appointments page to find out more and book.