Good posture, adjusted breathing, and that’s it: the ‘disturbed’ blood flow in the brain has been resolved. ‘Away with migraine, away with post-concussion syndrome (PCS), post-whiplash syndrome, aura-migraine, fibromyalgia syndrome/ME/CFS, away with hyperventilation syndrome and general stress complaints/loss of capacity’, promises physiotherapist/haptonomist Hans Timmerman from the Frisian Hallum, ‘ inventor of the Epiphora-methode.
Epiphora stands for ‘tears’ and for repetition, but is also a butterfly genus, a fungus genus and an orchid species, Wikipedia teaches. The trio of disorders that – coincidence does not exist – can be treated with the Epiphora method cannot be properly determined, they cannot be made visible with a scan or with a specific marker in the blood. On his website, Timmerman mentions a wide range of vague conditions that could be treated with it, ranging from ‘blurred vision, muscle pain/acidification, cold body, brain fog, tension headache’ to ‘irritable bowels and dry mouth’. He qualifies them as ALK, Persistent Physical Complaints.
To stay current, Timmerman has also added the post-covid syndrome to his list. The method helps here too, he has discovered with patients, he says in an interview Youtube video. In an e-mail to the web editors, he also refers to a recent report by Omroep Fryslan he writes about his post-covid approach with which “excellent progress is being made”.
‘Impaired’ blood flow
The ‘missing link’ in all these disorders is an ‘obstructed’ blood flow in the neck arteries – narrowing – in the back of the brain, in the so-called Circle of Willis. This creates an ‘unexplained delay in recovery’, is the unproven hypothesis of physiotherapist Timmerman, who he described in one of his many YouTube videos. explains. ‘What the brain lacks is cut back in the body’, is his further – unproven and also strange – explanation to ‘professionalson his website.
We read on: ‘It is a self-healing method that removes a shortage of blood supply in all parts of the brain through the smart use of breathing, postures and movements.’
We read about the miracle technique: ‘With the Epiphora method you learn to solve 3 main causes of disturbed blood flow in your brain. You improve blood supply from the neck arteries (opening), you improve blood drainage from your brain (drainage) and then you use the right breathing to release the last stress from your body. You apply this twice a day, 15 minutes when you get up, and 10 minutes when you go to sleep. During the day you apply the correct exercise posture.’
Timmerman is happy to throw his unproven hypothesis over the fence of science, in the absence of his own research. He writes in his e-mail to the web editor: ‘It is about a few percent shortage of blood supply, and that is very difficult to visualize and prove. So it is a nice challenge for neurologists and neurophysiologists to see if there can be medical evidence that substantiates my practical findings about this ‘terrible clamping situation’.’
Distribution across the Netherlands
The method seems to be spreading across the Netherlands. About a hundred care providers, including physiotherapists, but especially alternative practitioners such as acupuncturists and chiropractors, now apply the Epiphora method after training at the one-man’sAcademyby Carpenter. ‘After successfully completing this training you will be able to transfer the Epiphora Method to clients independently or in a complementary team and to guide recovery processes and to treat clients very effectively and easily with complex stagnation complaints.’
On its website is a list of ‘certified’ coaches to find. There are people who you can go to online and don’t have to visit in person. There is plenty of work waiting: ‘There are a few hundred thousand people in this country who have not gotten any further with these kinds of complaints,’ estimates Timmerman.
There are coaches who have given breathing courses at various companies. Take physiotherapist Steven Zwerink, owner of the practice Breath gain in Enschede, also an instructor/teacher at Timmerman’s Epiphora Academy.
He reports on his website that he has given courses at FC Volendam, FC Twente, the UMCG, the Medisch Spectrum Twente, mainly focused on breathing techniques. On his website there is a questionnaire that you can use to find out if the Epiphora method is going to be of any use, with the last question: ‘Can we use your submission for (anonymised) scientific research?’
Is the method reliable?
The method raises questions. ‘What should I do with this Epiphora method, is this a reliable method, has it been scientifically investigated’, a patient with respiratory problems asks the Association against Quackery (VtdK). The physiotherapist, to whom his GP had referred him, had pointed out the method. The patient was not the only one, a general practitioner also asked the association similar questions about the breathing technique.
A round of science shows that any evidence for the claims made of the Epiphora method is lacking. A vascular surgeon and a neurologist consulted by the web editors examined the method, read texts (for professionals) on the Epiphora website. Both have no doubts after reading, they label the proposed biological mechanism as abracadabra, incomprehensible gibberish. Quackery, according to the generally accepted definition, is their conclusion. Both specialists wish to remain anonymous in order to be able to continue to do their work in peace.
Timmerman confirms in an e-mail to the web editors that there is no hard scientific evidence for his method. It is an unproven hypothesis, he writes. He explains that ‘in a unique series of 15,000 experimental treatments (at his former physiotherapy practice PersonalTuning) in the years 2010 – 2021 in the Netherlands and Germany, with persons from all the aforementioned diagnoses, it turned out that practice of the Epiphora Method usually resulted in an unexpected good recovery started,” he writes on his website. ‘Even if no recovery is expected after years of complaints, the method appears to be surprisingly effective. Apparently I discovered something – prompted by my own experiences – that was not known before.’
No serious peer-reviewed publications
There are no (serious peer-reviewed) publications about his method. The name of the Frisian physiotherapist and his ‘Epiphora Method’ cannot be found in PubMed.
Two physiotherapy students at Saxion Enschede University of Applied Sciences have a set-up made for a first study with ten people with post-covid complaints (and a complaint-free, healthy control group). A start with a group that is much too small, in which it is unclear how the disorder is defined and how it is diagnosed. The ‘hard’ proof of effectiveness so desired by Timmerman is therefore still a long way off. Medical science appears to have little interest in his method.
Carpenter doesn’t mind. ‘Practice once again anticipates the evidence, which is logical when something new is discovered from the professional field’, he writes in an e-mail. He is an optimistic man. ‘Evidence for this method will emerge, it is a matter of time and money. We are open to interested researchers. I expect worldwide interest in my method.’
In the run-up to this, in June last year he already registered the name of his method for ten years with the Beneluxnote register.
2023-07-02 15:47:21
#Epiphora #breathing #method #unproven
