Qigong, Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine and Bodywork in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

What is FM?

Fibromyalgia (FM), is a term used in medicine to identify the collective symptoms that millions of people have complained about, and describe as generalized pain within the muscle tissues accompanied by chronic fatigue. It is the second most common diagnosis made in rheumatology clinics.

In this article, I will present some of my own experience treating FM with Chinese medicine including Qigong, acupuncture and bodywork. I will also share my own hypothesis of the cause of Fibromyalgia. [Read More…]

Treatment of Ingrown toenail [blog video]

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

in this video I’ll be sharing with you an old method to treat early stages of an ingrown toenail that I learned as a young boy in my native Colombia. Please understand that this was totally improvised and filmed right on the spot. in actual clinical practice, the treatment is done with better tools.

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The Three Environments

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

I base my entire practice on the idea that the human body wants to gravitate towards a state of good health. Male, female, rich, poor, black, white. It makes no difference. Good health is the heritage for all mankind. If the above is true, then how come there are so many people sick? I don’t [...]

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The Four Methods: A Common Ground between Personal Training and Acupuncture

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

Personal training is similar to the practice of Acupuncture in that both systems, to be effective, employ four methods to gather information in order to offer solutions specific to the client. Each individual must be treated in accordance to the information gathered through looking, asking, listening and palpating at the time of the first and [...]

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DaoNamics™: A Total Body Fitness Method

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

Welcome! I’m Fernando Bernall, the creator of the DaoNamics™ Fitness System. I called it DaoNamics™ because it follows a Dynamic Path towards complete body-mind fitness, focusing on general strength and pliability with weight loss as a side effect of training.

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The SpiralFlow Method of Joint Mobility for Baby Boomers

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
SpiralFlow Method

In 2009, the first boomers turned 65 and every 8 seconds a boomer turns 50, making it the fastest growing demographic group in America currently numbering around 78 million strong. The Boomer Generation has come to age.

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Wild Goose Chi Kung Workshops

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

During the month of May and June, 2011, I will be offering weekend workshops in an ancient system of Qi Gong known as Wild Goose Chi Kung (Qi Gong). For more details and to register go to WildGooseChiKung.com

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Corporate Pain = Corporal Anguish

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

The lessons to be learned in life are often taught through avenues never traveled. As a physician of acupuncture, I often treat pain experienced by my patients from their work environment. Most often, these patients sit on a desk for hours at a time in conditions less than suitable for their body type. Also, the [...]

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The Kettlebell Clean With A Tai Chi Twist

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
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In this post, I would like to share a little drill I created for cleaning and racking the kettlebell through the use of unilateral hip extension and the use of a tai chi bow stance. The drill becomes more complex when we consider that the kettlebell is being cleaned on the contralateral arm of the [...]

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Kettlebells: What Are They?

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
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They look like cannonballs with handles. They come in different “poods”; one pood being 16 kilograms or around 35+ pounds. The “Beast” weighs around 3 poods or 48kg = 106lbs; a real monster. They come from the Highlands of Scotland and a Russian dictionary dating back to 1704 calls them “girya”. We call them “Kettlebells”. [...]

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Gong Fu

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

The term “Gong Fu” aka “Kung Fu”, can be roughly translated to: “skill acquired through practice”, and its general use in the West, which departs from the etymological meaning of the Chinese characters, is in reference to the martial arts. In the following, I will attempt to share with you some of my current views [...]

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The Kettlebell Windmill: Strength and Stretch in Motion

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
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There are many drills with kettlebells that not only are demanding, but also are very revealing or diagnostic in nature. The Windmill (WM) along with the Turkish Get Up (TGU), are two of such drills and on this short article I would like to highlight the Windmill. I will also share a little video showing [...]

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Tai Chi: Software for the Body

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

It has now been over two decades since I first started my study and practice of tai chi.. Many of those years were under the guidance of my teachers. But a large portion of this time span has been self-study along with self-correction.  This path of self-study, is challenging.  The enthusiasm to continue daily practice [...]

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Kettlebell: The Belly Fat Blaster

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
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Belly fat, a gentler term for abdominal fat, is perhaps the number one telltale sign of fitness decline and the subsequent deterioration of one’s general health. At some stage in life, abdominal fat becomes synonymous with Metabolic syndrome and is often associated with a decline in testosterone or the so called male menopause. Kettlebell training, [...]

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Swimming Dragon: For Boomers’ Healthy Spine

by Fernando Bernall, DOM
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Swimming Dragon is perhaps one of my favorite sets I teach to my Baby Boomer Clients to help  keep the spine in a healthy condition. Not only is the vertebral column exercised, but the joints of the knees, ankles, hips, elbows, wrists and shoulders, along with the neck, receive a mild and invigorating workout. Joint [...]

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The Fitness Professional: A Model in the Health care Field

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

As a health care practitioner, I have found that a vital missing component in most medical practices that focus on pain management, is a fitness program that can be easily integrated within the physician’s current work model.While at first sight the inclusion of a fitness regime into a treatment plan may seem an easy process, [...]

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The Squat and Deadlift: Tai Chi’s Friends

by Fernando Bernall, DOM

Squats and deadlifts are considered closed kinetic chain (CKC) exercises. Meaning, that the force to overcome the load (barbell), is applied to an unmovable object (the ground) and not to the object being lifted. Open kinetic chain (OKC) exercises differ in that the force applied, moves the load, like in a bench press or bicep [...]

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