Functional medicine
Pain & functional limitations
Regulative & preventative medicine
Dr. med. univ. Klaus Wachter
Enjoyment of medical work
Fascination: musculoskeletal system
I learned about the musculoskeletal system as a biomechanical unit through intensive sports medicine, orthopedic trauma surgery and physics training. However, I very soon became aware of the limitations of the predominantly mechanical concepts of these disciplines consisting of linear individual parts with different levers.
By getting to know the concept of the fascial distortion model according to Dr. Stephen Typaldos, my medical worldview expanded fundamentally.
On the one hand, the concept of continuity (theory of the fascia continuum) as one of the central aspects in FDM, that everything in the human body is connected to one another, merges into one another or is simply the opposite aspect of the same (bone ligament), confirmed my view that we are not consist of dismantled individual parts, but rather that it is a coherent whole.
On the other hand, the immediately resulting therapeutic imperative for action, which arises from the view that fascia deformations can be immediately reversed.
Fascination: sports medicine
In order to understand athletes, you have to be passionate about sports yourself. I often hear from colleagues that athletes are laborious, strenuous and too demanding. This is often difficult for me to understand because I love athletes! I appreciate people who are enthusiastic about something, motivate themselves and live their sport. I experience this spirit again and again in numerous competitions, mainly in the endurance sector (triathlon, ultra running).
Fluorescence microscope image of the transition from tendon (bottom left) to bone (top right). The fine fibers of collagen type 2 can be seen in the middle. – Image: Rossetti/Kuntz / TUM
The patients are no longer helplessly exposed to decay, wear and abrasion (arthrosis model, intervertebral disc herniation model). According to the FDM, these medical perspectives are not relevant to your complaints.
This very positive and enriching medical world view has made significant progress in my work with my patients and also in my personality.
I received additional, very enriching input from fascia research, which was hardly known until 10 years ago, and which began to understand fascia as an all-enveloping and penetrating body-wide matrix with seemingly fractal anatomy, biomechanics and physiology.
TheFDM enthusiasm has not left me to this day. Since co-organizing the 5th FDM World Congress in Vienna in 2011, I have been part of the EFDMA (European Fascial Distortion Model Association). As the current vice president of the EFDMA , we have been striving for years to establish the teaching, research and practical application of the FDM and the manual Typaldos method in the medical world with great success.
Fascination: human microcosm
For me, health means the balance of structure, metabolism and psyche. The approach of using the body's own substances such as vitamins or trace elements to provide regulatory and preventive therapy and thus eliminate causes instead of just alleviating symptoms convinced me from the start.
By diving into the microcosm of biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, immunology, the interaction at the cellular level of oxidation / cell protection through anti-oxidants, the complex interrelationships between the areas of structure (e.g. fascia, muscle, bones), biochemical processes (e.g. regulation) become apparent the metabolic functions through vitamins, minerals, trace elements) and psyche (e.g. emotional causes such as stress or mental trauma).
Microscope image of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in crystallized form
And here we find a "fascinating" familiarity: our connective tissue as a metabolically active end-stream organ, which, on the one hand, serves structurally as a transport system for the transport of nutrients and toxic degradation products and, on the other hand, functionally carries out a variety of tasks in immune regulation (mechanical bulwark against pathogens, place of immunoeducation, psychoneuroendocrinology). And last but not least, as a mechano-sensitive sensory organ, it constantly provides us with feedback about metabolic and structural processes.
Pischinger space, extracellular matrix, system of basic regulation, these are all synonyms for an area that the Austrian histologist Prof. Dr. med. Alfred Pischinger (1899-1983) recognized, researched and described its importance as a pioneer, long before the now established fascia research. Pischinger published his findings in 1975 as “System of Basic Regulation”.
Alfred Pischinger and Stephen Typaldos were pioneers of their time for a holistic approach, which had a decisive influence on my professional career.