History of the Dorn Method

The Family of Dieter Dorn has a farm and a saw mill in the Bavarian Alps. Having to work very hard, Dieter Dorn once had lumbago, a terrible backache with shooting pains. Not being able to do his work, he remembered this old man in the neighbouring village that could “fix” back problems.

He went to see him and was healed instantly after one treatment with the pressure of a thumb. He was so impressed, he went back to see the old man as he wanted to learn this method. The old man said to him, “You don’t have to learn it, you can do this work”. The old man was in his 80’s, and said he wouldn’t live a lot longer and asked Dieter Dorn to carry on with this method and his work. A few months later the old man passed away and so Dieter Dorn was left to develop and work with what he had learned in the short time he spent with him. His first client was his wife, who had suffered from terrible migraines for several years. Her headaches were gone after his treatment, as was his lumbago after the old man treated him.

So he started treating neighbours and friends and as word of mouth spread, more and more of all kinds of people were coming to see him, trying to find help with their back problems. Even surgeons and orthopaedic doctors were his clients. More and more people, me included, got so passionate about this work, they started learning it themselves. The Dorn Method is not chiropractics; Dieter Dorn is very clear about this. Both methods have the same target, to align the spine, and all the other joints. Where chiropractics works with stretching and moving of the spine, with the Dorn Method we align every single joint in an extra manoeuvre. To be able to do this kind of work, you have to be very sensitive in feeling, and know what is going on with the spine.

This work you cannot learn unless you are gifted with the necessary talent and delicacy.

Since the first book was published about the Dorn Method, much has happened. The soft therapy for joints and the spine is well-known all over Germany and many other countries through TV, books, magazines, workshops, and more. The list of therapists is long and schools are being created everywhere.

Unfortunately, we have discovered there are quite a few “black sheep”, people that took a crash course and then suddenly, a couple of weeks later, became teachers themselves, without having enough experience in the field. Maybe you have heard of the game “Silent post”. In a round you whisper a sentence in your neighbour’s ear and at the end of the round the last person says out loud what he has been told. Normally, there is not much left of the original.

Future

Of course the Dorn Method has not remained stagnant, though people who have been familiar with the method for a few years will notice little difference.

The Dorn Method is self help for the client. This is the most important aspect of the method. The client has to be taught to align/help him or herself. It is a self help method, where home care exercises are the most important tool. With this course I don’t want to create superstars in alignment, but healing helpers and teachers, who will help the client to heal themselves by teaching them the home care exercises. The whole point is not to take over the client’s responsibility of his or her own health.