The Gravity of Life

JUST by raising their beds with a few blocks of wood, or some house bricks, scores of spinal injury sufferers say that they have noticed a dramatic improvement in their conditions. But how can such a simple method seem to succeed where conventional medicine has failed Chief reporter ANTHONY ABBOTT looks at the apparent phenomenon of the Naturesway Sleep System:

DELIGHTED John Cann is standing on his own two feet again after eight years of paralysis in his legs and he is convinced its all down to a simple bed treatment.

John had no feeling in his legs for eight years after an operation went wrong, but following two years of treatment using a raised bed method pioneered in the West Country, he has got the feelings back in his legs and now is determined to walk.

The 69-year-old is amazed at the effect the simple treatment has had over the past two years and has urged other people to try it for themselves.

I raised the bed and that night I had no pain at all, he said. I had been going until about three in the morning and then had to have an injection to get back to sleep.

Now I make a point of standing up with my standing frame every day while I watch the news in the evenings to build up my strength. I never give up and now I have set myself the next aim to go for. I am going to walk unaided. I may need cr-utches and then sticks, but I am going to walk again.

Former engineer Andrew Fletcher, who invented the Naturesway Sleep System six years ago, said that he was astonished when he visited John at his home in Gunnislake to see him standing.

He says that many people have benefitted from the simple treatment of raising the head of their beds a few inches, but in the case of John it had been very dramatic.

It was just incredible, said Andrew. I was nearly in tears. Here was a man who was told there was nothing that could be done for him; had felt nothing for eight years and then in the last two years has got feeling back in his legs.

HEALTH ministers have pledged to look into the benefits of a simple bed treatment, pioneered by a West Country man, which is having a dramatic effect on spinal injury and multiple sclerosis sufferers,writes ANTHONY ABBOTT.

It marks a real breakthrough in Andrew Fletcher's five-year battle to gain official recognition for the Naturesway Sleep System that appears to be succeeding where conventional medicine has failed.

Thanks to the backing of Torbay MP Adrian Sanders, Andrew, who lives in Torquay, has received a letter from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, Lord Philip Hunt, saying officials will examine the benefits of the gravity bed.

Andrew said: 'This is long overdue. It is absolutely incredible to me to think that there is something here that doesn't cost anything and I can't understand for the life of me why everyone isn't doing it.'

 First revealed in theSunday Independentthree years ago, the Naturesway Sleep System involves raising the bed a few inches with blocks of wood or ordinary house bricks.

The discovery followed several experiments by Andrew who found there was a circuit which made water carrying salt and nutrients flow upwards. He wondered how gravity and the flow of water would affect the human body.

Andrew set up a controlled study on the Internet and scores of sufferers around the world found their condition improved with the treatment.