Milton Trager, M.D., born in 1908, is the man credited with discovering and developing the Trager Approach, a natural-healing method. Born with a congenital spinal deformity, it is said that he overcame a childhood marked with sickness to become athletic and healthy once more. He so overcame his illnesses that he became a gymnast and a dancer, even training to be a boxer in his late teen years.
Milton Trager may have become aware of potential for a real and useful technique as a late teen, when he moved to Miami Beach with his family and began training as a boxer under Mickey Martin. After each training session, Martin would give Trager a rubdown. One day, Trager offered to provide Martin with a rubdown of his own, as the trainer was looking particularly tired and worn. It is said that the rubdown he delivered was more than just an ordinary massage, delivering both relief and invigoration.
Pleased with the results his hands had delivered to his trainer, Milton Trager went home and performed his rubdown on his father. Though his father had been suffering from chronic and painful sciatica that was not relieved through ordinary measures, Trager said he was able to free his father from sciatica in just two sessions.
Success with treating his father was not the end of this approach for Milton Trager. He went on to explore his method, trying it on people with a full range of diseases and conditions. For example, he used his approach to help people with asthma, polio, multiple sclerosis, and more. He also lent his hands to helping individuals struggling with back pain. It is said that some of the people he helped experienced a measure of relief, but others enjoyed complete freedom from whatever had been ailing them.
Milton Trager experienced such success with his approach that he may have helped a man abandon his wheelchair. His friend had spent four years paralyzed and unable to walk. According to Trager, his approached helped his friend to push the wheelchair aside and walk once more. Despite his success, Trager was not opposed to traditional medicine, and in 1955, he received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Mexico.
Milton Trager continued to work with clients after receiving his medical degree, but he wanted to teach others to perform his approach. Eventually, he helped a woman named Betty Fuller to get relief from her neck pain, and she went on to learn his approach, co-founding The Trager Institute with Dr. Trager in 1980. Today, holistic-minded individuals and medical professionals often incorporate the Trager Approach into their treatment programs.