Johannes Asdonk

Johannes Asdonk (born September 25, 1910 in Kamperbruch ; † July 29, 2003 in Weggis , Switzerland ) was a German doctor .

Life

Asdonk was born as a farmer's son in Kamperbruch on the Lower Rhine in 1910 and graduated from the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck near Goch on the Lower Rhine in 1929 . This was followed by four semesters of theology studies in Münster and Tübingen . In 1931 he began studying medicine in Münster, which he completed in 1936 with the state examination. He then worked as a medical tutor in Münster until 1940. Then he was called up for military service, combined with a job as a hospital doctor, and later also with a deployment to the front in Russia. After being wounded in 1943, he resumed his work as a hospital doctor and paramedic training. In 1945 he established himself as a general practitioner in Rheurdt on the Lower Rhine. In 1956 there was a change of practice to Essen. His main interests lay in the field of rheumatic diseases and chirotherapy .

Manual lymphatic drainage

A decisive turning point in his life was the year 1963, when he got to know Emil Vodder's " manual lymph drainage " through his future wife Christa Bartetzko, who was then working as a doctor's assistant in his doctor's office, and in the following year with the philologist, who was a physiotherapist in his second job , could deepen. Vodder's grip technique was published as early as 1936, but has not yet found its way into conventional medicine . Fascinated by this therapy, Johannes Asdonk used these manual lymphatic drainage techniques as a supplement to his chirotherapeutic treatments and thus achieved a much longer freedom from symptoms than with the combination of chirotherapy and massage. After this experience, he was a staunch supporter of manual lymphatic drainage therapy, which was expressed in various publications and courses he had organized.

Asdonk schools

In 1969 he founded the first real school for training physiotherapists in manual lymphatic drainage, in which the Vodder couple were also employed as teachers. In 1967 the "Society for Manual Lymph Drainage According to Dr. Vodder" was founded in Essen, initially with annual workshops there, and since 1971 at different locations in Germany. From this society the German Society for Lymphology emerged in 1976 with the participation of Eberhard Kuhnke, Gregl, Földi and Hohlbaum. The collaboration with E. Kuhnke and Földi in particular gave the still young lymphology a great boost, as they worked out the theoretical basis of this therapy.

Asdonk Clinics

As the increasing number of treatment of edema with lymphatic drainage therapy went beyond the scope of an outpatient statutory health insurance practice, Asdonk gave up his practice in 1972 and moved to the Black Forest, where he founded the world's first lymphological specialist clinic in Saig , which was officially recognized in September 1973 . Due to his success in the treatment of lymphedema, manual lymphatic drainage therapy was recognized and paid for by health insurance companies from 1974 onwards. Asdonk had combined this manual lymphatic drainage therapy according to Vodder with so-called "edema grips" and "compression treatment" and firmly established the treatment concept under the designation "complex physical decongestion therapy" or "physical edema therapy". Since then, therapy in this combination has been the most successful treatment method for many forms of edema. From 1975, after moving to the community of Feldberg, Asdonk called his clinic "Feldbergklinik". Until 1978 he worked in the clinic as a doctor completely alone, advised by Kuhnke. From 1978 to 1981 he was able to win the Földi couple to work together in the clinic. Since the existing houses became too small and no longer met modern diagnostic and clinical requirements, the Feldberg Clinic then moved to St. Blasien in 1983 . From 1984 Asdonk withdrew from the clinic; at that time he was already 74 years old. His son-in-law, Werner Beck, who took over the economic fortunes of the clinic, opened the Seeklinik Zechlin on February 14, 1995 , the first lymphology specialist clinic in the new federal states.

Awards

• 1986: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class
• 1987: Honorary President of the German Society for Lymphology

Private

Asdonk lived with his wife in Weggis on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland from 1994 , where he died on July 29, 2003.

supporting documents

1. ↑ http://www.dglymph.de/
2. ^ E. Kuhnke: Vegetative change of mood through lymph drainage, Schattauer: Lymphologie 1987; E. Kuhnke: The Physiological Foundations of ML, Physiotherapy 1975; 66, 12.