I'll never forget the day I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) in April of 2003. My neurologist, who had been treating me for several weeks for head and neck injuries resulting from a rear-end collision, conducted an 18-point trigger test [pressure-point test of the soft tissue area]. As he had suspected, I appeared to be suffering from FMS.

Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Blog: Fibromyalgia - I've Learned to Live Each Day One at a Time

When a thank you letter arrived from The American Red Cross for the one-piece Nordic Walking Poles that were donated to Walter Reed Veterans Hospital by SkiWalking.com and The American Nordic Walking System it was one of hundreds of confirmations that one-piece Nordic Walking poles prove to be safer, lighter and much more durable than twist-locking adjustable length/telescoping/collapsible poles.

Glen Arbor, MI, April 15, 2009 ---- Nordic Walking instructor, running and ski coach, Pete Edwards, discovered five years ago that Nordic Walking Poles were not just for expert skiers deprived of snow, but doubled as an aid for those with balance and stability issues. He started volunteering to host free Nordic Walking Clinics at Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's (PD) and Diabetes support group meetings. A couple years later he donated dozens of pairs of durable one-piece Nordic Walking poles to Walter Reed Veterans Hospital in Washington, DC. He has also shipped free Nordic Walking poles directly to injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan after talking to their spouses and/or parents. Family members, doctors and physical therapists have been amazed by the improvement in posture, balance, stability and gate thanks to the use of Nordic Walking Poles in the correct lengths.For over 25 years Edwards has been coaching runners and skiers. His skiers have been ski walking and hill bounding with poles during the warmer months when snow could not be found.

After a knee injury ended his marathon running career, his Nordic Walking Poles saved the day – allowing Edwards to Nordic Walk and even Nordic Run (running with poles) pain free.Using the perfect length Nordic Walking Poles helps us to automatically walk with a super straight back - better walking posture is biomechanically a good thing. This improved walking posture when combined with the unique 4-Wheel-Drive type action of walking with poles radically reduces the stress to the shins, knees, hips and back. Nordic Walking is low impact and yet provides a highly effective workout - burning more calories and working more muscle groups than regular walking.Nordic Walking has been the fastest growing fitness activity in Europe for several years. Over seven million Europeans are walking with poles - in the city, in the country and up in the mountains. Walking with poles helps to burn more calories than regular walking, improves balance/stability, radically reduces the stress to the weight bearing joints and provides a workout for your upper body by engaging your arms and legs – a lot like cross country skiing.Nordic Walking’s winning combination of improved posture, a unique 4-Wheel-Drive type action and shock absorbing benefits are helping many individuals to walk comfortably again.

Nordic Walking Poles are helping individuals with balance issues, knee issues or new knees, hip issues or new hips, back issues (including those with rods in their back), weight issues, multiple sclerosis (MS), parkinson’s disease (PD), neuropathy, arthritis, bursitis, scoliosis, lumbar stenosis, fibromyalgia, post polio, osteoporosis, stroke recovery, cancer recovery and other limitations to walking. Nordic Walking poles are helping thousands of Americans get off the couch, successfully get outside, start walking safely and effectively launch much needed walking campaigns.Individuals that use canes and/or walkers often find that Nordic Walking Poles are much more comfortable and stable than their canes or walkers. Individuals that find pushing a shopping cart comfortable find that Nordic Walking poles provide even more support and much improved balance, stability and versatility. The feedback from amputees, individuals with head trauma and others with balance issues is consistent – the poles really do improve balance and stability.From a fitness standpoint, walking with the correct length poles and proper technique can burn up to 40% more calories than regular walking. Walking with Nordic Walking Poles can turbo charge any walking campaign.Real Nordic Walking Poles are equipped with comfortable fingerless glove type straps, durable metal tips (for use on trails, the beach, snow and ice) and special rubber tips/paws that are removable and designed for use on pavement and other hard surfaces. All poles from http://www.skiwalking.com/ and The American Nordic Walking System are also equipped with patented straps (patented by the Salomon Ski Company).Thanks to the efforts of Pete Edwards, SkiWalking.com and The American Nordic Walking System, individuals of All ages and All fitness levels, are safely unlocking the calorie burning and aerobic benefits of walking, hiking, trekking and running with poles. These durable one-piece poles prove to be safer, lighter and much more durable than cheap twist-locking adjustable length/telescoping/collapsible poles. Nordic Walking Poles from SkiWalking.com and The American Nordic Walking System also includes a free Nordic Walking DVD and there are a variety of exertion options to choose from regardless of age, balance and/or fitness level.

By JANE E. BRODY
Published: March 9, 2009
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was long called a treatment in search of diseases. But in recent years, laboratory and clinical studies have found more than a dozen serious diseases for which it is considered a valuable — and sometimes life-saving — treatment.

Although the administration of pure oxygen in a high-pressure chamber has been around as a therapy for more than 300 years, it is only now beginning to reach its potential, according to a report in the November issue of the journal Emergency Medicine.

At the same time, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has joined the ranks of unproven remedies for many conditions, especially incurable ones like cerebral palsy and autism. The use of the therapy in these situations often borders on quackery that exploits desperate patients and parents. One family I know spent $40,000 in a futile attempt to reverse their child’s cerebral palsy; another spent more than that and even bought a home hyperbaric unit to treat their child’s autism.

The Credibility Factor

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, the professional organization in this field, recognizes 13 conditions for which it is legitimate to place patients in high-pressure chambers that force pure oxygen into their blood and tissues. Eleven of those conditions have been approved by Medicare for reimbursement, indicating that solid evidence supports these uses of hyperbaric oxygen.

The list includes decompression sickness (“the bends”), necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease), carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene, the bone infection osteomyelitis, nonhealing wounds and delayed radiation injury to bone and soft tissue.

But nowhere in the list are cerebral palsy, autism, multiple sclerosis, stroke, macular degeneration, spinal cord injury, sports injuries, heart attack, postpolio syndrome, Lyme disease, migraine, cirrhosis, myasthenia gravis, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome — among the dozens of conditions that independent clinics claim to treat with hyperbaric oxygen. Not to mention the claims of celebrities like Michael Jackson, who used it in the hope that it will keep him alive to 150, and Keanu Reeves, who used it for insomnia.

“Credibility is a huge problem,” said Richard E. Clarke, director of the Baromedical Research Foundation, which sponsors scientifically sound research. “We are all tarred by the same brush.”

“Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been suggested as beneficial in several other conditions, unfortunately, clinically valid evidence is virtually nonexistent,” he said. “This is relatively expensive and time-consuming therapy, and it makes sense to ask whether it is cost-effective and whether the benefits are long-lasting.”

Even for conditions approved by Medicare, supporting evidence is often contradictory. “A persistent criticism of hyperbaric medicine regards the lack of large-scale, multicenter, randomized studies for several of the primary indications,” noted Dr. Chris Maples and Dr. Moss Mendelson of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, in the Emergency Medicine report. “Data are conflicting, particularly on carbon monoxide poisoning, crush injuries and some soft tissue infections. Some trials demonstrate benefit while others show no difference.”

Problems and Risks

One problem in conducting good studies is the difficulty of randomly assigning patients into treatment and control groups in a way that “blinds” them to the group they are in, Dr. Charles S. Graffeo, a specialist in hyperbaric medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, said in an interview. Another problem is finding enough patients with the same condition, which is crucial in gathering statistically significant data.

Dr. Graffeo said there was “a good theoretical basis and some promising evidence that hyperbaric oxygen therapy could help treat clots on the retina, acute frostbite, recluse spider bites and thermal burns.”

“But there are just not enough scientific studies,” he said. “Conducting controlled clinical trials of hyperbaric oxygen is a bit more challenging than testing drugs.”

He cautioned patients to steer clear of independent hyperbaric centers owned by a single doctor or small medical group that is not affiliated with a major hospital or medical school. Commenting on claims commonly made by such clinics, he said: “No legitimate organization would condone treating cerebral palsy with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I haven’t seen anything that is even potentially promising to support such a use. If I had a C.P. child, I wouldn’t even consider it.”

Furthermore, the therapy is not without risks, though most are mild and usually short-lived and there has been no documented fatality in more than 75 years of use in North America. The risks include ear and sinus pain, low blood sugar, nearsightedness that can last for weeks, and anxiety attacks resulting from confinement in the chamber. Also, the therapy is clearly dangerous for some patients, including those with a collapsed lung and those receiving chemotherapy with cisplatinum or adriamycin. The therapy may also be hazardous for pregnant women and people with poorly controlled asthma or active cancer, among others.

Established Benefits

Hyperbaric oxygen can be life-saving for patients with the bends, like divers who have surfaced too quickly. For those suffering from severe carbon monoxide poisoning, the most rigorous study so far found that three hyperbaric treatments decreased cognitive damage later. Traumas like crush injuries and thermal burns that deprive tissues of adequate oxygen also benefit from high-oxygen therapy, as do life-threatening infections called necrotizing fasciitis, if the condition is treated in its early stages, the experts in Virginia reported. The therapy may also be useful for sepsis, a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection in the blood and tissues.

Dr. Graffeo said the therapy was useful in treating diabetic foot ulcers and bone infections. It is beneficial for patients whose tissues were damaged by radiation therapy — cancer patients, for example, who can develop oxygen-deficient wounds that do not heal well. Hyperbaric oxygen promotes the release of growth hormone and helps to form blood vessels in irradiated tissue, he said.

A study published last September in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics found hyperbaric oxygen helpful for patients with radiation proctitis, which can cause bleeding, rectal ulcers and loss of bowel control. Though the costly treatment can involve as many as 40 two-hour sessions, “the net effect is reversal of the problem in the majority of patients, which in the end is cost-saving and greatly improves quality of life,” said Mr. Clarke, whose foundation sponsored the study.

Oxygen therapy is being tested in patients with new diagnoses of head or neck cancer to increase the tumor’s sensitivity to radiation treatments, Mr. Clarke said. Future studies will test benefits to patients with cancers of the larynx, skin and gynecological organs.

“The most important question to answer, in addition to cost-effectiveness,” he said, “is whether the therapeutic benefit lasts and clearly improves patients’ quality of life.”

Professional development days let teachers keep learning, from educators and the community. Later this month, they’ll have an opportunity to take a workshop with yoga instructor Melissa Verton Rinvold of Blue Eagle Yoga in Vernon.

Verton Rinvold will demonstrate movement techniques, not yoga, that are designed to make the brain stronger, smarter and more balanced, which makes the body healthier and more functional. The movement can be done in the classroom without any special equipment and some teachers are already using it as part of the 30 minutes per day of physical activity now required for all students.

“Athletes have long known about the benefits of yoga for recovering from injury and building strength and endurance. I have adapted the principals and written an illustrated manual that is so clear that the exercises could be used in groups, as part of individual station training or as preparation for taking part in sports,” said Verton Rinvold, who calls the program Smart Movement.

“There are also benefits to the brain. The movements connect with breathing and the cross co-ordination circuits the brain to work harder and become more creative. This is much more than exercise, it is training the brain. When I have done presentations to children and young people, I have found that they are interested in learning how their bodies work and what they can do.”

Verton Rinvold, originally from Chicago, began practising yoga when she was 17 to recover from a car accident and found that it also improved her concentration in her pre-med studies at university. She decided instead to pursue her interest in dance and art and studied yoga when she moved to San Francisco. While she studied many forms of yoga, she specialized in Raja yoga, the oldest form, which concentrates on the importance of breathing leading to flexibility and endurance. She also studied kinesiology, anatomy and homeopathy at university levels.

She has also worked with children with asthma, autism, cerebral palsy and brain damage.

She has worked with adults with a variety of needs, including physical and mental challenges, psychological issues, recovering from illness or injury and conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“I am so passionate about my work because it works. With the proper training, the body can support what is decided in the mind. I impart these powerful principles, tools and techniques that have for thousands of years claimed specific cures and approaches for health and well being,” said Verton Rinvold, who moved to Vernon 10 years ago, where she teaches groups and individuals as well as leading workshops and co-ordinating yoga/dance projects for community organizations. She also designs programs for sports teams and is working on a series of manuals with yoga for specific conditions.

“Breathing is the essence of life that enhances all aspects of life. It’s empowering. It’s something I do regularly to make me happier and healthier. When people take these tools and use them, they really work but they have to do the work and apply the principles. I’ve never not seen it work.”

For more information call 250-503-0255 or e-mail blueeagleyoga@yahoo.ca.

PHILADELPHIA – In the late 1700s, Italian anatomist Luigi Galvani made a dead frog's muscles twitch when struck by a spark, a discovery that paved the way for the modern understanding of electricity's role in living things. It is the basis for countless medical technologies like the pacemaker.

But electricity does not travel easily through the skull to the brain, the organ responsible for every purposeful twitch and altered mood. So when a group of British scientists in 1985 used magnetic pulses from outside the head to induce an electrical field inside the brain – and got a subject's hands to move – their colleagues clamored for a chance to zap themselves.

That breakthrough, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), led to the Food and Drug Administration's approval last month of the first noninvasive, non-pharmacological treatment for depression.

As a practical matter, approval of the device made by Neuronetics Inc., a five-year-old Malvern, Pa., company, is intended for patients with major treatment-resistant depression who do not respond to any one medication. Millions of Americans fail to benefit from antidepressants, and millions more quit because of side effects.

Symbolically, the federal action is a big deal – another advance in a group of emerging fields that involve electrical stimulation of the brain.

"Our view of the brain is changing," said Mark S. George, a professor of psychiatry, radiology and neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Just 10 or 15 years ago, scientists thought of the brain as a single entity – what he called "the brain-as-soup" model. "But really you want to treat specific regions in the brain."

George is editor in chief of a year-old journal named Brain Stimulation, and he is a champion for the cause. After decades of success with psychiatric drugs, he said, "we had forgotten that the brain is really an electrical organ."

Researchers worldwide are testing therapies ranging from highly invasive electrical implants to hardly noticeable magnetic fields on dozens of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Success has been limited – but so are current treatment options.

When a major depression enveloped Ernie Mercer in the late 1980s, Prozac had just come on the market, and it worked. When depression struck again five years ago, it didn't. Neither did Effexor or a third drug. Worse, they made him nervous and constipated.

For Mercer, a retired engineer who lives near Atlantic City, depression was withdrawal from life. "Nothing was fun anymore," he said.

He answered an ad seeking research volunteers for an experimental treatment in 2005.

The clinical trial of transcranial magnetic stimulation went like this: He'd show up at a University of Pennsylvania clinic five times a week, answer the same set of questions about his mood, and then sit in what resembled a dentist's chair for 40 minutes with earplugs in his ears and an apparatus strapped to the top left of his head. He heard loud clicking sounds but felt nothing.

After four weeks, a sensation suddenly matched the clicking – "kind of like somebody tapping on your scalp like 10 times a second," he said – and his depression began to lift. He had been initially assigned to the sham (placebo) group; now he was getting TMS. After several weeks of the real thing, he felt fine. He still does.

Mercer, 65, paid nothing for either the treatment series or twice-monthly maintenance sessions ever since. The research grant ends this month, however, and the clinic will charge him $150 on its sliding scale if health insurance doesn't cover it; most of the clinic's patients are likely to pay at least $200. Insurers are just now beginning a review.

The new treatment is not a panacea. An unrelated study two years ago found that, of patients who failed to benefit from one antidepressant medication, just one-third responded adequately to a second. TMS produced a similar response rate (as does talk therapy, according to other studies), although the effect was described as greater.

The biggest difference is side effects, which cause many patients to stop taking antidepressants. The most commonly reported side effects to the brain stimulation were headaches and scalp irritation, both temporary.

TMS poses a slight risk of seizure. No incidents were reported in data on 10,000 sessions submitted to the FDA.

Neuronetics didn't seek approval to treat all major depression; when antidepressants work well, they are hard to beat. Still, the FDA rejected the initial application last year to use the NeuroStar TMS device for treatment-resistant cases generally.

A reanalysis of data on the 301 patients in the multicenter trial found the strongest response among those who had tried and failed with just one drug, and that's what the agency approved. Patients like Mercer, who gave up on three, can be treated "off label," which may be less likely to qualify for reimbursement.

Psychiatrist John O'Reardon, who ran the Neuronetics-funded trial at Penn and is beginning to study TMS for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in adolescents, believes that many people who can't tolerate antidepressants will find this easier despite the inconvenience of 20 to 30 daily sessions.

"They come in and sit in the chair, we slap a magnet on their head for 30 minutes, and afterward they can go home," said O'Reardon, director of Penn's Treatment Resistant Depression Clinic.

Magnet therapies have been advertised for years, usually to relieve pain, but have not been proved to work in rigorous trials. Most rely on simple, static magnets. The electromagnet in the new device is thousands of times more powerful, similar to that of an MRI, said Neuronetics chief executive officer Bruce Shook.

In repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), rapid series of pulses pass through the skull and induce an electrical field on the surface of the brain, exciting the neurons below.

For depression, the target is a postage stamp-size part of the left prefrontal cortex that is less active in depressed people. Scans confirm more activity after successful treatment of any kind, although the exact mechanism is not known.

The therapy is being studied for post-traumatic stress; obsessive-compulsive and panic disorders; fibromyalgia; and other conditions.

by Danielle Hope Hier, Tampa Bay Yoga Examiner

I am a yoga teacher...No, really. It's true, though you wouldn't think so. In fact, If I could go back in time, my high school yearbook should have read, "The least likely person on the planet to ever become a yoga instructor."

Why?

Last year, a neurosurgeon looked - dumbfounded - at my MRI following a car accident, saying the that person on the Xrays should be on the operating table at that moment, not touching her toes, swimming, dancing, lifting weights and having a greater level of mobility than the average - uninjured - person.

"Whatever you're doing," He informed me. "Keep doing it. Because, it seems to be working for you."

What I was "doing" was teaching and practicing yoga.

Born with scoliosis that not only came with a curved spine, but also a reversed curve in my neck, a shortened hamstring, misaligned hips and shoulders and extra pressure on my lungs (leaving me prone to allergies, sinus and bronchial infections), I was the kid in high school gym class who could barely touch her kneecaps (vs. toes) and had asthma-like reactions to exercise.

Now, I was being told that I additionally had a torn shoulder and a herniated disk in my low back...Not a great overall diagnosis for someone who earns a living keeping people healthy and fit.

Refusing to admit defeat, I tailored my practice and kept moving.

The results?

In a strange twist (corny pun intended), I began working a local neuromuscular center designed to provide yoga for those recovering from back and neck injuries, or dealing with ailments such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, spinal stenosis. And in my advanced classes, I could lead students through poses that my body didn't want to do, but were appropriate for them.

My point here is that when people say to me, "I wish I could do yoga, but I'm not that flexible" or, "I can't do yoga, because I'm too...[insert appropriate reason: injured, overweight, old]" I try to impress upon them that if it is something they want to learn, it can be adapted, even if that means teaching yoga from a chair vs. standing, or using props (like tables, chairs, blocks or yoga straps) that help facilitate stretching and balance.

Also, the physical practice of yoga (known as "Hatha" [pronounced: Hah-Tah] , is only one aspect of an entire philosophy, and is subject to interpretation. Therefore, assuming that yoga is only one way, is a misunderstanding. And, within that aspect are a million and one styles of yoga (like world religions and music), that translate into very specific methods.

So, while a person studying Ashtanga might be more interested in power, strength and cardiovascular development, someone studying Kundalini might be more in tune with kirtan (chanting) and energy-building excecises.

Do I think that means that all yoga classes are suitable for everyone all the time?

No, of course not.

However, I would offer that there is a class out there specifically for you (be it in physical practice, devotional studies or community service). Listed below are some resources for finding an appropriate school in your area.



For more info: www.birdlandyoga.com, www.iayt.org, www.yoganetwork.org, www.yogafamily.com

CranioSacral Therapy: Discover Healing in A Gentle Touch

Candi Sparks, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT #3465) for Rain the Salon and Day Spa participated recently in the CranioSacral Theraopy workshop offered by The Upledger Institute, Inc. of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, an innovative healthcare organization that offers continuing education courses to medical professionals worldwide. This technique has been taught internationally and to be able to offer these services to the Monroe area is a big plus. CranioSacral Therapy was developed by osteopathic physician John E. Upledger in the early 1970's.

CranioSacral Therapy is a light-touch approach that helps alleviate pain from the body. This technique is used to detect and correct imbalances in the craniosacral system. These imbalances may lead to sensory, motor and/or neurological dysfunctions. The CranioSacral system is made up of membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord. From the top of the bones of the skull, face and mouth-which make up the cranium-all the way down to the tailbone.

The Central Nervous System has a large impact over a body's health and well-being but most importantly, the CranioSacral System has more influence over the Central Nervous System. With everyday tensions and stresses in life, the body absorbs them and eventually can hinder other systems from performing effectively. The muscles and tissues tighten over time causing pain and tension in the body. CranioSacral Therapy helps to eliminate the pain and tension naturally and strengthens the body's resistance to disease and promotes a sense of well-being.

This therapy is also used to release tension deep in the body to improve whole-body health and performance. It also allows the body's self-healing mechanisms to correct the body and relax. Anyone at any age from adults to infants can benefit from CranioSacral Therapy because it is so gentle. It has been proven successful relief for a wide range of medical problems associated with neurological dysfunction-conditions include: headaches, migraines, chronic neck and back pain, TMJ Dysfunctions, chronic fatique, stress and tension-related disorders, motor-coordination impairments, brain and spinal cord injuries, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities, depression and many other conditions.

Each CranioSacral therapy session is highly individual and results will vary. Clients remain fully clothed during each session and relax on a comfortable heated table. Most sessions last about an hour and can be deeply relaxing. Experience how you can feel better now and eliminate the pain. Call and schedule your reservation today with Candi at Rain the Salon and Day Spa, 318-651-8088.

Changing the Landscape of our Bodies

by Karin Twohig

As a veteran body worker of over 25 years, I have discovered that it is completely possible to change the patterns of our bodies. Bowenwork, a revolutionary healing modality (named in July 2004 as one of “the most innovative body therapies” by O The Oprah Magazine) transforms the landscape of the entire body by reminding us of its original blueprint of perfect health. Bowenwork adjusts tension levels by working through the nervous system and releasing tissue memory that holds the structure restricted or frozen. This allows the structure itself to change its holding patterns that determine what the body landscape looks like.




After 13 years as a deep tissue massage therapist, I discovered that Bowenwork not only could change the body using no force, but could also integrate the information on a deeper level. This has changed my life. Now, 14 years later, I use Bowenwork exclusively and have been teaching it for the past eight years to chiropractors, physical therapists, nurses, massage therapists, MDs and lay people alike.
Tom Bowen developed the unique healing system of Bowenwork in Australia about forty years ago. He developed his technique without having previous formal training in any modality or discipline. He saw his work as “a gift from God.” Bowen continued to develop and refine the technique throughout his lifetime by performing about 13,000 treatments a year.

Bowenwork involves gentle, yet powerful movements on muscle and connective tissue, and may be done through clothing. These movements prompt soft tissue release, sending neurological impulses to the brain. Because the impulses travel through the internal nervous system pathways, they stimulate whole brain responses which address every system in the body—internal organ systems, as well as musculo-skeletal structure.

By selecting appropriate combinations and sequences of moves, the Bowen practitioner is able to address the body as a whole while targeting more specific problems. Healing occurs by affecting the body’s autonomic nervous system, which creates homeostasis at the cellular level.

Pauses are inserted between sets of these moves, which allow the brain to process and send messages to realign the body. It is thought that because the entire brain is stimulated, the original genetic pattern is re-awakened, releasing more recent injuries and compensation patterns even years after the original injury.

Respecting these pauses is an essential component of Bowenwork because they give the body sufficient time to remember and restore its own healthy, natural balance. They also allow the practitioner to work on multiple clients simultaneously. The gentleness of the Bowen Technique protects the therapist from overuse injury, while providing positive results and lasting effects for the client.

Treatments are individualized, generally lasting 60 minutes. Traumas, old injuries and chronic pain begin to unwind. Typically there is rapid change after addressing acute conditions and a steady improvement of chronic conditions. Bowenwork frequently triggers surprising and unexpected recoveries, even when nothing else has been successful.

Often only a few sessions are needed to alleviate long-standing complaints, whether they are structural or functional. Many people choose to have monthly or quarterly maintenance sessions once their initial complaint is addressed. It is ideal to have a session as soon after an injury as possible, before the body begins to compensate.
Dr. Robert Rowen’s Second Opinion Newsletter headlined Bowenwork therapy in July 2003 as “the gentlest, most effective pain therapy ever.” People throughout the world have found lasting relief from lower back pain, sciatica, sports injuries, sprains, knee pain, shoulder restrictions, carpal tunnel, whiplash, migraines, headaches, TMJ, chronic sinus infections, fibromyalgia, chronic stress, neurological and digestive problems and countless other conditions.

Bowenwork is completely safe and appropriate for everyone—from highly trained athletes to newborns, pregnant women, the elderly and the chronically ill. The most common reaction to Bowenwork is a deep sense of overall relaxation, relief from muscular tension and pain, and a heightened sense of well being.

Karin Twohig is a Bowen Practitioner and Instructor. Contact her to learn this unique Australian healing system at 831.238.2228 or visit www.bowenworkschool.com. Or visit the international website of the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia www.bowtech.com.

The Bowen Technique

The Bowen Technique is one version of a group of technical interpretations of the work of Australian self-proclaimed osteopath Tom Bowen (1916–1982) known as Bowen Therapy, which is a holistic system of healing. The Bowen Technique was limited to Australia until 1986, when it was named, and introduced to other countries by Oswald Rentsch, who observed Bowen at work one morning a week for two years.

It has since been developed and furthered by many others and is now one of the nine therapies involved in the move towards voluntary self regulation in the United Kingdom. The three other surviving students of Tom Bowen — Keith Davis, Kevin Ryan and Romney Smeeton — have methodologies that vary significantly from the way Oswald Rentsch teaches the technique. Dr Kevin Ryan teaches his interpretation of the Bowen Technique to osteopathic students at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Methodology
The Bowen Technique involves a gentle, rolling motion, with very light touches. The rolls claim to either tighten or loosen off muscles depending on the way the move is done.

The practitioner will stimulate sets of points, often with two minute pauses, supposedly to allow the body to use the move and integrate it into the body's system. The Bowen Technique is not a form of massage, though it does claim to release areas of built-up stress in the muscles, and clients describe experiences of profound relaxation after a session, often falling asleep after the first few moves.
A view held by some Bowen Therapists is that the specific way that Bowen Technique addresses the muscles stimulates the stretch and golgi tendon reflexes as well as joint proprioceptors in a way that heightens the sensory awareness of the body in the area worked on. This can lead to strange sensations such as heat release, tingling and a general increased awareness of the areas being worked.

These sensations are sometimes mistakenly associated with some form of "energy healing". Through increasing sensory awareness the move taps into the body’s ability to self regulate which, in turn, practitioners claim stimulate the body to heal itself.

It is widely accepted by those defining Bowen for the regulation process, that Bowen is a stand alone therapy, not mixed with other treatments. Bowen himself was very specific about his clients not receiving other treatments for at least seven days after a Bowen session and did not perform any other therapies himself.
Since 1998 the technique has become increasingly used in primary care settings in the UK, with many chartered physiotherapists using the technique in hospitals, hospices and other funded health settings.

Research
To date only three experimental studies have been performed that have collected data following treatment of the Bowen Technique. Firstly a study by Kinnear and Baker (1999) was performed, entitled Frozen Shoulder Research Programme. This study considered the effects of Bowen on shoulder flexibility and pain. The study showed significant improvements (p<0.05) in shoulder flexibility compared with the control group. Changes in complaints of pain were not tested statistically. Lack of ethical, methodological and analytical detail in this study draws caution to the strength of inference from the findings.

A further study by Whitaker et al (1999) investigated the effect of heart rate variability and ANS changes in subjects treated with Bowen. Two groups were treated - those with medically diagnosed fibromyalgia (n=7), and a group without pathology or symptoms (n=11). The results showed a significant change in HRV in the fibromyalgia group but not in the asymptomatic group, mainly demonstrating a decrease in heart rate. All subjects in the former group reported some relief in symptoms. However, three of the fibromyalgia group were used for more than one reading, resulting in 11 sets of data per group, thereby raising issues of methodological bias. Furthermore with no control or placebo group, HRV comparisons are not possible, giving rise to questions of validity.

The first properly conducted study, with approval from ethics and applying strict methodology using The Bowen Technique has now been completed and was accepted for presentation at the First International Fascia Research Congress in Boston in October 2007 This examined the effect of The Bowen Technique on Hamstring flexibility in asymptomatic individuals and was conducted by Michelle Marr BSc (Hons) PT MCSP, senior lecturer at Coventry University and Julian Baker Principal Instructor of The European College of Bowen Studies.

Application
A typical session takes place over 30 to 45 minutes, with occasional 2-5 minute breaks during the session to allow the body to respond to the treatment. Sessions are usually part of a series of three to five sessions, beginning with general stress loading points such as the lower and upper back, before moving on to problem areas specific to the person being treated. However, for the sensitive individual, a session can last only 10-15 minutes. The Bowen Technique has allegedly been successfully used on animals as well, and practitioners of Bowen Technique for animals can be found all over the world. The Bowen