Bowen Technique By Karen
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BOWEN AND LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE
Posted on 13 January, 2013 at 15:13 |
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British
Lymphology Society Newsletter
Issue 24, Spring 1999 BOWEN
AND LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE by Eilish Lund
Eilish Lund is a lymphoedema
nurse who practices at the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham, North Wales
and whose experience of the positive effect of The Bowen Technique on lymphatic
drainage was also a feature of an article that appeared in the Winter 1998/99
edition of Proof newsletter. The
following article was published in the British Lymphology Society Newsletter
- Issue 24, Spring 1999. We thank Eilish for permission to reprint this
excellent article.
Bowen Therapy originated in Australia in the 1950’s. It was developed by a man named Tom Bowen who had no medical training but treated people who had musculoskeletal injuries. His technique was to move his thumbs and fingers across various tendons
and muscles, applying very gentle pressure.
The rolling movement altered the tension in the muscle creating an
impulse of energy.
He was so successful that
he eventually gave up his job in a factory and opened a full time clinic. By 1974 he was doing some 13,000 treatments a
years, as was recorded by a government investigation into complementary
therapies. He died in 1982 but by then
his technique was being used by others and was finally introduced in to Britain
in the early 90’s.
I heard of Bowen at a
Mersey Regional meeting of the British Lymphology Society in 1997. It was described to us by a nurse who was
working at a local hospice and who used it on patients for pain relief and
symptom control.
I decided to learn the
technique to help patients in our hospice who were attending the Lymphoedema
Clinic but were also at an advanced stage of their cancer.
When I was doing the
initial training, I found that I felt quite ‘different’ after having a
treatment myself and that it was quite a powerful intervention, considering how
light the touch was. I did not have any
idea that it would be of benefit in the treatment of lymphoedema. However, my tutor, Julian Baker, was very
excited to know that we could actually measure limb volumes and he encouraged
me to try the moves on as many patients as I could. Luckily, my nurse manager had also done the
training and was able to help and encourage me in the beginning. I decided to try it out on as many patients
as I could.
I started with those with
primary Lymphoedema and lymphovenous oedema.
I found that most patients felt better, moved more freely and after an
initial feeling of great tiredness, began to feel better. Over a period of months a gradual sustained
limb volume reduction was noticed. Three
patients with primary lymphoedema who had Complex De-congestive Therapy (CDT)
at least a year previously have gradually lost limb volume with no other change
in treatment (still wear the same class hosiery - only smaller size). One patient with Lipolymphoedema also lost
gradually 400 - 500 cc. A lady who had
CDT for Lymphovenous oedema continued to improve after bandaging and with
regular treatment has lost 1.5 litres from each leg over the two year
period. Two patients with secondary
lymphoedema post-hysterectomy and radiotherapy to the groin, had no change at
all. One lady with arm oedema had no
change in limb volume. Another lady with
a long-standing lymphoedema of the arm (40 years) had presented to the clinic
with her left arm 76% greater in volume with fibrosis. She had been treated with CDT for 5 weeks and
then over the following 4 months maintained with Manual Lymphatic Drainage
(MLD) 2 - 3 times weekly. We treated her
with Bowen for the past 18 months and she has maintained her limb volume with
only 1 session a month.
Some patients describe a strong
diuretic effect on the day of the treatment.
Initially patients are treated weekly and as their condition improves,
the duration between treatments gets longer. I have treated two patients with bilateral groin dissection
and radical vulvectomy who were
referred within 3 months of surgery who achieved wonderful volume reduction in
both legs, even though they presented with class 2 hosiery which did not seem
to be addressing the problem.
For me the most amazing results are
not the reduction in limb volume but the effect this treatment has on
pain. I very briefly describe 4 cases:
-
35 year old female who was referred by her GP at the request of her
Macmillan Nurse. This lady was referred
to the Macmillan Service for pain control as she was having uncontrolled pain
and was very reluctant to resort to opiates. She had developed swelling of her right side after her pregnancy and
when she stood you could see that the skin colour on one side of her trunk was
different to the other. She had severe pain in her leg and
arm and had been informed that her lymph system on the right side was barely
functioning. I fitted her with a class 3
garment and commenced Bowen. Within two
days, the pain level reduced and after 3 sessions, she was pain free. She stopped wearing her stocking long ago and
her leg has reduced from being 25% greater to 18%. She is now maintained with one ½ hour
treatment a month.
-
62 year old female who suffered a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in her
right inguinal area following hysterectomy for fibroids 4 years
previously. She was referred from a
vascular clinic to be given some massage therapy. She had been given compression tights which
she was finding very difficult to put on and which she felt she did not need on
her left leg. She was having severe pain
which at times was scored at 8 on a scale of 1 - 10. Her right leg was 13% greater at referral and
now 18 months later is 3% greater. The
lady is pain free.
- 58 year old lady who has developed
lymphoedema following a varicose vein operation, referred from another
lymphoedema clinic, in class 3 rigid hosiery with severe pain which was present
most of the day and was at 7 - 9 on the pain scale. Was not compliant with garment as she found
it too difficult to wear. Treated only
with Bowen, was pain free after two sessions and does not wear any hosiery now. - Finally, a 33 year old
lady who had lymphoedema of her arm associated with a severe birthmark. Swelling had been exacerbated by an insect
bite the previous year. Patient’s main
concern was that she suffered frequent migraine attacks which necessitated time
off work. She was given an armsleeve and
taught the four cornerstones of care for managing her
lymphoedema. She was also given three
Bowen treatments over a 6 week period and has not had a headache in 9 months. The success of the
treatment on migraine is amazing. Many
friends and staff members have had relief.
It also seems not to return and I find that 2 or 3 treatments are
sufficient. The list of aches and pains,
frequency of micturition, irritable bowel problems, stiff necks, sleeping
problems which are relieved with the therapy is long. However, the question about its benefit in
the treatment of lymphoedema cannot be fully answered by the work I have done
to date. A larger study would have to be
undertaken over a longer period of time.
I am going to continue to treat and monitor the group of patients I have
listed above. I look at people now in a
different way and I am glad to say that my interest does not stop at their
affected limb! My job satisfaction
rating has gone through the roof since I learned this very simple Bowen
Therapy.” Contents
provided by the European School of Bowen Studies (ECBS)
For
further details about the Bowen Technique please contact Karen on 01954 260 982
/ 07714 995 299 or email [email protected] |
The Bowen Technique - Lymphatic drainage
Posted on 13 January, 2013 at 15:06 |
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Choice
Health & Wellbeing
International
Trade Journal - April May 2010
The Bowen
Technique - Lymphatic drainage by Janie Godfrey
We can all get swollen feet or ankles from
being on them too long, or when we’re on holiday in a warm, humid climate and
even those relatively mild and transitory occurrences of swelling can be
uncomfortable and perhaps will even restrict certain activities. Certainly the lovely dress shoes taken on
holiday may not fit for the moment and you know what Cinderella’s sisters felt
like.
But many people live with lymphoedema, the
constant swelling, usually in limbs, which is uncomfortable, restricting,
unsightly and can be an invitation to infections.
Lymphoedema is the result of an impaired
lymphatic drainage system which can no longer remove the volume of lymphatic
fluid within a given area of the body.
This lack of normal drainage produces tissues that are filled with
protein-rich stagnant lymph. If there
is even the slightest break in the skin, bacteria can enter and
thrive in this fluid, reproducing quickly and causing serious infections that
can spread rapidly. People with
lymphoedema are particularly at risk for cellulitis, an infection of the skin,
usually in the lower limbs.
Even a small reduction of the swelling of
lymphoedema is welcome and there are nurses that specialise in treating this
condition, using the manual lymphatic drainage treatment. But it has been found that Bowen Technique
can also be very helpful for lymphatic drainage. More than a decade ago now, lymphoedema nurse
Eilish Lund wrote up her experiences using Bowen on her patients. She was amazed and delighted with not only
the volume reduction but in the pain relief that Bowen produced.
Over the past year or so, I have been
treating Margaret, age 67, who was recommended to try Bowen by her lymphoedema
nurse.
Seven years previously, she had had uterine
cancer and the uterus and ovaries were removed.
Three years after that, her right knee was replaced. She came for treatment with lymphoedema in
both legs, especially the right knee area, although the ankles and feet were very
large and puffy also. She had not been
able to wear regular shoes in several years.
She was wearing thick support stockings to try to manage the
swelling. Her feet and legs were often
tingling and hot feeling and sometimes it felt like ‘toothache’ in one leg,
especially when in bed. Her husband is
disabled as a result of arthritis and 2 strokes and she was worried that she
was not going to be able to ‘keep going’.
In spite of all this, she is a very optimistic and cheery person.
So she came to Bowen with eagerness to see
what it was all about. During the week
after the first treatment, the pains in her feet diminished and she had more
energy. She felt good at the Keep Moving
exercise class. The problem had
definitely improved and her ankles weren’t nearly as swollen. She was still getting a lot of tingling in
her toes and feet and up the legs, especially just above the right knee
replacement, but she said it now felt ‘different’ – hard to day exactly how.
After her second
treatment, she reported some pains across the tops of both feet for a few days
which then cleared and the decrease in swelling in her legs, ankles and feet
was less than the week before. She was
delighted to be wearing regular socks instead of support stockings and – best
of all – she was fitting into shoes she hadn’t worn for a long time.
The week
following the third treatment saw these improvements holding well, plus she
noted that her balance was better. Her
energy levels were also consistently better and when they flagged a bit, she
recovered more quickly.
After some months
of Bowen treatment once very 5 weeks, the lymphoedema nurse took leg volume
measurements and ‘couldn’t believe the amazing reduction in leg volumes’!
Margaret had one
incident of cellulitis which flared up on her feet and ankles and this set her
back a bit and it took a few months to really be clear of the effects of it in
pain and redness and swelling.
The Bowen
procedures that have been most helpful with Margaret’s condition are the
hamstring, knee and ankle procedures.
Whilst these sets of moves are used for all manner of musculo-skeletal
problems and dysfunctions of the legs and feet, they include gentle ‘teasing’
moves that address the lymph nodes behind the knees and follow along the
centres of the hamstrings and between the gastrocnemius muscles, promoting the circulation
and assisting in lymphatic drainage.
On a global
scale, accurate statistics on the prevalence of lymphoedema are difficult to
determine. One reason is that many cases
are never diagnosed accurately. Another
reason is that it is often not reported.
But a sampling of several government researches estimate there are
between a low of 100 million and a high of 200 million men, women, and children
around the world with some degree of lymphoedema.
‘If only we could Bowen the world’, we Bowen
Technique practitioners always say!
With much
admiration and appreciation for the work of those who practice Manual Lymphatic
Drainage and all the dedicated lymphoedema nurses who work to make a difference
to those who suffer with this condition.
© E.C.B.S & Janie Godfrey
Janie
Godfrey is a Bowen Technique practitioner in Frome, Somerset and has been in practice since 1999. Contents
provided by the European School of Bowen Studies (ECBS)
For
further details about the Bowen Technique please contact Karen on 01954 260 982
/ 07714 995 299 or email [email protected] |
Categories
- Helping Yourself (1)
- R.S.I. (Repetitive Strain Injury) (1)
- Noses (1)
- Respiratory Problems (1)
- Peripheral Neuropathy (1)
- Pelvic Area (2)
- Parkinson's Disease (2)
- Panic Attacks (1)
- Palliative Care (1)
- Nervous System (1)
- Neck Pain (2)
- Multiple Sclerosis (1)
- Strokes (1)
- Tachycardia (1)
- Brain Mapping (1)
- Babies (1)
- ADHD (1)
- Body Imbalance (2)
- Case Studies (2)
- Bear Grylls' Battle with Back Pain (1)
- Pregnancy (2)
- The Tom Bowen Story (3)
- Asthma (2)
- Tinnitus (1)
- Teeth / Jaw (1)
- Migraines (2)
- Meniere’s Disease (1)
- Memory & Emotional Release (1)
- Eczema (1)
- Depression (1)
- Bowen - How does it work? (14)
- Children (3)
- Anxiety (4)
- Bell's Palsy (1)
- Batten's Disease (1)
- Pain Relief (1)
- Bowen Press Articles (72)
- Research Articles (6)
- Hayfever (5)
- Elderly (1)
- Sports Injuries (5)
- Lymphatic drainage (2)
- Knees, Ankles & Feet (3)
- Insomia (1)
- Grief (1)
- Stress (3)
- Sinusitis (4)
- Hydrocephalis and Hemiplegia (1)
- High Blood Pressure (1)
- Hamstrings (1)
- Frozen Shoulder (4)
- Fibromyalgia (2)
- Back Pain (12)
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