Bowen Technique By Karen
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Helping the Body to Rebalance and Repair
My Blog
My Blog
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The Health Hazards of Sitting
Posted on 21 March, 2014 at 6:02 |
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Really interesting article about posture and the way we sit. Jan 2014 We know sitting too much is bad, and most of us intuitively feel a little guilty after a long TV binge. But what exactly goes wrong in our bodies when we park ourselves for nearly eight hours per day, the average for a U.S. adult? Many things, say four experts, who detailed a chain of problems from head to toe; http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/the-health-hazards-of-sitting/750/ |
The Bowen Technique - Pain in the neck becomes history
Posted on 13 January, 2013 at 15:41 |
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Today’s
Therapist
International
Trade Journal - Issue 59
Jul Aug 2009
The Bowen
Technique - Pain in the neck becomes history by Janie
Godfrey
It is always a delight when a treatment relieves someone of pain that has been plaguing them for years, even decades. As complementary therapists, we probably see a greater percentage of patients who report having ‘tried everything’ and who have been in pain for a considerable period of time – mainly because we are one of the last stops on the ‘tried everything’ train! This was the case with hairdresser, Gladys
Rideout. She was long accustomed to just
living with the pain, as nothing seemed to relieve it. She started work in hairdressing in the early
1960’s. She was fine for a few years,
then found that in the colder weather she would get bouts of fibrositis, a condition marked by inflammation of the
white fibrous connective tissue, such as muscle sheaths, that results in pain
and stiffness. This
was concentrated in her shoulders and arms, particularly the left
shoulder. At first, she would use a hot
water bottle to ease the pain. But as
she got older, so it would get more painful in the winter. The doctor gave her painkillers, which
helped for a time but by the time she was 50, she was always in some sort of
pain. It had really focused in her neck
as a result of the way she was standing and working with her left arm lifted up
nearly all the time. At this point she
was diagnosed with cervical spondylitis, as the doctor was sure it was
degenerative disease rather than inflammatory disease.
In this condition, the discs and the facet
joints become worn. The degree of wear
varies from person to person, but what is happening is that the discs become
thinner and this causes the spaces between the vertebrae to become
narrower. In addition, spurs of bone can
form at the edges of the vertebrae and the facet joints.
The nearby
muscles, ligaments, and nerves can become irritated by these degenerative
changes. Symptoms
can vary from mild to severe and there can be flare-ups with over-use of the
neck, or if a neck muscle or ligament is sprained. The typical symptoms that will be brought to
your clinic include:
Pain
in the neck. This may spread to the base of the skull and shoulders. Movement
of the neck may make the pain worse. The pain sometimes spreads down an arm to
a hand or fingers. This is caused by irritation of a nerve which goes to the
arm from the spinal cord in the neck. The pain tends to wax and wane with
flare-ups from time to time. However, some people develop chronic (persistent)
pain. Some
neck stiffness, particularly after a night's rest.
Headaches
from time to time. The headaches often start at the back of the head just above
the neck and travel over the top to the forehead.
Numbness,
pins and needles or weakness may occur in part of the arm or hand. (Be sure the
patient has seen a doctor about this symptom, particularly).
When Gladys came for Bowen
treatment, she had great pain in the left shoulder/neck
area, which she had had “as long as I can remember”. This was undoubtedly due to the constant use
of her arm over the decades of being a hairdresser, but she had been retired
for 9 years and the pain and inflammation in this area were still there,
despite two steroid injections. Her left
shoulder, at the point just before it curves up to the neck, had a swelling
about the size of a small plum, which was painful and hard feeling. At its worst, pain would radiate up her neck
into the back of her head and her face would go red on the left side. In addition, when moving her left arm, she
would get tingling down the centre of her back.
The Bowen Technique has some procedures
that address Gladys’ sort of problem brilliantly. The trapezius muscle is repeatedly addressed
at different points during what is called ‘Page Two’, which also has moves
which perform a little semi-circle over rhomboid major, rhomboid minor and then
drop over the end of levator scapula.
These moves aim to create more freedom of movement between the scapula
and the spine and the scapula and the neck. Also, the upper section of trapezius, at the back of the neck, is
treated again with gentle moves that complete the initial Bowen treatment while
also going over the underlying splenius capitis. The results are relaxed muscles, freer fascia
and increased blood and lymph circulation.
After her first Bowen treatment, Gladys was
very tender down the left side of her back and neck the day after. The swelling on the left shoulder disappeared
on the second day after treatment and she could move her arm “amazingly” –
right round behind her back, even. The
neck/shoulder area was still a bit tender but “nothing like it was”. She had not had any episodes of her face
going red on the left side since the Bowen treatment. This resolution has held for some years now
with only a few brief recurrences of some of the problems and these were always
after strenuous activity, i.e., lifting heavy things, or the preparations, work
and excitement for a family wedding.
These recurrences cleared quickly on their own. For about a year after this resolution,
Gladys would come for periodic Bowen treatments, about every 8 weeks or so but
now, she just rings if she has a problem – and I haven’t seen her for well over
18 months, so she must be doing just fine.
© E.C.B.S & Janie Godfrey
Janie Godfrey is a Bowen Technique practitioner
in Frome 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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