Bowen Therapy in Devon animation - just a bit of sillyness

Pennies & Pounds

After a relatively minor car crash a year ago, I am even more keen to get across the importance of getting yourself treated following even slight incidents that may or may not result in any obvious injury.

This may seem like scaremongering, or even a way to generate more income for therapists. However this is not the case at all. In my case I was in a rear end collision where the back of my car was dented significantly, the resultant impact meant I also used my brakes to stop myself hitting the car in front, and my head was thrown backwards, then forwards at point of impact.

This is a common state of affairs - within a few minutes I had neck and left shoulder pain. We call this whiplash. Being a therapist, I booked the closest appointment I could find, which ended up being a back and neck massage. I would have had Bowen Therapy if I could have found someone quick enough. So within an hour of the impact my body was being treated.

As it happens, I ended up with about 5 or 6 treatments over a 6 month period of Bowen Therapy which went through the insurance company - and I can assure you my body needed it.

So what is my point?

In my experience the majority of whiplash type problems occur 6-9 months following a minor car incident. The reason for this tends to be due to the fact that at the moment of impact, the shockwave will travel down the spine, and if there is braking involved, down the right leg.

Initially the recipient may have a bit of neck ache or maybe not for a day, but then they think nothing of it as it goes away, and in many cases, the vehicle itself may only have a minor dent in the bumper.

However the shock that has struck the body both physically, and we mustn't underestimate this, emotionally and psychologically. The shockwave, as I have already mentioned, ends up usually around the base of the spine, and also the tensional shock of applying the brakes on the right leg.

This will work it's way up the body over a period of months. Sometimes this will manifest itself as a bit of backache, but because it is so long since the accident no-one puts two and two together. 6 to 9 months down the line, the patient starts to experience neck pain, headaches and all the whiplash type symptoms. By then of course everyone has forgotten about the car crash.

My advice, is regardless of whether or not you feel hurt following a car accident, get some treatment of some kind ASAP. Err on the side of caution - even if there is no physical damage, how many of us can truly say that we aren't going to be affected in any way by being struck by a piece of metal weighing more than half a Ton travelling at 20/30 mph or more?

It can be a shocking experience in many ways; physically, emotionally and psychologically.

Why only get treatment when something is visibly serious? Small things given time can add up to big things - As granny always used to say: Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.

TTFN

The Achilles Effect

I had a conversation recently with someone who I hadn't seen for quite a while. He mentioned he had been off for some months as he had broken his Achilles Tendon - Ouch!

He had of course been going through the usual physio process which is great.

However I then asked him how his breathing had been, and of course he looked at me aghast and asked how I knew, as it has been troubling him for a while, and doctors have come up with nothing, he was starting to think it was something more serious.

The reason I asked the question of course was that the Achilles is not just a thing on it's own, it is part of a continuity of fascia and muscles known as the superficial back line. This in essence runs from the big toe all the way up to the back of our head. As an analogy imagine a giant elastic band stretched from your foot to the top of your neck. Now imagine what would happen if you cut that elastic band at the foot - thwack!

In real terms, your body is not built quite like that, but the effect of an Achilles breaking is not far off. The shock wave created will run right up the body, and in my experience the most common problem following such an injury is the patients breathing, quite literally the shock wave has taken their breath away.

If you apply this way of thinking with any Sports type injury, you may find a series of other little (or maybe not so little) problems, aches and pains you have been experiencing since the injury, you may find they are all connected.

TTFN

The Road to Damascus

Hi Folks, Nothing at all to do with Bowen Therapy, however I though I would just mention that I have just hit 40 years old! EEK!

To celebrate this rather surprising revalation I decided to go to Syria and visit Damascus and many of the other spectacular archeological sites that this rather fantastic and welcoming country has to offer. I cannot recommend this place more highly as a holiday destination.

Interesting that while other parts of the middle east and north Africa were going mad, this rather progressive moderate Arab country was carrying on business as usual offering first class customer service, great food and a truly wonderful experience.

Archaeologically it is easily equal to the valley of the Kings and the the Pyramids of Egypt, but with the added bonus of being relatively unknown by western tourists - hence not too busy or hectic.

I can thoroughly recommend Nawafir Travel who I used for the 7 day tour; one of the largest Syrian based tour operators that offer considerably better value for money than our English counterparts for identical packages. www.nawafir-tours.com

They also provided an excellent freelance tour guide for a little extra who was worth his weight in gold called Fahed Omki. It is such a rarity these days to find superb customer service coupled with phenomenal local and historical knowledge.

It won't be long I hope before I go back.

TTFN

Austin

Dissection at Imperial College

Greetings all and welcome to my first post of the year.

It has been 3 years since the first ground breaking layered dissection at St.Georges Hospital Medical School (see post Jan 2008).

This year, another first, once again held by Julian baker - Director of the European College of Bowen Studies, under the watchful eye of Professor Kerry Davis - Head of Human Anatomy Imperial College London.

Our purpose this time was extending the discovery of the upper body by doing another layered dissection, but this time including the head, neck and jaw.

Once again I found the traditional anatomical illustrative references somewhat misleading, as they discount so much of what is intrinsically connected i.e. fascial tissue. The shear diversity of fascial tissues and layers is a study in itself, particularly around the head,cheek and jaw areas.

Ultimately we could have spent days if not weeks on this one area of the body as it is so complex.

What I took away from this dissection was how important the Facial and Neck muscles are for our ability to breathe. How even something like jaw ache or an ear infection could quite easily interfere with our breathing pattern and posture at quite a significant level, and if left unchecked could create a vicious circle of problems.

I must point out as before that it is only due to the incredible generosity of the individuals, and their families, who have given their consent for their forms to be used in the furthering of medical science that such educative dissections are possible. It has been once again an honour to have taken part, at what I have learned will be applied over the coming months in my Bowen Therapy Practice.

Finally a big thank you to Amanda Hermitage who organised this event, and also to Julian Baker whose never ending commitment to the furthering of our understanding of just how and why Bowen Technique works on the Human Body.

TTFN

Austin

Sports Injuries

Another great weekend of learning with the rather marvelous Paula Esson - famous in the Bowen world for her work with the Leeds Rhinos Rugby team, who then went on to win the world championship. A professional sportswoman herself from the age of 15, Paula brings immense practical experience as well as her Sports injury rehabilitation expertise.

One of the key inroads that she seems to be making in recent years is with a successful multi-disciplinary approach to therapy and recovery, as well as structured preventative methods moving forward. The example of many professional sports stars who's injury rates plummet once under the watchful eye of Paula and her team of highly skilled therapists - preventing injuries happening in the first place being a preferred way, as opposed to a damage control approach.

Needless to say I learnt lots, and will be introducing some of these new skill sets into clinic practice.

TTFN

Outside the Comfort Zone

Greeting All. Have just come back from two days of mind blowing training by the ever astounding Chris Astill-Smith of 'Metabollics'. What this guy doesn't know about Human Biochemistry probably isn't worth knowing. His approach is to apply this incredible knowledge into useful and practical application within the medical world. He classifies himself as a 'Functional Biochemist' and uses his expertise in Applied Kineisiology and structural manipulation to further to add to his amazing ability to track down the sources of the various ailments the body suffers from - sometimes this may be biochemical or nutritional, other times it may be neurological or mechanical. Needless to say he gets results. The teaching courses he delivers are still in my opinion some of the best delivered in our industry. It is never the same old stuff, and each time I am well outside my comfort zone, which pushes my learning ability.

You may ask what a Bowen Therapist is doing learning about Biochemistry. Personally I think the better educated and the more I can learn about how the body heals, or indeed what makes it go wrong, the better I become as a practitioner.

TTFN