Who
Benefits from Structural Medicine Treatment Sessions?
Clients come to our clinic through
many "doors", depending upon their experiences with
health issues, trauma, or surgery. Often, the client has tried
many other forms of allopathic or alternative health modalities,
including physical therapy treatment programs, chiropractic
treatment, occupational therapy, exercise programs, yoga,
Pilates programs, acupuncture, and surgery. Often they have
not gotten the results they were looking for until they experienced
myofascial structural integration.
The following are just a few examples
of why clients come to our clinic and how they benefit from
the treatment. We encourage you to come in for an evaluation
of your specific needs. Note that personal growth is a legitimate
and often common reason that clients come for our services,
which is discussed below.
Click on subject below:
General
Principles of Myofascial Structural Integration Therapy
The following general principles
and benefits apply to all of the categories of treatment.
Fascia creates your structure, both
in your musculoskeletal system and your viscera, or organ
systems. It has the tensile strength of steel, so one of its
natural properties is to resist stretching. That is how it
is able to build a balanced structure in your body and transfer
and dissipate stress and force through your body.
With manual myofascial structural
integration therapy, your therapist is able to move and manipulate
your fascia in a systematic manner to create a more functional
balance within your body. It is not only the movement of the
fascia, but the knowledge of where to move the fascia and
in what sequence.
There are five main reasons why fascia
needs to be manually manipulated, and its benefits:
- fascia is in the wrong place (cannot
function as intended)
- fascia is too short (tight and
compression)
- fascia is too long (tight and jams)
- fascia has formed scar tissue (binding
structures or tissues)
- fascia is biochemically dysfunctional
(ischemic tissue)
Your therapist will evaluate your
fascial structure and determine what is going on with your
fascia in different parts of you body.
Treatment will include releasing fascia
that is short, providing more room for the joints, bones,
muscles or organs to move. It will also reduce compressive
loads on joints and vertebrae and potential compression or
entrapment of nerves. For some clients, it may provide more
room for normal organ mobility and motility..
Treatment will include releasing fascia
that is "locked long" to remove compensation patterns
that cause jamming of joints, movement of limbs, impingement
of nerves, or interference with normal organ mobility and
motility.
Movement of the fascia in a systematic
manner from dysfunctional patterns to normal functional patterns
will enable efficient range of motion of joints, provide appropriate
and efficient neuromuscular proprioreception (full muscle
action and strength), a more balanced integrated structure
(good support and posture), create the most efficient distribution
of forces through your body (less chance of injury to specific
areas of your body), and remove fascial blocks that prevent
flow of energy (chi) in your body.
Treatment enhances and helps bring
back normal biochemical function of the fascial tissue, including
removing ischemic regions (restricted oxygenation of the tissue),
increased lymphatic function of the interstitial spaces in
the tissue, a greater sense of lightness and energy (quality
of tissue), less pain and aching (enhances lymph system to
remove toxic metabolic byproducts), and a softer more pliable
tissue.
Treatment addresses scar tissue in
two ways: helping to reduce unwanted scar tissue and restructuring
existing scar tissue. Scar tissue is the process of laying
down collagen fibers from the inflammation process, an essential
natural part of the healing process.
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A
Note on Pain
There is no better factor
that moves a client toward getting treatment than pain. Pain
gets their attention.
However, pain is not the reason or
source of the problem. Clients want us to remove the pain,
and understandably. Some are at the end of their rope trying
to cope with pain. We empathize.
Structural integration seeks to evaluate
and find the source of the dysfunction which is causing the
pain. Often the pain is NOT where the dysfunction is. Sometimes
it can be on the opposite side of the body or even the other
end of the body.
So we treat the dysfunctional patterns
to correct and relieve the source of the problem. The pain
is resolved as a result. Unfortunately, this is not the common
practice in other modalities, including prescription medications.
Other modalities often end up "chasing the pain"
and missing the source of the problem.
When a client comes in for treatment,
this concept is foreign to most and they are confused when
we work on other areas that are not where their pain is. We
ask for their trust and patience until we can demonstrate
to them why it is and how pain is resolved through structural
integration.
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Pre-
and Post-Surgical Patients
Clients benefit from structural
integration both before and after surgery. In fact, come surgeons
require that their patients obtain this type of treatment
before they will do surgery on them, especially joint replacements.
Why?
Every surgery requires that the surgeon
cut into your fascia. Healing of every cut results in scar
tissue. Making sure that your fascia is functionally aligned
before surgery,
ensures that the scar tissue will be optimally aligned as
the tissues healed.
Post-surgery treatment of
the scar tissue, surrounding fascia, and fascia lines that
are connected to the surgical site, will enhance the healing
process, help minimize scarring and adhesions, and release
myofascial holding patterns or "guarding" actions
by muscles and myofascial tissue. This reduces or eliminates
additional postural compensation patterns that may result
from the surgery itself.
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Back/spine
Injuries, Surgery or Disease
All of the reasons listed above for general surgery and general
principles apply to backs and spines. In addition, clients
benefit in almost all cases from structural integration. Why?
Clients may come to us with arthritic
conditions of the spine, disk compression or herniation, bone
spurs, stenosis, nerve impingement or entrapments issues,
spondylolesthesis, back strains, scoliosis, post-surgical
recovery and rehabilitation, or just plain back pain that
cannot be resolved. In almost every case, the patient obtains
relief through structural integration, some obtaining complete
resolution of symptoms, others reduced duration, intensity,
or frequency of pain or dysfunction. Results are obtained
by:
- Relieving stress on parts of the
spine
- Providing more length in the myofascial
tissues
- Improving functional alignment
of the structures
- Breaking up scar tissues and adhesions
- Functionally integrating
the fascia with the rest of the body
Very often, idiopathic (unknown source)
back pain can be completely resolved with myofascial structural
integration where other methods have not succeeded. Often,
surgery can be prevented or postponed (see your doctor for
diagnosis and recommendations).
Lumbar and hip pain are often misdiagnosed
as nerve root impingement pain due to bulged disks or irregular
bony structure of the vertebrae. As recognized by Diane Lee,
PT and author of the Pelvic Girdle, the pain is due to the
dysfunctional compensation patterns in the pelvis and hips,
affecting the lumbar region (emphasis on function,
not source of pain). Pain is not the best indicator
of the source of the problem, rather the dysfunctional pelvic
and hip compensation patterns. A holistic approach is required
to release and balance the pelvis.
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Pre- or Post-Joint
Replacement
All of the reasons listed above
for general surgery and general principles apply to joint
replacements. Some surgeons are now requiring that their patients
get myofascial structural integration treatment before they
operate on their patients. Why?
We have performed structural integration
treatment on our "potential joint replacement"clients
before they received their surgery. For some, they were able
to delay getting joint replacements for years, due to the
increased functionality of their joints and better support
of their body from the ground up.
Some clients chose to get structural
integration treatment for one joint before surgery and not
for the other (they didn't think it was necessary), for example
bilateral hip replacements. The results were dramatic. The
hip replacement on the side that was integrated was flawless
in execution and function post-surgery. The other hip replacement
by the same surgeon was problematic from the start. Why is
this?
Unless you have had structural integration
treatment, you will most likely be completely unaware that
the fascia of your muscle compartments on your arms or legs
can be twisted, causing significantly misaligned limbs and
joints. Muscles are often completely out of their normal intended
position, greatly influencing their function and strength,
as well as the joint range of motion. Part of the strategies
of the practice of structural integration is to realign the
fascial tissues to create efficient alignment of the limbs,
bones, muscles, and ligaments.
If this kind of alignment is not performed
before surgery, the surgeon will cut it as it is. When the
tissues are sutured to the joint replacement, they will be
misaligned, potentially short or long, twisted, and certainly
not optimally functional. Worse, scar tissue will "weld"
the new joint into the misaligned position, making it very
difficult to myofascial realign it post-surgically.
Post-surgical myofascial treatment
increases the rate of healing and helps prevent inadvertent
unnecessary scarring that will interfere with optimum function
of the joint replacement.
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Sports Injuries
or Performance Optimization
We have worked with all kinds
of performance athletes, including professional basketball
players, professional football players, Olympic gymnasts,
professional golfers, tennis players, marathon runners, professional
dancers, collegiate swimmers, and others. In every case, structural
integration provides two results: reduced injuries and increased
performance. Why?
Performance is about optimal alignment,
optimal strength, optimal range of motion, and elimination
of restrictions. With optimal alignment and correct positioning
of muscle compartments and full optimal muscle compartment
function, muscles will have maximum strength and alignment
of forces for movement and quick response. Alignment results
in optional proprioreception to sense and activate the muscles.
Fascial structural integration is absolutely essential.
Injuries result in sport injuries
when forces are concentrated in specific areas, exceeding
the ability of the tissue to distribute the forces to prevent
tissue tearing or bone fractures. Ligaments, tendons, muscle
tissue, bone give way. Poor fascial integration and structural
alignment exacerbate any condition that might cause an injury.
By removing the dysfunctional restrictions, holdings, or compensation
patterns, the chance of injury is greatly reduced.
With regard to performance, we have
one of the most dramatic. examples to give. A client comes
to us as a swimmer who broke all high school and college swimming
records. Then she injured her shoulder during a training exercise
program. For the next two years she could not compete. Entering
her senior year at college, she still could not compete. After
evaluation of her structure, we found myofascial restrictions
in various areas of her body that prevented her from moving
the energy of her kick through her trunk and arms.
We performed a baseline of in-the-water
tests on her times and cycles for four swimming strokes, including
taking and analyzing underwater video of her strokes and structural
integration. Then we did a few days of treatment on her. When
we put her back in the water, her times decreased by seconds,
immediately. She also had a major increase in respiratory
capacity.
She went on in a few weeks to go from
85th in the nation to first in the nation in the NCCA competition,
set records, and win the Big 12 competition. She had the skills
and the training. It was her myofascial integration that both
prevented her from competing and eventually beating everyone
else in the nation.
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Acute
and Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia
Chronic pain is often the result
of myofascial restrictions in specific acute areas or global
myofascial tension. Clinically, we have been able to provide
complete relief for many clients who suffer from fibromyalgia
by gently treating the superficial fascia on a global basis.
It takes time, sometimes a up to a year of treatment to get
full relief of pain throughout the entire body, even to the
deep tissues.
This type of treatment works for similar
conditions, such as diabetic neuropathy in the legs, MS pain
and reduced proprioreception (sensing), neuropathy from chemotherapy,
and restless leg syndrome.
In all cases, the client feels achy
pain, usually all over or in the classical fibromyalgia clinical
check points. By manually manipulating the fascia in a gentle
manner, the ischemia of the tissue is reduced to the point
that the fascia and lymphatic system begins to work in a more
normal fashion, significantly reducing or eliminating pain
altogether, due to the biochemical changes in the tissue.
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Physical Rehabilitation
Physical rehabilitation is one
of the core missions of the physical therapy profession. They
have many exercises and ways of measuring dysfunction and
function of joints and movement. It is common for post-surgical
and joint replacement patients to be referred to PTs for rehabilitation.
However, PTs are rarely trained in
myofascial manual manipulation, and even more rarely in structural
integration. In most cases, myofascial work adds significantly
to the increased rate of healing. In some cases, structural
integration is absolutely essential to the healing process
and the most appropriate form of treatment for the patient.
It is not uncommon for our clinic
to partner with other PTs, exercise rehabilitation programs,
or Pilates programs to coordinate and assist the patient with
their rehabilitation program. Often the physical therapy routines
are enhanced by the myofascial work. In some cases, the PT
program is no longer effective and structural integration
is essential. With the client's permission, we coordinate
and discuss our clinical treatment with the client's PT to
ensure the best approach for each client.
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Breath,
Respiratory Issues
There is no better healing force
in the body than breath. Every medical practice and alternative
medicine modality recognizes this. With injury, surgery, or
just from the additive dysfunctional compensation patterns
of our lives, our breathing is compromised, sometimes significantly.
This can lead to inadequate oxygenation of tissues (oxygen
is essential to the health and healing of all tissues) and/or
excessive collection of carbon dioxide in the body. Excessive
carbon dioxide can lead to changes in blood chemistry and
renal function.
Often our clients will
present dysfunctional breathing patterns when they come in
for evaluation, either stuck in inhale or stuck in exhale.
Regardless of the source of the dysfunction, this often stimulates
the sympathetic nervous system and creates anxiety in the
client and irritable tissues (irritable nerves).
Often the cause is fascial
restriction of the diaphragm, either from visceral restrictions
or other areas of the musculoskeletal system that impact the
diaphragm within the rib cage, connecting to the back. Using
structural integration strategies and techniques, including
breathing exercises, breathing can be effortlessly brought
back into function. This is dramatic, not only for performance
athletes, but also everyone one of us that live a normal life.
Increased energy and lightness of being results.
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Pregnancy,
Pre– and Post-Natal Health and Recovery
The rapid growth of the mother
caused by pregnancy puts a huge stress on the fascia and the
whole balance of their musculoskeletal system and their visceral
organs and fascia. Stretch marks are a common result from
the skin and underlying fascia not being able to keep up with
the rapid growth of the belly, breasts, and buttocks.
In addition, the ligaments are softened
and stretch naturally because of the hormonal changes in the
pregnant mother. This provides for the expansion of the pelvis
and abdomen to accommodate the baby and prepare the mother
for delivery. Unfortunately, it often sacrifices structural
integrity as a result of the increased load on the structure
from the weight gain, and the lax ligaments.
The lax ligaments can lead to separation
of the rectus abdominis muscles at the midline of the abdomen.
This has significant consequences on the integrity of the
mother's structure both during and after delivery because
one of the main fascial lines of support for the whole upper
body is the midline and deep fascia of the midline.
Manual myofascial structural integration
therapy on pre-natal and post-natal women can significantly
reduce the deleterious effects of pregnancy on the mother's
structure. Some women are very fortunate and go through pregnancy
with few problems. Other women suffer significant structural
changes that can affect them for the rest of their lives.
The latter group of women can't seem to "put themselves
back together again" after pregnancy. Myofascial integration
often allows a woman to get back to the body she knew before
pregnancy. All post-natal women will benefit from a quicker
recovery with myofascial therapy.
The effects of pregnancy on the fascial
structure of a mother are often significantly reduced or eliminated
with myofascial therapy. The fascia is assisted to maintain
the best structural integrity and to remain flexible and pliant
to the growth required.
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Pelvic Related
Issues
Women and men are often embarrassed
to discuss their pelvic related issues, such as pelvic pain,
painful intercourse, prostatitis. However, these issues often
surface in the treatment intake process or during treatment
sessions, and the client begins to open up when they trust
their therapist. We encourage each client to come forward
with information so that we can help them.
It is not uncommon to find the source
of the pain from myofascial restrictions in the hip, pelvis,
upper legs, and pelvic floor muscles. Clients may come to
us with 8-10 out of 10 pain, completely debilitated. We often
are able to give them complete relief in a few sessions, by
releasing myofascial restrictions and balancing the forces
on the pelvis. This pain is often misdiagnosed.
Although the client is there to relieve
their pain, the pain is often indicative of more significant
myofascial structural integration issues. The pain gets them
into our clinic, and the holistic treatment program resolves
the real cause of he pain.
In fact, Stanford University research
has concluded that myofascial release is the appropriate therapy
for prostatitis, and they have developed a myofascial release
program specifically to address this type of pelvic pain.
Another area of common dysfunction,
especially in women is incontinence. Women are often embarrassed
to discuss this or bring it forward in their treatment sessions.
One of the most common reasons for incontinence is pelvic
muscle holding in the pelvic floor. The muscles are held so
tightly all the time that they eventually lose strength and
"give up". First it may start as leaking urine and
then full incontinence. Another symptom in the beginning is
the urgency of needing to relieve the bladder... you have
to go NOW. How does this happen and what can be done about
it?
There is what is called the "Fenn
effect", when a muscle loses its strength. Muscles contract
by only contracting a small percentage of the muscle fibers
at a time. In milliseconds, the muscle recruits other fibers
and lets the initial fibers rest. So in effect, it is like
a "round robin" musical chairs routine, with all
the fibers being recruited, but only a small percentage at
a time.
Things go wrong when the muscle spasms
because of myofascial restrictions and an imbalanced pelvis.
Now the pelvic floor muscles are contracting all the time,
all the fibers, all the time. This causes muscle weakness,
numbness, and desensitation of the pelvic floor muscles and
the sphincters of the urethra. Incontinence is the result.
The prevention and solution is to
balance the pelvis and release the pelvic floor fascia and
muscles to the point that there is normal muscle tone and
no spasms. This can be done with manual therapy and pelvic
floor exercises. It is unfortunate that more women do not
know about this treatment or have access to simple procedures
that can correct or prevent the incontinence.
If you have signs of incontinence,
please inform your therapist. We are both familiar with the
assessment and treatment of the myofascial condition. Ask
your urologist to give you a full physical and evaluation
to eliminate more serious issues that might contribute to
your incontinence.
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Gastrointestinal
Issues - Abdominal Pain
Nothing is more frustrating
than idiopathic (unknown) abdominal pain. It is often diagnosed
as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), which is really the same
thing as idiopathic pain or dysfunction, a collection of symptoms
without known cause.
Abdominal pain can be caused by fascial
restrictions in the viscera (organ region of the body) or
cross-connections to the musculoskeletal system. Fascia is
continuous throughout the body, from the skin to the bone,
from the muscles to the viscera. Fascial restrictions of the
viscera of the abdomen can result from ligamentous holdings
of the ligaments of the organs (all organs are suspended and
positioned by ligaments and fascia), injuries, scar tissue,
surgical scar tissue and sutures, dysfunctional mobility or
motility of the organs, or even emotional holding patterns
(neuromuscular holding and tension).
The body will protect the viscera
at the expense of the musculoskeletal system when there is
a dysfunction. This can cause dysfunction to move from the
viscera to the general body structure and alignment. The body
begins to move around the internal dysfunction. Soon pain
results from the myofascial restrictions or entrapment of
nerves, including even spinal lesions.
In addition, visceral pain can result
from the opposite, a musculoskeletal fascial restriction that
transfers the forces to the internal organs, ligaments, or
fascia, thereby creating abdominal pain. Pain in the abdomen
is often obtuse, hard to identify, hard to pinpoint the location.
Fascial restrictions can cause crowding of the organs leading
to abnormal motility or mobility.
Integrated visceral assessment and
manipulation combined with structural integration of the musculoskeletal
system often relieves not only abdominal pain, but other symptoms,
such as IBS symptoms, incontinence, constipation, irregular
bowel movement.
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“Personal
growth”, Health and Fitness
Clients more often come to us because of pain, injury, or
rehabilitation. However, some of the most powerful results
of structural integration are from those who seek to make
transformations in their life, regain the body and energy
then once knew they had, break through emotional holding patterns,
find out why their body is not fully integrated with the mind
and soul.
Clients come through this door both
explicitly, seeking this kind of experience, and indirectly,
by coming for other reasons and then finding out just how
powerful this work is and what they can explore within themselves.
It is not uncommon for them to see dramatic changes in their
friend or spouse who went through a major transformation with
the treatment. They ask, "What did you do?!"
Words cannot explain or describe how
far you can go with this work, how deep, to discover just
how connected everything is, how interdependent your body,
mind, and soul work together. Clients who commit and make
the transformations can barely recognize their photos that
were taken in the beginning, because their whole being has
changed, inside and outside. It is not uncommon to reclaim
the body you had twenty years ago or even better, to have
a body that you never knew, breaking bondage that has held
you back for decades.
Age is not the factor. At almost any
age one can make the transformation. Clients in their fifties
are more common, in that their bodies have "hit the wall"
and they have no compensation left. They are at a point in
their life where they need to invest in their health or watch
themselves slowly degrade in function, vitality, and energy.
One of the greatest pleasures we have
in our practice is to witness others going through this kind
of healing and transformation. It is sweet beyond words, heart-felt
work. We are so proud of the work that many of our clients
do to move into their expanded being, expanded dreams, expanded
heart, expanded relationship with themselves and others. They
are as stunned as anyone how they got there, how the body
had so much to do with their integrated being. It is a process
of reclaiming all that is human and sensory and sacred to
our being. Only someone who has gone through it will understand.
But everyone has the opportunity to put their foot down on
that path, the first step. We are here to help you. It is
a mysterious, yet wonderful path. And life is short... so
short.
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Children
- Prevention & Correction of Compensation Patterns
We often end up working on the
children of clients that initially come into our clinic, especially
the families of doctors or other medical practitioners. They
soon realize how important it is to get their children out
of their dysfunctional patterns as soon as possible. They
often see that their children are mimicking their own compensation
patterns.
The bad news is that children often
have significant compensation patterns that will continue
to deteriorate as they get older. In their youth, their body
is very adaptable and they can get away with it. Later on,
it will catch up with them.
The good news is that children are
like plastic. It often takes only a few sessions to completely
integrate their structure. Their fascia is very malleable.
The results are visually dramatic.
How do children move into their dysfunctional
patterns so soon in life? No one knows for sure, but we believe
it results from two main causes: a) mimicking their parents
or sibling; b) growth spurts ("growing pains").
Who can mimic an adult better than
a 2-year-old? They can mimic every little detail, down to
the inflections in your voice, facial gestures, and hand movements.
So it would not be surprising if we see our children mimic
our movements and posture, including emotional holdings that
create our own structural compensation patterns.
When a child grows, they often grow
quickly in a short period of time, and often disproportionally.
Watch a child's face over a year's time and it will grow in
width one month and in length the next month. The fascia needs
to keep up with those growth spurt in an coordinated and integrated
fashion. Think of the uncoordinated nature of adolescents
(stretch marks on women are another example of fascia that
cannot keep up with the growth, especially in time of pregnancy).
So it is not surprising to imagine that some of the compensation
patterns in children are from fascia that needs assistance
to create a more integrated structure as they go through their
major growth.
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