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What is the Bowen
Technique?
The Bowen
technique is a gentle remedial therapy which stimulates the body to
rebalance itself and promotes healing, pain relief and recovery of
energy. It is a subtle and relaxing hands-on treatment which can
relieve stress and/or help relaxation. Bowen is not a massage,
chiropractic or osteopathic treatment and it is suitable for adults,
children - including babies - and the elderly.
How did it get its name?
Tom Bowen was born
in 1916 in Brunswick, Australia. He treated the aches and pains of the
people with whom he worked in the cement works and woollen mill in
Geelong. He had a particular interest in bad backs. In the 1960s, he
opened his own clinic. During the 1970s, the Webb Report (Australian
Government Report into Complementary Therapies) found that Tom Bowen was
treating 13,000 people a year. He died in 1982. The Bowen
technique is now being taught to final year university students of
Osteopathy in Australia.
Bowen treatment
Bowen therapists
treat people holistically. People present with a wide range of aches and
pains. There are no contra-indications to
treatment. However, Bowen therapists will always advise people to
consult their doctors if there is any doubt over whether or not to
treat. (The Bowen Technique is not intended as a substitute for medical
advice or treatment.)
Reported
Benefits of Bowen Technique:
Some of the reported benefits are easy relaxation of the muscles,
helps get rid of stress, promote relaxation and reduce tension and knots. By asking the body to recognise and make the changes
necessary brings it back to homoeostasis (physiological equilibrium).
What is the treatment like?
The treatment is
gentle and therefore appropriate for everyone, from newborn babies to
the elderly and infirm. The therapist uses thumbs or fingers to make a
series of precise, rolling-type moves over muscle. During the
treatment there is a series of short breaks where the patient is left
resting to allow their body to respond to the gentle moves that have
been performed. This rest period is an important part of the
treatment and gives the body time to make the subtle and fine
adjustments necessary to help to re-balance the body, relieve tension
and therefore reduce pain. It is these features which make the Bowen
Technique unique.
Treatment usually takes about 45 minutes and can be performed
through light clothing or directly on skin. Four to five
treatments at weekly intervals are often sufficient to achieve lasting
relief, although further treatments may be required. To receive
maximum benefit it is recommended that other physical therapies are not
mixed with the Bowen Technique - for example, reflexology, massage,
physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic. This is because the root
of a problem is not always known and so it is best to only try one
approach at a time.
Bowen in the Sunday Mail
8th April 2012
Touch your toes and relieve that back pain
by Alice Smellie
The ability to touch your toes sounds more like a party trick than a diagnostic technique. But it's an excellent indicator of lower-back health and apparently half of the population is unable to do it.
Now a new study published by Coventry University shows that the Bowen Technique - a gentle manipulation of the muscles and tendons, similar to massage - can increase hamstring flexibility and help with lower-back problems.
The university study of 116 students showed that a week after having a single treatment, participants could touch their toes or at
least get significantly closer.
Bowen therapy was established in Australia in the Fifties. It is based on the principle that the human body is made of connective tissues that are all linked. By using the fingers and thumbs to perform gentle rolling movements, the muscles,
ligaments and tendons are realigned, lower-back pain is reduced and flexibility increased.
"Our posture is increasingly poor", says physiotherapist and Bowen practitioner, Vivien Fishick, based at St
Margaret's Hospice, Taunton, Somerset. "Toe-touching is a great marker. Some people are more flexible than others but it's an easy measurement of hamstring length. We spend our lives slumped over computers or desks. This rounds the back and tilts the pelvis forwards and upwards. You lose the natural curve of your back and shorten your hamstrings, which leads to problems", says Fishwick.
"Stress is put on ligaments and muscles running down the spine. Because they are weak, you are in danger of damaging them and causing agonising lower-back pain. It can even lead to irritation of the sciatic nerve. Bowen is a subtle but targeted technique. It works over a few days, although one in ten people will not benefit."
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