Fascial lines

fascia is the thin see through layer between skin, bone, muscles, nerves, tendons etc etc, and it surrounds everything in our body even the smallest cells. (if you look at raw chicken breast you can see it easy its the slimy film that surrounds it).

Although it is unbroken, it does have specific lines.
All these Fascial lines have a function.
A lady called Kelly Clancy from Seattle came over to Brisbane to do a course called Bowen, Tensegrity and the Fascial Lines.
I attended the course and she taught us how we can test the Fascial lines to see which ones are tight and might be causing us to be in pain and how to treat accordingly.
It was one of the best courses I have been to I loved, loved, loved it.
Now I just have to practice it a lot to get good at it.
Practice makes perfect they say, and only the best is good enough for my clients.

When the fascia is dry it restricts our movement.
Just look at it this way, if a door creaks you put oil on it and it stops creaking until the oil dries up again.
Bowen helps the body hydrate so therefore it results in less restriction, which means less or no pain.

There are 7 Fascial lines.

#1 The Front Functional Line

We use it in general movement and it gives strength to op-positional limbs by linking them together. It also counter balances us while walking. Problems with the Front Functional line can cause shoulder Pain, thoracic (chest) pain, lower back pain, hip pain, and respiratory issues.













#2 The Back Functional Line

This is practically the same as the front functional line, but then on the back, it's also used while we move and links the opposite limbs together and helps us keep our balance while moving.
Both functional lines are the most superficial
lines which means they are the lines closed to the skin, the others lay underneath these.

Most of the basic bowen moves are done over the Back Functional Line, when there is a problem within the fascia in this line it can cause respiratory problems, shoulder problems, chest problems, lower back problems, hip and leg problems.
As you can see the problems in both lines are the same.
This is because both lines work together and if the one has a problem the other is affected by it as well.





#3 Superficial Back line
It goes from the bottom of the toes (plantar surface) all the way up to the eyebrow line on our forehead.
As you can tell by it's name it connects the whole back of our body.
It creates extension and resists flexion
It's job is to keep us up right.
Problems within this fascia line can cause neck, chest, lower back pain, problems in the hamstrings, calf and ankles and pain in the foot.

Whilst doing some forward stretching tests we found problems in the
neck, although after some further testing of the hamstrings we found
those problems weren't located in the neck, but caused by the hamstrings.
After treating the hamstrings the range of motion and problem in the
neck got much better.




#4 Superficial Front line

It connect the whole front of our body from the top of our feet to either side of the skull.

It balances the Superficial Back Line, again these two lines work together.

The overall movement function of this line is bending forward from trunk and hips (flexion), bend our knees (extension) and bring our foot up (dorsiflexion). It also allows a complex set of movements at the level of the neck.

Problems within this line are the same as in the Superficial Back Line.

To be continued.
I'm not finished writing this blog so please keep an eye out for the rest if your interested.
You can also click on this link and like my Facebook page The-Dutch-Touch-Bowen-Therapy
so you can easily see when it is updated.

photos from Thomas Myers, Anatomy trains, 2th edition
information taken out of the course and Thomas Myers, Anatomy trains, 2th edition

Cellular change with Bowen Therapy

I always rave one how good and powerful Bowen therapy is, well a fellow practitioner engaged a pathologist to check the blood of her clients before and after treatment.
The picture below shows the results.

Bowen Technique is a series of gentle but powerful soft tissue movements, using the thumbs and fingers over muscles, tendons, nerves and fascia to restore the self-healing mechanism of the body. People are amazed at the sensations they feel during and after a Bowen treatment.

It also works with our energy systems. not just the central nervous system.
Our meridians which are like rivers that dissect our fascia, organs and all body matter. Every cell in our body has it's own electromagnetic field and each field pulses at different vibrations. These fields respond to internal and external environments. Our body is constantly seeking it's desired balance.
No 2 bodies are the same.

Our bodies are made up of many different cells: heart cells, liver cells, kidney cells, skin cells, and the list goes on. Each cellular structure is surrounded by fascia. fascia is like a web that wraps around all our cells, organs, bones, muscles, tendons, tissues, vessels, Its acts like a telephone with many lines that are con

stantly transmitting and receiving. It is predominately collagen.
Collagen has a characteristic of toughening when under stress it turns in like a glue or gel like substance.
Bowen therapy helps bring back the hydration in the fascia so it becomes more fluid like, it takes the stress of it.
And these days our lives are becoming more stressful.

Martine your Bowen Therapist

References:
Kay Stammers: Student nurse, Bowen Technique practitioner, Remedial Massage Therapist. Maria Waldock: Pathology Technician (Diploma of Applied Sciences – Pathology) www.mylifeblood.com.au
http://bowentraining.com.au/.../cellular-change-bowen... 

Wat is Bowen Therapie

tijdens een behandeling

D'r word vaak aan me gevraagd wat is dat nou eigenlijk wat je doet en waar is het goed voor.
In Nederland is Bowen nog niet zo bekend 't begint te komen, maar zoals met alles dat duurt even.
Bowen komt oorspronkelijk uit Australie en door de positieve resultaten word 't door heel de wereld steeds meer geliefd.

Een behandeling bestaat uit een serie van zachte manipulerende rollende bewegingen over spieren, pezen, gewrichtsbanden en zenuwen.
Hierdoor verminderd de spanning van de spieren met als gevolg dat het lichaam zichzelf gaat herstellen.
Deze bewegingen noemen we 'moves'. en worden met de duimen en vingers uitgevoerd

Tijdens en na deze bewegingen registreren de proprioceptoren (stand en bwegings detectoren in spieren en pezen) dat het lichaam niet in de juiste positie zit.

Door over de jaren heen een verkeerde houding gehad te hebben kan dit ontstaan of door een plotselinge val, beweging of ongeluk.

De Bowen move werkt dan als een katalysator en geeft via de sensorische zenuwbanen en het ruggenmerg de afwijking door aan de hersenen. Daar worden de signalen verwerkt en vergeleken met de rustspanning die er ter plekke zou moeten zijn. Vervolgens word de corrigerende informatie via het ruggenmerg teruggekoppeld aan de veelheid van spieren, zodat zij hun juiste rustspanning en ondelinge balans terug vinden.

Het lichaam compenseerd lokale problemen, je kunt dit vergelijken met een nood reparatie, maar daarmee is 't probleem niet opgelost en vroeger of later heeft dat gevolgen.

Een slechte knie kan bijvoorbeerd een slechte heup veroorzaken en dat kan dan weer een slechte shouder veroorzaken waardoor de persoon weer nek klachten of hoofdpijn kan krijgen. 

Zolang die knie niet beter is worden de andere problemen ook niet opgelost.

Min of meer tijdens en na de behandeling gaat het lichaam zichzelf corrigeren en meestal na een dag of 2 voelt de client zich een stuk beter.

Vaak gebeurd 't dat na een of andere behandeling de client zich beter voelt, maar na een paar dagen komt 't probleem weer terug, dit komt door dat de spieren een geheugen hebben en zij na de behandeling uitendelijk weer terug gaan naar de positie waarin ze waren voordat ze die behandeling gehad hadden. Met de Bowen is 't net andersom 't duurt meestal een paar dagen voordat je je beter voelt, maar als het lichaam zichzelf uiteindelijk in de juiste positie heeft gezet dan blijft 't ook zo en automatish word dit als het nieuwe geheugen gezet.

Bowen is geschikt voor jong en oud

Voorbeelden van klachten die behandeld kunnen worden zijn:

·   Rugpijn en ischias	·   Fibromyalgie
·   Ongelijke beenlengte	·   Chronische vermoeidheid en M.E.
·   Nek-, schouder- en whiplashklachten	·   Stress en overspannenheid
·   Knie- en enkelklachten	·   Astma en bronchitis
·   Sportblessures	·   Hooikoorts en andere allergieën
·   RSI (o.a. muisarm en tennisarm)	·   Spijsverteringsklachten
·   Migraine en hoofdpijn	·   Menstruatie- en hormoonklachten
·   Oor- en kaakpijn	·   Zwangerschapsklachten
·   Bedplassen (bij kinderen)

Het lichaam is een wonder en Bowen spreekt haar taal.

Energy, Vibration and Bowen

To be a registered Bowen practitioner I have to do 32 hours of continued education units (CEU points) every two years. 16 of these I can obtain by doing special workshops and for the other 16 I have to attend 2 days of the normal training courses we do to get our cert.IV or diploma.

Last month there were two workshops I wanted to attend.

The first one was Energy Vibration and Bowen. This one was given by the two people I got my cert.IV and diploma with so I was very familiar with my teachers Ann and David Winter. ( www.annda.net )

During a treatment we work on the fascia system. This is a spider web like net made from collagen fibers that runs throughout the entire body, separating and binding together muscles and organs.

(Next time you have chicken breast for dinner have a look before you cook it, the shiny thin slippery see through layer on the outside of the meat is the fascia.)

When we do a Bowen move we release this fascia and it sends a vibration through the body to the brain. When the brain receives this it then sends a vibration back to the muscles to relax and go back to the original length and position.

During the next days after the treatment the body will still respond to the Bowen work and each day after the treatment the body will re-balance itself a bit more, so each day we feel a little bit better.

Because the body itself does all the work it might take a few days and usually the results are permanent.

If you’re interested to having a treatment or you happen to have a horse that is sore and you want to try Bowen on it please give me a call. (I qualified Bowen on horses last year)

Martine your Bowen therapist

Parkinson

I had a phone call of this gentleman. He told me he had Parkinson. Trough a friend of his who also suffers Parkinson he got on to this book called; Stop parkin start living, written by John Coleman.

John Coleman also had Parkinson he was in stage 3 (there are only 4 stages). Being a naturopath he kept looking for a way how to treat this condition with natural therapies.

He tried them all, some did help him, but it wasn’t until he tried Bowen therapy in combination with hydration formula’s that he started to get better. Parkinson is a neurological disease and there is no cure for it, but after 4 years of regular Bowen he was symptom free.

My client’s Parkinson condition wasn’t as far developed as John’s and he didn’t want it to get that far neither.

Because his son and his son’s wife are regular clients of mine he rang me and asked if I could help him.

I told him I had no experience with treating Parkinson, but I had heard of the book and because I know how the Bowen works on the central nervous system I booked him in.

It has been such a good experience for both of us.

Over the last 6 months his speech has improved and his posture is way better he barely slumps forward any more. He says he feels a lot more balanced and happier now. He can also walk normal now. As a matter of fact he went for a walk with his wife and she could not keep up with him.

How’s that for improvement.

Martine your Bowen Therapist

part of life

A lot of people seem to think they are sore because that’s part of life, part of getting older.

This is not necessarily through. Our body doesn’t like being sore, it’s just that it doesn’t know how to make itself better.

The Bowen can help with this.

Each move we do on the body is a signal to the body of how to realign itself.

So after the treatment the body is going to adjust itself and put itself back into alignment. This might take a couple of days, but because the body has done it itself instead of being pushed back into place it is more likely to stay like this.

When the body is pushed back into place the muscles (muscles have a muscle memory) will go back to what they remember before they had the treatment hence your back to being sore again.

I hear all the time: “I have been there or I have had such and such treatment, but it only last a couple of days”.

Now you know why, the body goes back to what it was before that particular treatment because that’s what the muscles remember.

After Bowen the muscles take on a new position by themself and that’s why the muscle memory will be replaced with the new position the muscles are in.

It might take a couple of days for the body to do so as it usually takes a couple of days for the body to get sore again after some other types of treatment.

Martine your Bowen Therapist

HIp pain

Many people will experience hip pain at one point in their life.
We have some great Bowen procedures that will help align the body and give it a chance to reduce inflammation and allow pain signals to relax.
The Bowen pelvis procedure is nothing short of amazing in how quickly leg length discrepancies equalize. Other areas to address for hip pain are how the sacrum is balanced between the pelvic bones, hamstring/quadriceps balance (including taking a look at the semi-known gracilis muscle), nerve pain referred from the coccyx (tail bone), low back tightness, and one of my favorites the psoas muscle.
The psoas (commonly called the hip flexor) attaches to the lumbar spine and discs, wraps around the pelvic bowl (with another muscle called the iliacus) and inserts into inner hip at the lesser trochanter of the femur. Often times tight hip flexors (often caused by prolonged sitting) will change the position of how the femur (upper leg bone) rests in the acetabulum of the femur (hip socket). This often contributes to hip pain and other structural problems. I have found the Bowen psoas release is a very effective and non-invasive technique to relieve the psoas. It is great for not only hip pain, but also sciatica and herniated/bulging disc symptoms (anywhere in the spine, not just the low back!). I have also found this procedure is very effective for people with shoulder and neck problems.
All people who sit a lot should get their psoas muscles released.