A soft touch goes a long way

Evelina Halsey-Brandt (above) Walks along the Dyke in Richmond without the discomfort she suffered before beginning Bowen Therapy.

I’ve done my tour of duty with physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopaths, as well as Eastern modes such as yoga, Thai massage and qi gong but my neck and back feel as stiff as steel — a legacy of some 20 years of maniacal typing, probably.

I was intrigued by the Bowen Technique, an alternative treatment. I’d heard positive reports from friends in Ontario so I went for some sessions with Jonathan Damonte of Be Well Now Centre. I presented my ailments and told him I also get migraines, seemingly associated with digestion — a legacy of some 12 years of restaurant reviewing, ha ha? I had seen a headache specialist some years ago and his prescription consisted of a choice of drugs.

Bowen Technique has been shown to be effective with arthritis, fibromyalgia, polymyalgia, asthma, frozen shoulder, hormonal disorders, migraine, digestive problems, learning difficulties, sports injuries, whiplash, bronchitis, hay fever, tinnitus, constipation, allergies, Chrohn’s disease, stress disorders, respiratory problems and muscuolo-skeletal problems.

Fred Samorodin is a registered physiotherapist who has incorporated Bowen into his practice in the past two years. “It’s a strong technique. I appreciate the elegance of doing something that for me is, oh, let’s call it protocol. The moves don’t vary too much between conditions. They are a similar set of moves. It’s absolutely a good addition to our skills. It’s a gentle, safe technique,” he says.

“Most acquired ailments can be affected by the Bowen Technique,” Damonte says. “It’s not a miracle treatment but people pay for this because they’re getting results for very serious conditions. One thing people say is ‘I can’t believe it works with so little treatment’. It works because it is a simple interruption of a chronic pattern of inflammation or pain. Most diseases involve an inflammation process,” he says. Bowen is a place of last resort for most clients as most have tried conventional and other alternative methods before trying it.

The technique involves gentle, precisely placed, soft tissue manipulation at specific nerve and muscle junctions. The practitioner rolls a fingertip over the muscle or tendon, disturbing it, without sliding the skin. There’s a subtle vibrational effect through the muscle which affects the nervous system, he says. “It’s like plucking a guitar string or letting go of the string on a bow and arrow. You’re ‘playing’ the nervous system. That movement is complicated to learn for the first time. You play skin against muscle like a clutch.”

As a patient, I only felt a short, gentle push of the skin. That’s it.

The move, Damonte says, adjusts the muscle’s resting tension levels and allows more blood and lymph to move through, enhancing nutrition and waste removal from the site of injuries. Nerve conduction also improves as congestion decreases. “A pinched nerve, for example, is easily treated,” he says.

“It improves bodily functions because it impacts organs like the liver, kidney, and intestines as well as endocrine, adrenal and thyroid functions and even symptoms of menstrual disorders because of the effect on ovaries.”

He says causes could be structural or neurological. “If there’s misalignment, it could impede the function of organs.”

On my visits, Damonte pressed certain spots then left the room for several minutes after each move to allow muscles to fully relax into position. He does this eight to 10 times in the space of an hour. I saw him on four different visits and for me, progress was slow. The range of movement in my neck improved each time and the steel wall has retreated, though not completely. When muscles tighten up during the day, it’s not quite as stubborn as before and I noticed a significant difference in doing one particular pretzel-ly yoga move  — I feel more like elastic, stretching than wood, bending.

I’ll try a couple more visits to see if the stiffness can be eliminated altogether. “Your work provokes the reaction and it’s going to take longer,” he tells me. “We like to think three to five visits would do it but that may not be — perhaps it would have been faster if you were on vacation with less stress and without the physical challenge of the work you do.”

As for migraines, I’m crossing my fingers. I had a cluster of migraines shortly after I started the treatment, but haven’t had one for about six or seven weeks now and don’t even get the minor ones I’d frequently wake up with. Normally, I’d get a couple a month. I’m amazed and hopeful.

Be Well Now Centre has treated some 5,600 patients since opening in 2003. Damonte and his partner have trained massage therapists, naturopaths and even a couple of doctors. Clients find Be Well Now Centre through word of mouth, says Damonte.

He says the technique is successful in 70 to 80 per cent of cases. “In a month, you’d know if it works,” he says, adding the technique works with animals. “Anything with a nervous system can be treated. It treats a pattern of holding and misalignment that is stuck. That stuckness happens at some point before it becomes a chronic problem, a point at which the body doesn’t rebound and that trauma is held in the nervous system.”

The technique was originally developed in Australia by Tom Bowen. He wasn’t formally trained but had an interest in massage and other soft-tissue manipulation. Demand for his successful treatments grew until patients were queued up in his front yard until 3 a.m. He generously shared his knowledge as word of his technique spread.

Today, the Bowen Technique is practised in 31 countries and taught in more than 20 but is still relatively new to North America. It first came to Canada in 1993 and is centred in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

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Be Well Now is located at 2471 Bayswater St. (604-738-6936) and in White Rock at 203 -15272 Croydon Dr. (604-288-5823). The process takes about one hour and costs $80.

For more information, log onto www.bewellnow.ca or www.bowencanada.ca