I spent 25 years with chronic back pain. My back pain wouldn’t allow me to lift anything heavy or do deep forward bending without going out. Every time my back went out, it was three days of not being able to walk, sit or sleep without a lot of pain – and it meant many trips for acute pain relief therapy. However, once I was treated with the Rolf Method of Structural Integration, my back pain went away, and my back finally felt strong. Now, my body works functionally, easily handling the stresses of daily life. And I am able to do all the things that in the past could have caused my back to go out.
In 2014, I became a Registered Massage Therapist, and in 2015 I became a Certified Rolf Method Structural Integrator. Since then, I have been working with my clients to help them reach their goals. I recently worked with two soccer players with past injuries that were preventing them from playing to their full abilities. I also worked with a senior hockey player who had five years of chronic hip flexor pain and a limp due to having several falls on his hip during a hockey game. After Structural Integration, the players felt that their bodies were more fluid and functional, and they had no pain and had minimal exercise recovery time.
Structural Integration uses the latest pain science research – it uses a specialized combination of safe touch, safe movement and repatterning exercises, and a self-care program that mimics what we do in the office sessions to elicit massive positive results. In the treatments, I tap into the brain and update the messaging signals between the brain and the body. I do this by using the touch on your tissue while you make small safe movements. In this way, we connect the brain back to each body part so that the brain understands how functional movements should happen – and the restricted, stuck tissues begin to soften. We work the whole body (not just the area that is sending pain signals) because the body works as an integrated unit and one area of restriction can create symptoms in a totally different part of the body.
Some amazing things happen in the sessions. I have seen clients with shoulder issues who have sought help for years to gain better function and relieve the pain to no avail. Often, we find that the issue is restricted tissue in the pelvic region that is creating a strain or pull into the shoulder area. Until that area in the pelvis is released and repatterned, the shoulder issue will continue to plague them. Treatment is effective if the area of restriction is worked and repatterned.
I offer free one-hour consultations for anyone interested in going through a very thorough health history and discussing their goals to see if Structural Integration is right for them. There are 10 sessions in total in the series, and each session releases the restricted stuck connective tissue in your body layer by layer. After the 10 sessions, to maintain and continue the positive change, a tune-up every two to three months is all that is required.
If you are looking for a body that functions better, feels lighter and easier, and has less pain, Structural Integration may be for you.
Gwen MacLean RMT, CSI
551 Knights Hill Road, Unit 2
London Ontario
519-601-6602
www.gwenmaclean.ca
https://www.facebook.com/structuralintegrationlondon
@structuralintegrationlondon
By Gwen MacLean for Living Balance Clinic
