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ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE
Known as conventional medicine, allopathy is a medical approach which seeks to cure by producing a condition in the body different than, or opposite to, the condition that exists within the diseased state.
APPLIED KINESIOLOGY
Applied Kinesiology is a healing system that evaluates and treats an individual's structural, chemical, and mental aspects. It employs muscle testing and other standard methods of diagnosis. Applied Kinesiology therapeutically utilizes nutrition, manipulation, diet, acupressure, exercise, and education to help restore balance and harmony in the body and maintain well-being throughout life. (From Alternative Healing, by Hugh Burroughs and Mark Kastner) Dr. George Goodheart, a chiropractor in Detroit , Mich. , discovered the technique in 1964 during a patient treatment. After applying a few seconds of deep pressure on the man's severe muscular dysfunction, he found the problem was eliminated. His wide background in a variety of therapies assisted him in his development of the technique. Dr. John Thie developed a simplified version of Applied Kinesiology called Touch for Health in 1970. |
APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY
A muscle monitoring technique, applied physiology allows the body to express what is out of balance and provides information to restore that balance. Muscles are put through a normal range of motion, monitored to determine where the stresses lie. The centerpiece of the technique is using acupoints to ask “questions” about specific physiological and anatomical stresses. The goal of treatment is to let go of the stress within the body by integrating the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components of an individual. AROMATHERAPY
The use of essential oils (which are extracted from herbs, flowers, resin, woods, and roots) in body and skin care treatments is known as aromatherapy. Used as a healing technique for thousands of years by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, essential oils aid in relaxation, improve circulation, and help the healing of wounds. Aromatherapy diffusers are utilized to fill the massage room with the scent of the oils. Specific essential oils are blended by the aromatherapist and added to a carrier oil, such as almond oil, to be used during the massage. Each of the oils has its own unique characteristics and benefits. Use of this technique declined as the modern pharmaceutical industry developed. However, the French chemist Gattefossé revived the art by coining the term aromatherapy and by publishing a book on the subject in 1928. AYURVEDIC MASSAGE
An ayurvedic massage is one part of the traditional detoxification and rejuvenation program of India called panchakarma, in which the entire body is vigorously massaged with large amounts of warm oil and herbs to remove toxins from the system. With the client's permission, oil is also poured into the ears, between the eyebrows and at specific chakras, or energy points, during techniques known respectively as karna purana, shirodhara, and marma chikitsa. These treatments have been modified to meet the needs of the West and have been powerful in their effects upon the mind and nervous system — calming, balancing, and bringing both a heightened sense of awareness and deep inner peace. The techniques can be done either as stand-alone treatments or in conjunction with the ayurvedic body massage. The basis for effectively performing all of the various ayurvedic massage techniques is a thorough understanding of the primordial energies of the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) and of vata, pitta, and kapha — the three basic constitutional types (similar to the ancient Greek method of mind/body classification). This knowledge allows the therapist to determine not only which ayurvedic massage techniques to use, but also how to customize treatments by selecting the proper oils and herbs and the rate and pressure of massage strokes to maximize the benefits for each client. |
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BACH FLOWER REMEDIES
Developed by Edward Bach in the early 1900s, Bach Flower Remedies is a system of thirty-eight flower essences used in conjunction with herbs, homeopathy, and medications that seeks to correct emotional imbalances by working on the subtle body instead of the physical body. The pattern in the subtle energy fields of the living plant influences the subtle energy fields of the human being. In prescribing flower essences, the practitioner assesses the whole individual, focusing on the disposition or negative emotions of the person, such as fear, impatience, or over concern. An essence or combination of essences is then chosen to facilitate change and administered orally.
Biofeedback utilizes a system of sensitive instruments that relay information about the physical condition of the body. Used as a primary therapy, or in conjunction with other methods, biofeedback provides relaxation and stress management skills to prevent stress-related disorders and illness. These skills, including deep breathing and guided imagery, offer self-regulation and control over mental, emotional, and physical processes. The principles of biofeedback can be traced back to the 18th century.
BODY-ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY
Body-oriented psychotherapy seeks to enhance the psychotherapeutic process by incorporating a range of massage, bodywork, and movement techniques. Acknowledging the mind-body link, practitioners may use light touch, soft- or deep-tissue manipulation, breathing techniques, movement, exercise, or body-awareness techniques to help address emotional issues. Proper training is critical in this work. (Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)
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CHAIR MASSAGE
Also called on-site and seated massage, chair massage includes techniques that provide fully-clothed seated massage, bodywork and somatic therapies to clients, generally in a corporate or business setting. Practitioners utilize shiatsu, amma and/or Swedish techniques.
Founded by Emilie Conrad, continuum is a visionary inquiry into our capacity to innovate and participate with the essential, generative and biological movement processes of life. Much of continuum explores embryogenesis, allowing each one of us to enter into the great mystery of creation as an existential and spiritual unfolding. Continuum explores the idea that what we call a body or a brain is actually a creative, nonlinear, unfolding event. Movement is something we are, as well as something we do. All aspects of our functioning — thinking, feeling, languaging, and the very shaping of society — are explored as movement. Continuum provides a nonlinear biological basis for movement education, rather than the mechanistic models prevalent in society, and uses the primary perceptions of sensation, breath, sound, and movement to guide us in both subtle and dynamic explorations. (Description reprinted with permission, Continuum Movement 2001 Brochure.)
CORE STRUCTURAL INTEGRATIVE THERAPY
Originated by George P. Kousaleos, CORE is a myofascial, postural and structural somatic therapy combining massage techniques with client-assisted movement. Normally lasting 10 sessions, there are four phases of CORE body therapy organized according to the level or layer of fascia, muscle, and supporting soft tissues that are manipulated: Core massage, core extrinsic, core intrinsic, and core integration.
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY
Craniosacral therapy is a gentle, noninvasive method of evaluating and enhancing the function of a physiological body arrangement called the craniosacral system. Developed by John E. Upledger, D.O., O.M.M., this manual therapy enhances the body's natural healing processes and has proven effective in treating a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction. The craniosacral system consists of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. It extends from the bones of the skull, face, and mouth — which make up the cranium — down to the sacrum or tailbone. Since this system influences the development and function of the brain and spinal cord, any imbalance or dysfunction in the craniosacral system could cause sensory, motor, or neurological disabilities. These problems may include chronic pain, eye difficulties, scoliosis, motor-coordination impairments, learning disabilities, and other dysfunctions of the central nervous system. Craniosacral therapy encourages the body's natural healing mechanisms to improve the functioning of the central nervous system, dissipate the negative effects of stress, and enhance health and resistance to disease. The craniosacral therapy practitioner uses a light touch to assist the natural movement of fluid within the craniosacral system. Therapists generally use only 5 grams of pressure, roughly the weight of a nickel, to test for restrictions in various parts of the craniosacral system. It's often possible for the evaluation alone to remove the restriction and allow the system to correct itself.
CRYOTHERAPY
Also known as ice therapy, this modality uses the application of cold hydrotherapy in the form of ice packs and cold water immersions to alleviate blood flow, swelling, and inflammation with the contraction of blood vessels. Used in conjunction with heat, cryotherapy can increase circulation, and, hence, remove wastes and toxins from an injured area. |
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DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE
Techniques which utilize deep tissue/deep muscle massage are administered to affect the sub-layer of musculature and fascia. These techniques require more advanced training and a more thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology. The muscles must be relaxed in order to effectively perform deep tissue massage, otherwise tight surface muscles prevent the practitioner from reaching deeper musculature. It helps with chronic muscular pain and injury rehabilitation, and reduces inflammation-related pain caused by arthritis and tendinitis. It is generally integrated with other massage techniques.
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EQUINE MASSAGE
The practice of soft tissue manipulation applied to horses. See animal massage.
ESALEN MASSAGE
Developed in the 1960s, this style originated at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur , Calif. , and is based on a combination of Oriental and Swedish massage techniques. Esalen is light and gentle in nature, emphasizing nurturing and empathy. The strokes are soft, easy, and slow, prompting relaxation. It is used to reduce stress, relieve pain, improve sleep, aid digestion, and promote healing.
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FASCIAL MOBILIZATION
The fascial system is one continuous, laminated, connective-tissue sheath that spreads without interruption throughout the entire body in a three-dimensional web. Fascial mobilization allows therapists to locate and address restrictions in the fascial system which are causing asymmetries, postural malalignment, abnormal tensions, and pressures that can lead to pain and dysfunction. The goal of fascial mobilization is to produce a well-balanced, symmetrical, and mobile body within the skeletal, soft-tissue, and craniosacral systems.
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GERIATRIC MASSAGE
Geriatric massage, with its focus on the elderly, addresses the psychological and physiological aspects of aging and its associated diseases. Bodywork, often limited to a shorter time span, is performed in residential care facilities.
GUIDED IMAGERY
Also known as visualization, guided imagery is a relaxation system utilizing imagination and thoughts to improve one's physical, mental, and emotional health. Often involving a process of listening to music or a person's voice, the participant can take hold of imagery, symbols, and deep feelings to stimulate the body's immune system, fight disease, and improve their overall health. Many seriously ill patients have used this technique to imagine the destruction of their disease and/or disorder.
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HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch is an energy-based therapeutic approach to healing. Healing Touch uses touch to influence the energy system, thus affecting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health, and healing. The goal of Healing Touch is to restore harmony and balance in the energy system to help the person to self-heal. The quality and impact of the healing is influenced by the relationship between the giver and receiver.
HOLISTIC MEDICINE
Holistic medicine recognizes that the mind, spirit, lifestyle, environment, and other aspects of a person's existence significantly affect the functioning of the physical body. Thus, in evaluating and treating illness and prescribing preventative intervention, this approach treats the whole person, addressing more than just the symptoms or disease. Holistic practitioners may utilize a combination of conventional treatments along with alternative therapies.
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INFANT MASSAGE INSTRUCTION
Qualified instructors teach parents how to properly massage their infants. Infant massage is also utilized in hospital neonatal care units. This specialized form of touch is successful, not only in the critical weight gain of premature infants, but also in creating a strong bond between parent and infant and exposing a young child to the benefits and pleasures of touch.
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Alternative and conventional (allopathic) methodologies are combined to stimulate the person's natural healing response.
INTERACTIVE GUIDED IMAGERY
An effective set of tools that can be used to mobilize the latent, innate healing abilities of clients to support rehabilitation, recovery, and health. It helps the client facilitate an enhanced awareness of the unconscious imagery they already have, while helping her learn to meaningfully and effectively interact with this process on her own behalf.
INTUITIVE WORK
Intuitive work is a way of incorporating the perceived and received information that extends beyond the five senses, transcending what is considered ordinary thinking patterns and reasoning processes. The four main mediums by which intuitives receive and perceive information are clairsentience; clairvoyance; clairaudience; and “knowingness” — impression or inspirational thought. The challenge for bodyworkers is how to respectfully incorporate intuition into their work while maintaining responsibility/ respect toward the client. While the science aspect of bodywork focuses on the technique of touch (information accessed through the left hemisphere of the brain), the art aspect of bodywork focuses on how to touch with care and sensitivity (information accessed through the right hemisphere of the brain). As obvious tools for listening, hands touch with the intent to hear and see — information accessed through the temporal lobe. These three parts of the neurological system are considered the intuitive network.
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KINESIOLOGY/APPLIEDKINESIOLOGY
Kinesiology is the study of the principles of mechanics and anatomy related to human body movement, specifically the action of individual muscles or groups of muscles that perform specific movements. Applied kinesiology involves muscle testing to assess a client's condition.
KINETIC AWARENESS
Developed by dancer/choreographer Elaine Summers, kinetic awareness is a system of bodywork that aims to increase knowledge of the human body by understanding tension as a positive and necessary part of movement affecting health, attitude, and emotional well-being. Designed to improve mental image, clients can gain a heightened sensitivity to posture and movement. All parts of the body are encouraged to be free to move in all directions in which it's possible. A goal of kinetic awareness is to free the body so it is always moving away from pain and toward pleasure. There are five phases of awareness, including attention to breathing, simultaneous movement of body parts, level of tension, speed of movement and relation to others.
KRIPALU BODYWORK
The Kripalu bodyworker guides the client into a state of relaxation and meditation for the purpose of releasing physical and mental tension. This technique, based on Kripalu yoga, uses specific massage strokes and verbal/nonverbal procedures to aid clients in reconnecting with their body's own healing wisdom.
KRIYA MASSAGE
Kriya Massage, developed by Kamala Renner in 1970, is different from any traditional bodywork training because of the emphasis on the intuitive aspect by the practitioner in flowing with the “Kriya” movement while performing the massage. Kriya is defined as spontaneous energy movement. Kriya Massage is an art form that integrates the universal, life-affirming flow of energy between the practitioner and client, with any classical massage techniques integrated into the dance. Kriya Massage is a bodywork dance with the individual creating her own style in harmony with four universal forces. The strokes and techniques used in Kriya Massage are a combination of energy work, Swedish, neuromuscular, and somato-emotional release work done in a connected smooth pattern. The experience of a Kriya Massage is one of stepping out of time and space as a means of taking inventory of one's condition, then allowing the subconscious to shift and adjust programmed responses to life. The healing quality of Kriya Massage is accomplished by transforming attitudes. Giving, as well as receiving, a Kriya Massage is a regenerating experience. (Adapted from Holistic Health Directory.)
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LaSTONE THERAPY
Stones of all shapes and sizes and varying temperatures, ranging from zero to 140 degrees, are used during LaStone massage therapy to elicit physical healing, mental relaxation, and a spiritual connection to earth energy. Warm stones encourage the exchange of blood and lymph and provide soothing heat for deep-tissue work. Cold stones aid with inflammation, moving blood out of the area, and balancing male/female energies. Stones are placed in varying positions on the body for energy balancing or may be used by the therapist for specific trigger-point work. The alternating heat and cold of thermotherapy brings the entire body into the healing process, with a rapid exchange of blood and oxygen and alternating rise and fall of respiration rate as the body seeks homeostasis. LaStone therapy requires less effort from the practitioner's own body and delivers healing warmth to the hands, benefitting the therapist, as well as the client. Founder Mary Harrigan drew from the wisdom of ancient healers in using thermotherapy as the basis for her approach.
LYMPH DRAINAGE THERAPY
Lymph Drainage Therapy is unique in that healthcare professionals learn how to palpate the lymphatic flow. As they develop their skills, they can then identify the rhythm, direction, and quality of the lymphatic flow. Advanced practitioners will be able to precisely map the lymphatic flow to find alternate pathways for drainage. Developed by Bruno Chikly, M.D., Lymph Drainage Therapy evolved from years of training in traditional medicine, Oriental medicine practices, and manual therapies. (Definition provided by The Upledger Institute.)
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MAGNET THERAPY
The therapeutic use of magnets may be older than acupuncture, originally involving a material called magnetite applied in a poultice. Today's magnet therapy is still applied to the skin, but employs steady or pulsed magnetic fields from either electromagnets or less powerful permanent magnets. Fixed magnets may also be taped to the body for a period of time. Magnet therapy is used to relieve pain and discomfort and to aid in healing with a variety of physical and emotional disorders, such as arthritis and stress. Treatment may be administered by the therapist or, as in the case of taped magnets, by the client.
MANUAL LYMPH DRAINAGE
The strokes applied in manual lymph drainage are intended to stimulate the movement of the lymphatic fluids in order to assist the body in cleansing. This is a gentle, rhythmical technique that cleanses the connective tissue of inflammatory materials and toxins, enhances the activity of the immune system, reduces pain, and lowers the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. The most widely taught and generally accepted form of this technique was created by Dr. Vodder of Austria and requires advanced training and precise movements.
MASSAGE, BODYWORK AND SOMATIC THERAPIES
Massage or massage therapy are systems of structured palpation or movement of the soft tissue of the body.
The massage system may include, but is not limited to, such techniques as, stroking, kneading, gliding, percussion, friction, vibration, compression, passive or active stretching within the normal anatomical range of movement; effleurage (either firm or light soothing, stroking movement, without dragging the skin, using either padded parts of fingertips or palms); petrissage (lifting or picking up muscles and rolling the folds of skin); or tapotement (striking with the side of the hand, usually with partly flexed fingers, rhythmic movements with fingers or short rapid movements of sides of the hand). These techniques may be applied with or without the aid of lubricants, salt or herbal preparations, hydromassage, thermal massage or a massage device that mimics or enhances the actions possible by human hands. The purpose of the practice of massage is to enhance the general health and well-being of the recipient. Massage does not include the diagnosis of a specific pathology, the prescription of drugs or controlled substances, spinal manipulation or those acts of physical therapy that are outside the scope of massage therapy.
An outgrowth of massage and other systems is bodywork, defined as various forms of touch therapies that may use manipulation, movement and/or repatterning to affect structural changes to the body.
Somatic means of the body and is often used to denote a body/mind or whole-body approach, as distinguished from a physiology-only perspective.
MASSOTHERAPY
Another term meaning therapeutic muscle massage.
MEDICAL MASSAGE
Performing medical massage requires a firm background in pathology and utilizes specific treatments appropriate to working with disease, pain, and recovery from injury. The therapist may work from a physician's prescription or as an adjunct healer within a hospital or physical therapy setting.
MOVEMENT THERAPY
A variety of techniques that utilize movement re-education and proper body mechanics in combination with massage or soft tissue manipulation. After observing the client, the therapist will determine which corrective measures are necessary to accomplish specific goals. Active client participation is important while the practitioner uses verbal instruction, hypnosis and imagery, deep muscle and connective tissue manipulation, and mobilization in the movement re-education process. Registered practitioners may include graduates of The Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique, and other movement-based disciplines.
MUSCLE ENERGY TECHNIQUE
Muscle energy is a direct, noninvasive manual therapy used to normalize joint dysfunction and increase range of motion. The practitioner evaluates the primary areas of dysfunction in order to place the affected joints in precise positions that enable the client to perform gentle isometric contractions. These directed movements help correct neuromuscular and joint difficulties.
MUSCLE RELEASE TECHNIQUE
This technique combines compression, extension, movement, and breath to give therapists a tool to provide relief from pain, treating such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic low back pain, plantar fasciitis, sciatica, tennis elbow, knee pain, shin splints, frozen shoulder, hammer toes, piriformis syndrome, tendinitis, trigger finger, and much more.
MYOFASCIAL RELEASE
Myofascial release is the three-dimensional application of sustained pressure and movement into the fascial system in order to eliminate fascial restrictions and facilitate the emergence of emotional patterns and belief systems that are no longer relevant or are impeding progress. First, an assessment is made by visually analyzing the human frame, followed by the palpation of the tissue texture of various fascial layers. Upon locating an area of fascial tension, gentle pressure is applied in the direction of the restriction. Myofascial release is an effective therapeutic approach in the relief of cervical pain, back pain, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, neurological dysfunction, restriction of motion, chronic pain, and headaches.
MYOFASCIAL TRIGGER POINT THERAPY
Based on the discoveries of Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons in which they found the causal relationship between chronic pain and its source, myofascial trigger point therapy is used to relieve muscular pain and dysfunction through applied pressure to trigger points of referred pain and through stretching exercises. These points are defined as localized areas in which the muscle and connective tissue are highly sensitive to pain when compressed. Pressure on these points can send referred pain to other specific parts of the body.
MYOSKELETAL ALIGNMENT TECHNIQUE
A holistic approach to relief of back and neck pain based on concepts and principles from Rolfing, osteopathy, and related physical medicine. Focused on detecting and correcting strain patterns to prevent back/neck pain, this technique combines deep-tissue work with assisted stretching and non-force spinal alignment.
MYOTHERAPY
See Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy.
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NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
Naturopathy integrates a wide range of natural therapeutics emphasizing the healing power of nature to treat the causes of disease, rather than suppressing the symptoms. As part of a holistic medical healthcare system with an emphasis on education and prevention, the naturopathic physician seeks to motivate the individual toward a healthy and balanced diet, lifestyle, and mental attitude. Treatments such as homeopathic medicines, clinical nutrition, traditional Oriental medicine, and acupuncture are used to enhance the body's natural healing process.
NEURAL KINESIOLOGY
This technique is a holistic healing system which utilizes the best of American kinesiology and European neural therapy. Neural kinesiology recognizes and assesses the need for therapies in each of the four primary categories — neurological, structural, biochemical, and psychological.
NEUROMUSCULAR REPROGRAMMING
This therapy utilizes a form of positive kinesthetic conversation with the body to imprint new learnings on the motor control center of the brain, and replace damaged imprints created through trauma, injury, or repetitive strain.
NEUROMUSCULAR THERAPY
This comprehensive program of soft-tissue manipulation balances the body's central nervous system with the musculoskeletal system. Based on neurological laws that explain how the central nervous system initiates and maintains pain, the goal is to help relieve the pain and dysfunction by understanding and alleviating the underlying cause. Neuromuscular therapy can help individuals who experience distortion and biomechanical dysfunction, which is often a symptom of a deeper problem. It is also used to locate and release spasms and hypercontraction in the tissue, eliminate trigger points that cause referred pain, rebuild the strength of injured tissues, assist venous and lymphatic flow, and restore postural alignment, proper biomechanics, and flexibility to the tissues.
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PILATES METHOD
Pilates is a series of movements, done from a sitting, reclining, kneeling, or standing position, designed to increase strength and flexibility, release tension, and relieve chronic neck and back pain. Developed by German-born Joseph Pilates in the 1920s, this method combines elements of Eastern and Western disciplines, including yoga, tai chi, and ancient Greek and Roman exercise protocols. Specially designed apparatus are used for stretching and strengthening exercises and can be calibrated to the client's needs. Repatterning movements and proper breathing techniques are important components of the training. The Pilates method is used in physical rehabilitation and is popular with athletes and performance artists, as well as those seeking to improve body conditioning.
POLARITY THERAPY
Polarity therapy is based on universal principles of energy — attraction, repulsion, and neutrality. The interrelation of these principles forms the basis for every aspect of life, including our experience of health, wellness, and disease. With this understanding, polarity therapy addresses the interdependence of body, mind, and spirit, the importance of relationships, and the value of creating a way of life in harmony with nature. Founded by Austrian-born naturopath Dr. Randolph Stone in the mid-1920s, polarity therapy is a clothes-on, noninvasive system complementing existing systems with an integrated, holistic model. Polarity is based on the belief that positive and negative poles exist in every cell. The body is gently manipulated to balance the positive and negative energies. In addition to physical manipulation, blockages and toxins are eliminated through a cleansing diet and simple exercises. Treatments are suggested in a series of four. Training to become a practitioner is 430 hours.
PRENATAL/PREGNANCY MASSAGE
Performed by a trained perinatal specialist, many methods of massage and somatic therapies are both effective and safe prenatally, and during labor and postpartum periods of women's pregnancies. Prenatally, specific techniques can reduce pregnancy discomforts and concerns and enhance the physiological and emotional well-being of both mother and fetus. Skilled, appropriate touch facilitates labor, shortening labor times and easing pain and anxiety. In the postpartum period, specialized techniques rebalance structure, physiology, and emotions of the new mother, and may help her to bond with and care for her infant. Specialized, advanced training in the anatomy, physiology, complications, precautions, and contraindications is highly recommended, and many practitioners require referrals from physicians prior to therapy.
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QIGONG
This traditional Chinese treatment combines hands-on and hands-off techniques that balance the flow of qi (energy) through the body, move and relieve qi blockages, and improve circulation. Qigong is also a combination of timed breathing and gentle flowing movement, meditation, visualization, and conscious intent all working together to achieve an integrated adjustment of mind and body in order to better cultivate, circulate, and balance qi, or life force. Qigong theory is the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is used to treat many serious illnesses, as well as for relaxation. See Qigong Meridian Therapy.
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ROLFING STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION
A method to reorder the major body segments, Rolfing was founded by American biochemist Dr. Ida Rolf in the 1940s. Rolfing utilizes physical manipulation and movement awareness to bring head, shoulders, thorax, pelvis, and legs into vertical alignment. It allows more efficient use of the muscles with less expended energy by lifting the head and chest and lengthening the body's trunk. A sense of lightness and greater mobility often result from Rolfing. Treatments are offered in a 10-session series, as well as advanced sessions. See structural integration.
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SHIATSU
Developed in Japan , shiatsu is a finger-pressure technique utilizing the traditional acupuncture points of Oriental healing. Similar to acupressure, shiatsu concentrates on unblocking the flow of life energy and restoring balance in the meridians and organs in order to promote self-healing. With the client reclining, the practitioner applies pressure with the finger, thumb, palm, elbow, or knee to specific zones on the skin located along the energy meridians. The treatment brings about a sense of relaxation while stimulating blood and lymphatic flow. The benefits of this treatment may include pain relief and a strengthening of the body's resistance to disease and disorder.
SOMA
SOMA is a unique development of the holographic body reading technique. Holographic body reading recognizes that each person has an individual blueprint, allowing for the practitioner to analyze this, personalize its needs, and design the sessions to correspond to those individual needs. The SOMA practitioner works with the fascia and musculature to restore circulation and return the body to its original perfection. See SOMA Neuromuscular Integration.
SOMA NEUROMUSCULAR INTEGRATION
A 10-session system of bodywork, soma neuromuscular integration works the fascial network to release chronic, stored structural aberrations; to effectively realign the entire body; and to facilitate the change process. The three brain model theory and holographic body reading, as part of the SOMA theoretical framework, assist the practitioner to analyze each individual blueprint, personalize needs, and design the session for each structure. SOMA work includes extensive guidance tools (movement, journaling, drawing interpretation, and other mind/body integrating tools) for training bodywork practitioners and for educating clients.
SOMATIC EDUCATION
Somatic Education is a healthcare modality based on co-creative science. It is therefore taught and practiced in a co-creative partnership with nature. Somatic Education considers the body as one of nature's gardens and facilitates self-healing by working with flower essences; MAP and calibration; and environmental, energy, and other processes.
SOMATO-EMOTIONAL RELEASE
SomatoEmotional Release is a therapeutic process that helps rid the mind and body of residual effects of past trauma and associated negative responses. Dr. John Upledger and biophysicist Dr. Zvi Karni discovered the body often retains physical forces as the result of accident, injury, or emotional trauma. Following trauma, the body isolates the “energy cyst.” Students in Somato-emotional Release learn how to help the client physically identify and expel the energy cyst through re-experiencing and resolving unpleasant incidents.
SOUND THERAPY
Using the media of sound (music, tones, vibrations, etc.) as a tool for healing, sound therapy enables the realignment of natural body rhythms. Therapy may include, but is not limited to, the use of tibetan singing bowls, chimes, acutonic tuning forks, rattles, and drums.
SPORTS MASSAGE
Sports massage consists of specific components designed to reduce injuries, alleviate inflammation, provide warm-up, etc. for amateur and professional athletes before, during, after, and within their training regimens.
ST. JOHN
St. John's neuromuscular therapy seeks out the cause of pain, focusing on creating a balance between the muscular and nervous systems. This bodywork focuses on five basic principles — biomechanics, ischemis, trigger points, postural distortion, and nerve entrapment and compression — that are important factors in the body's physical homeostasis. Also, attention is given to hormonal balance, nutrition, and elimination of toxins. This therapy is used to treat soft-tissue pain throughout most of the body.
STRAIN/COUNTERSTRAIN
Developed by osteopath Lawrence Jones, this noninvasive treatment helps decrease protective muscle spasms and alleviate somatic dysfunction in the musculoskeletal system. By using palpation and passive positional procedures, the therapist practicing strain/counterstrain therapy can help restore pain-free movement. The position that relieves the referred pain is held for 90 seconds. After resuming the original position and pressing the trigger point, the referred pain is gone. Although the client is often asked to bend or twist like a contortionist to secure a comfortable position, for the most part clients report effectiveness of the procedure.
STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION
Based on the work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, structural integration is based on the idea the entire structural order of the body needs to be realigned and balanced with the gravitational forces around a “central vertical line” representing gravity's influence. Therapeutic intervention is directed toward the myofascial system — the ligaments, muscles, tendons, and surrounding connective tissues. A practitioner of structural integration has a 10-session cycle of work — they use different angles and degrees of physical pressure to stretch and guide fascia to a place of easier movement. The process is not intended to “cure” symptoms; its goal is to create a more resilient, higher-energy system free of inhibitions due to past trauma. See Rolfing.
SWEDISH MASSAGE
One of the most commonly taught and well-known massage techniques, Swedish massage is a vigorous system of treatment designed to energize the body by stimulating circulation. Five basic strokes, all flowing toward the heart, are used to manipulate the soft tissues of the body. The disrobed client is covered by a sheet, with only the area being worked on exposed. Therapists use a combination of kneading, rolling, vibrational, percussive, and tapping movements, with the application of oil, to reduce friction on the skin. The many benefits of Swedish massage may include generalized relaxation, dissolution of scar tissue adhesions, and improved circulation, which may speed healing and reduce swelling from injury. |
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THERAPEUTIC TOUCH
Developed through the collaboration of a nursing professor and a spiritual healer, Therapeutic Touch is based on ancient energy healing methods. Practitioners, primarily nurses, are trained to feel or sense energy imbalances in the client and to use “laying on” of hands to disperse blocks and channel healing forces to the client's body. The therapist uses a light touch or holds the hand above the body, with the client generally seated. Meditation is used by the therapist to center herself and strengthen her connection to the client's energy system. Therapeutic Touch has been applied in an assortment of medical situations, including the care of premature infants and emergency room patients. It is known to induce a state of relaxation within minutes. Therapeutic Touch is considered safe because of its gentle, noninvasive approach. Developers of this technique affirm that everyone has the potential to heal with Therapeutic Touch and may be taught the methodology in one day.
TOUCH FOR HEALTH
Developed by chiropractor John Thie, Touch for Health combines methods and techniques that include acupuncture principles, acupressure, muscle testing, massage, and dietary guidelines. The method of treatment requires a second person who performs muscle testing. This determines which muscles are strong or weak, indicating if a physical problem or organ malfunction exists. Once weak muscles are determined, a variety of methods are used as part of a muscle strengthening program. Such techniques include finger pressure on neuro-vascular holding points on the head and pressure on the acupressure holding points. After the muscles have been strengthened, Touch for Health theory states that energy then flows through the body, improving vitality and ability to maintain good health. See kinesiology.
TRAGER APPROACH
Trager is an approach to bodywork developed in the 1920s by American medical practitioner Dr. Milton Trager. It makes extensive use of touch-contact and encourages the client to experience the freeing-up of different parts of the body. The approach consists of simple exercises called Mentastics and deep, nonintrusive hands-on work, including fluid, gentle, rocking movements. The idea is to use motion in the muscles and joints to produce positive sensory feelings that are then fed back into the central nervous system. The result is a feeling of lightness, freedom, and flexibility. A Trager session takes from 60 to 90 minutes. No oils or lotions are used. The client wears a swimsuit or underwear and lies on a well-padded table in a warm, comfortable environment. No long, broad strokes are used over the surface of the body and, unlike various techniques of deep tissue manipulation, it does not utilize extreme pressure or rapid thrusts to create structural change and does not produce pain as a necessary adjunct to its effectiveness. During the session, the practitioner makes touch-contact with the client in such a gentle and rhythmic way that the person lying passively on the table actually experiences the possibility of being able to move each part of the body freely, effortlessly, and gracefully on their own. The practitioner works in a relaxed, meditative state of consciousness. This allows the practitioner to connect deeply with the recipient in an unforced way, to remain continually aware of the slightest responses, and to work efficiently without fatigue. After getting up from the table, the client is given instruction in the use of Mentastics, a system of simple, effortless movement sequences to maintain and enhance the sense of lightness, freedom, and flexibility instilled by the table work. Mentastics is Dr. Trager's coinage for “mental gymnastics” — a mindfulness in motion — designed to help clients re-create for themselves the sensory feelings produced by the motion of their tissue in the practitioner's hands. It is a powerful means of teaching the client to recall the pleasurable sensory state that produced positive tissue change. Because it is this feeling state that triggered positive tissue response in the first place, every time the feeling is clearly recalled the changes deepen, become more permanent, and are more receptive to further positive change. Changes described have included the disappearance of specific symptoms, discomforts, or pains, heightened levels of energy and vitality, more effortless posture and carriage, greater joint mobility, deeper states of relaxation than were previously possible, and a new ease in daily activities.
TRIGGER POINT MYOTHERAPY
Trigger point myotherapy is a noninvasive therapeutic modality for the relief and control of myofascial pain and dysfunction. The goal of treatment is the client's recovery from or a significant reduction in myofascial pain. The treatment goal is achieved through a systematized approach. Treatment consists of trigger point compression, myomassage, passive stretching, and a regime of corrective exercises. Success may be measured subjectively by the level of pain reduction experienced by the client and objectively through increased range of motion, strength, endurance, and other measures of improved function. Trigger point myotherapy relies heavily on client-therapist interaction, including verbal and nonverbal elements. The myotherapist encourages the client to be personally responsible for their improvement, with attention to such factors as nutritional intake, stress, proper exercises, mechanical abnormalities, and other physical components. These elements protect the client from delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, or contraindicated treatment, which are the concerns of first order. Trigger point myotherapy is an integrating approach to myofascial pain and dysfunction.
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VIBRATIONAL HEALING MASSAGE THERAPY
Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy (VHMT) is a bodywork therapy designed to restore one to fluidity. It is like massage therapy, providing touch techniques and distinctions that help a person live in their body as a liquid process, freeing pain as we have known it. VHMT works with the physical structure to free up past tensions and stresses that have been held in the body. This reawakening of the nervous system restores circulation to injured areas, moves energy and emotions, and helps in the letting go of chronic pain or stiffness. There are approximately 16 basic techniques that serve to align, loosen, and connect the body so tensions can reverberate freely. Special sensitive stretching, rebounding, and torquing are some of the techniques helping clients to become aware of where they have been holding. Practitioners and recipients alike begin to feel not only their vibrations move within them, but also new circulation of their basic metabolic fluids flowing again to once-rigid areas. As they listen to people's body rhythms and frequencies, practitioners of VHMT facilitate a clothes-on massage therapy that is rhythmic and fun, like playing a fine-tuned violin or guitar. VHMT includes new distinctions of awareness in thinking, speaking, walking, standing, and sitting which allow for fully-connected and communicative bodies. These concepts are: The Fluid Body Model — a body of knowledge where we experience being in our bodies in a whole new way, acknowledging and honoring the fluid, evolving processes that we are; Disease as a Strategy — a self-responsible way of thinking that allows us to access self-healing and growth; and The Language of Healing — a way of speaking responsibly about our bodies and lives, so that when we speak, we are causing and accessing healing and transformation to happen.
VISCERAL MANIPULATION
Visceral manipulation enhances the normal mobility and tissue motion of the organs of the visceral system. Hypertonicity, displacement, and adhesions can all cause organs to work against each other, creating chronic irritation and fixed, abnormal points of tension. The visceral organs are dependent on their ability to move freely in the visceral cavity to then work correctly and efficiently. When they are pulled out of their effective positions, they cease to function properly. By freeing each organ to work compatibly with the others, a therapist can potentially alter and improve the structure and functioning of the entire body.
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YOGA
The word yoga describes a variety of Hindu practices developed in ancient India to unify body and mind with universal spirit, thereby encouraging physical and mental well-being. Yoga most commonly involves a series of stretching postures (called asanas), breathing exercises, and meditative practices. Diet is also considered important to this discipline. Yoga increases flexibility, improves muscle tone, and is helpful in the reduction of stress.
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© 2006 Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals.
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Information & Links |
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Disclaimer |
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Massage for Health and Wellness Mark LaBounty LMT, NCTMB LLC * 3 Bruce Court, Unit A, Greenland, NH 03840 * 603-431-4263 |
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