If you are a practicing structural integrator looking for professional resources, send me an email to get the link to the new location of structuralintegration.info for practicing professionals!

Matt

Owen Marcus over at Rolf Blog has written a nice two-part article on dealing with back pain from a Rolfer’s perspective. He offers a simple, straightforward explanation of back pain in part one and goes on in part two to talk about how to work with the pain…

“I have not seen a back that was muscularly weak; I see many that are structurally weak. Our bigger back muscles are not meant to be posture muscles, they are designed to move us, not hold us. The constant holding makes them tighter. Rather than getting stronger form sit-ups or back extensions, practice breathing and stretching…”

3 years later, knees made for dancing

¶Going down steep steps can be difficult and may require a sideways, one-foot approach. A normal knee bends at an angle of about 145 degrees, but replaced knees often achieve only 120 degrees, if that. Sitting on the floor cross-legged may be impossible.

¶Despite the passage of time and many months of physical therapy, there can be residual discomfort. I “feel” my knees on every rotation of the bike pedals, though the sensation is not what I would call pain and not enough to stop me from riding.

This is a video featuring Libby Eason, Rolf Institute faculty member and certified advanced Rolfer®.

It’s not carpal tunnel. It’s not out and out nerve damage to the radial or ulnar nerve! It’s thoracic outlet syndrome! Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: a 50 year experience at Baylor University Medical Center is an interesting survey of the center’s development of treatment of (read: surgery on) TOS. Food for your professional mind.

On Rolfing sites and in books on structural integration, you’ll find countless claims about “trauma being stored in our tissues.” For some, this can be a hard pill to swallow – it was for me – but neurobiological investigations bear out this metaphorical claim. New tools to investigate the mechanisms involved in the experience of pain are yielding some surprising (or perhaps not so surprising) insights. » Continue reading “How can trauma be stored in the body’s tissues (Part 1)?”