Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Musculosketal pain & imbalance

A recent client came for upper back, shoulder and neck pain.  She works in IT so admits she has very bad posture as she's mostly at the computer all day.  She's never had Bowen before, so with any client new to this type of treatment I knew I'd need to go carefully in order to see how her body would respond to it.

With any Bowen treatment, it can release toxins stored in the body and these can make you feel a little achy next day, so slow and careful, first time round!  Oh the good news is that Bowen also makes your body better assimilate nutrients, so every cloud does have a silver lining eh?

 BEFORE - her L leg is shorter
AFTER clearly shows leg length improved
This time I remembered to take photos BEFORE I treated her and I've attached them here.  As it WAS  her first treatment, I explained that I would be able to relieve her back and neck discomfort, which I did, but wouldn't at this time, do much more until her body 'understood' what Bowen would be doing.  Too much on the first treatment can be too much 'information' for the body to handle.  A little like overloading info into a computer?
BEFORE- her L buttock higher
AFTER - buttocks now level

Bowen, by the way, continues to 'work' on the body (incrementally) over 4-5 DAYS (not hours!). So slow is far, far better at the very first treatment.  This is why we recommend against any other remedial therapy from any other source for that 4-5 days by the way.

BEFORE - her L knee is lower
AFTER - Knees now level
Anyway, as you can see her leg length shows the left leg pulled up tight into the pelvic area shown here by the misalignment of the heels as I gently pulled them together.  The next photo if you look closely shows her left buttock is higher than the right and when I turn her over and she bends her knees (making sure the feet are in perfect alignment too), the left again is decidedly shorter than the right.

Second Treatment
One week later she reported feeling really good after her first treatment, so I was OK to "pull out all the stops" and correct her pelvic imbalance and leg length discrepancy.  Any runners reading this will be delighted to know that this is an easy issue to correct and will greatly enhance your smooth running and your body response (recuperation).

Her main areas of tension were located in two places - her lower  back muscles on the Right (Quadratus Lumborum or QL for short), the right Psoas (which is a deep muscle that supports the action of the QL and often causes problems with pelvic balance, especially standing straight) and the Left inguinal ligament that connects the hip bone with the pubic bone.  Other moves were made over additional areas, but these were the one where particular imbalances were found.  Both can affect the pelvis and consequently the length of the leg, the placement of buttocks and knees - as you see in the AFTER treatment photos all those areas have improved markedly.  The client herself could FEEL the difference as well as see for herself when looking down towards her knees.

If you require your body balanced and to reduce physical discomfort no matter how long you've had this for (it could be a car accident you suffered years ago), Bowen can help you. Contact us for an appointment at Brilliant Living Solutions.


Friday, May 30, 2014

Stress and sleep disorder

A woman in her early forties came to see me with severely aching legs that had “always been a problem since about 11 yrs of age” and that doctors could not help and were unable to diagnose a cause or treatment plan, other than constant use of pain killers to enable her to get some sleep at night. 

She also had had a car accident at about 13 (ran over her legs on soft ground). The pain was constant and the only way she could sleep at night was to rest her legs up against the wall for 30-40 mins, which would provide some relief allowing about an hour’s sleep, before she would have to go through the routine again.  No much sleep for years really.

Bowen helped to some degree, but it wasn’t until I put her onto minerals in January 2013 that I noticed a marked improvement.  It was slow at first and I assured her that if she stuck with it, it should help improve her aching legs and therefore her ability to sleep.  Since taking the minerals she noticed improvement in things I didn’t expect.  Her eczema improved and she stopped biting her nails

More importantly her muscle pain receded and her sleeping vastly improved.  Within twelve months she was sleeping at least 7-8 hours a night.  She no longer had to put her legs up against the wall and pain medication is now seldom required.  She can leave off the minerals for longer periods, so she can now see the future being consistently pain free, with quality sleep.  The minerals will always be there if needed, but she will no longer be reliant on them like she was on the drugs.

Note:

In cases of chronic illness it takes longer to rebuild and purify the system.  This client is in her 40s and has suffered for over 30 years, so the process has taken longer than usual. While it has taken over a year to gain these results, it is the first time she has been able to sleep properly. She will not have to take the minerals ‘for the rest of her life’.  They are natural to the body and do not interfere with any medications. I’ve also noted her skin is now markedly brighter, ‘fresher’ and more luminous.  Her voice is stronger and more ‘determined’, as is her manner, which was highly likely due to long term sleep deprivation. 
It is worth mentioning that in some cases (not this client), if any mineral deficiency is severe enough for long enough, it can actually impact on manner and personality, such as someone being a procrastinator, or having a fear of failure, or even setting self imposed restrictions or barriers.

Our website: Brilliant Living Solutions 
Institute trained Mineral Deficiency Analyst (Diploma)  

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

IVF Alternative - Bowen & Mineral Therapy

This young woman was 32 years old when she first came to see me.  She told me they were trying to have a baby, but “just letting nature take its course”.  I fully supported her having Bowen during this time, as getting the body in balance is important. Two months later, following a few treatments for a sore lower back, she was still not pregnant and her periods were light. She was unaware of when she ovulated.  I discussed trying Hormone Dynamics (a Bowen treatment aimed specifically at rectifying any hormonal imbalances – in her case aimed at helping fertility).

So in early July 2013 we started, which involved treating her during the first days of her menses, again at ovulation and then again at menses.  The treatments are non-invasive and aimed at stimulating the uterus and ovaries to a regular rhythm and improved ‘performance’.  Her very first treatment produced a heavy flow with strong period pain.  I welcomed this, although it was unpleasant for her, as it signalled a thorough cleanse of her uterus.  Her own comment was quite profound as she said “it felt like waking up a sluggish system”, she bled for 5 days, which was a little longer than usual.
At 34 weeks!

Her next flow was ‘normal’, but it was to be the last one!  After only 4 treatments, the last one being at ovulation, she successfully conceived and her baby is now due anytime soon (in late May 2014)!! Note: delivered a healthy little girl, 8lb 1/2oz or 3.64kg the day after writing this blog!  Both are doing well - Happy Days J 

I also discussed Mineral Therapy to support the whole process as she’d also talked about anxiety, sleeping problems and fluid retention with me.  Supplying important (but obviously deficient) minerals would not only help her with these issues, but later would benefit her while pregnant and the health of her developing baby.  She decided to do everything as natural as she could to support the whole process.  She had no need of further prescribed support such as iron, as the minerals met all the requirements (without having to deal with constipation L).

After only 3-4 weeks on the minerals, she reported no anxiety, better sleep, feeling good at work, she stopped worrying about unimportant  things, stomach cramps (from food) stopped and her face lost the excess fluid (puffiness). 

NOT available at Health Stores
She continued Mineral Therapy and Bowen, designed now specifically for her developing pregnancy and reported feeling very fit and healthy.  She had no back pain or swelling and slept really well throughout.  She loved each treatment as she got to relax face down and came away feeling soft, pliable and happy.

She got lots of exercise and drank plenty of water during her treatment. She was a really good example of someone deciding to “do whatever it took” to support her own health and that of her baby – and has had a wonderful experience throughout. 


Note: So much less stressful, more natural and HUGELY less expensive than going down the IVF path if you don't need to! J Discuss this process with me, contact me now to find out how!

Our website: Brilliant Living Solutions 
Institute trained Mineral Deficiency Analyst (Diploma)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Pelvic Tilt

I had a new client recently (62 year old female), who came to me for pain right on her spine, just between her hips, on her right buttock and front of her thigh and knee pain.  Both her knees were giving her jip and she wondered if Bowen could help. 

I explained how Bowen works (as I usually do for new clients) and that we like to do an ‘all over’ assessment and treatment to make sure everything is properly balanced.  Quite often issues can be referred, in other words pain can be felt in one location that is caused by another being out of balance.

Having listened carefully to all her concerns, I asked her to climb aboard onto the treatment bench.  The first position is face down (prone) where my first surprise happened.  I’ve never, ever seen anyone quite so twisted in the pelvic region before and I’ve treated a few.  So much so, that I had to lean over and try to slip my fingers underneath her right hip, so convinced was I that she must have something underneath her hip that was forcing it upwards.  Her right buttock was at least 8cm higher than the left.  I wished I’d taken a photo before I started work.  I asked her if she felt like she was laying straight and flat, which she assured me she was and that she was comfortable.

I explained what I was doing and why as I started work, checking all the muscles, tendons and ligaments for excessive tension or discomfort as I went.  Oddly her leg length seemed ok, which is not usually the case with an out of balance pelvis.

Just before I needed to turn her over (supine), I rechecked her alignment and was greatly pleased to see that it was now only very slightly higher on the right side (about 1 cm).  Now would have been a good time to take another photo – hmmmm!

Anyway, I progressed with my treatment on all areas, but concentrating around and affecting the pelvic area, with very little actually done on her knees.  I explained to her how the pelvis can affect SO many other areas of the body if out of balance. All went very smoothly and she got up feeling very relaxed and ‘straighter’.

As she was such a chronic case (years) of pelvic tilt, I requested she return the following week to ensure that the treatment had stayed with her.  As often happens with an imbalance that’s been there for years, it may take a few treatments for the body to ‘learn’ to stay balanced.  Sometimes, people also have to learn to move differently too, as they now have more functional capacity than they’ve had for a long time.  Learning new habits, such as not always crossing your legs the exact same way (as it’s comfortable that way!) when in actual fact they are simply supporting an imbalance that is now no longer an issue.

Anyway, two more treatments and her pelvis was only slightly showing the imbalance and she reported she felt like she walked “like a soldier” for a couple of days (whatever that meant for her), until she became more comfortable with her newly balanced body.  Oh and she reported that her knees, hadn’t been a bother to her since the first treatment.  She’s off on a holiday now so we’ll see how she pulls up when she returns.  She had strict instructions to be VERY careful handling her luggage off the carousel as many, many clients do damage lifting and twisting while getting luggage from there.

If YOU have hip/pelvis problems contact us at Brilliant Living Solutions