What Is The Bowen Technique?
The Bowen technique is a dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue therapy that is quickly gaining recognition in health care worldwide. For more than 40 years it has been used successfully to treat thousands of people suffering from a variety of illnesses. Developed by the late Tom Bowen in Australia, it is a unique system that has amazed therapists of all disciplines. The gentle moves on soft tissue stimulate physiological changes & energy flow, empowering the body's own resources to heal itself.
The Bowen technique balances the body to allow it to heal itself. The work consists of a series of precise moves on specific points of the body. There are frequent and important pauses between each series of moves giving the body time to benefit from each. The structure (muscle, tendon, or nerve sheath) is identified with the thumb or the fingers. The skin slack is gently tractioned in the opposite direction to the intended move. Then the muscle is challenged with gentle pressure in the direction of the intended move. Finally the skin is allowed to move across the structure to the limit of the available skin slack.
Although individual moves used alone may produce a positive effect, the full benefit of the technique is gained through a complementary series of moves. Only a limited number of sequences are needed each session so the technique is simple to do and is easy on the patient.
The Bowen technique allows the body to heal itself with minimal intervention. There is no person that can not be treated safely using Bowen, from the youngest to the very old. Midwives use Bowen with tremendous success on both labouring women and the new-born. At the other end of the scale, geriatric staff and hospice workers report consistently good results with people in their care. Back pain would be one of the most common presentations and one that tends to respond very quickly. Other conditions that are consistently resolved include: frozen shoulder, asthma, tennis elbow, migraine, hay fever, carpal tunnel, RSI, painful or lumpy breasts and whiplash. The list is exhaustive and there is no condition that would exclude a treatment. The reason for this is that a Bowen therapist does not treat the condition, but rather treats the patient.
