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By Terry O’Brien
Dr. Ida P. Rolf (1896-1979) developed a body of work that was concerned not so much with the alleviation of symptoms, but with the potential of human body.
By all accounts a formidable woman, as evidenced by a PhD. in Biochemistry (1920) and a position as a research fellow at the Rockefeller Institute (until she left to raise her two sons in 1929), Ida Rolf encountered Osteopathy, as well as Homeopathy and Yoga through personal and family health issues, and took her interest from the theoretical (to which she brought her considerable scientific powers), to the empirical and practical.
Structural Integration: explaining the provenance of Hellerwork & Rolfing.
“Arranging the body so that it balances around the actual physical line of gravity is the goal of Structural Integration. However the work is neither so purely physiological that it ignores the experience of the person, nor too ethereal and ungrounded in physical reality. It is a meditation of a high degree. When one experiences an open balance of some part of the body in S.I., it is often with an interior sense of rightness, of recognition of the body as it was always meant to be. At the same time it has all the elegance of a geometry lesson, purified of subjective distortion and confusion. In a sense, Ida Rolf managed what William Blake never did: to combine a scientific understanding with an adequate grasp of soul.” Ed Maupin Phd.
Structural Integration is a hands on body-work on the soft tissue (Connective Tissue) on the whole body: it relieves the strain/stress patterns that cause restriction of movement and pain.
Connective tissue, also known as Fascia, is the packing material of the body. It envelops the muscles, bones and joints and holds us together supporting the body structure and giving us our shape. Fascia organises and separates: it provides protection for the individual muscles and viscera. It joins and bonds these separate entities and establishes spatial relationships. Chemically it is the collagen in the fascia that enables it to change. Collagen, a colloid is capable of changing from fluid to solid, and solid to fluid in response to the forces acting upon it. With chronic tension collagen tends to shorten and harden. Structural Integration re-hydrates and restores elasticity to the fascia.
If you hurt your knee it would swell up to immobilise/restrict movement and allow the body to repair the damage. While the knee movement is restricted and painful to use, this will have a knock-on effect on the rest of the body.
During the recovery you will walk with a limp, the other leg will bear more weight, pelvis will tilt to compensate for the limp, the spine be thrown out of alignment at the sacrum and compensate at the neck and shoulder girdle. The body will have a whole new set of compensations while the knee heals.
Like any repair, there is usually weakness of varying degrees, depending on the severity of the injury and body type, and also a whole new set of strain patterns to compensate for the foot injury some of these patterns will stay.
A Structural Integration practitioner will work to smooth out these patterns at a level that is acceptable to the patient.
Lets be honest our bodies tell our story, from the day we are born we are walking testaments of every kind of input, be it physical, mental or emotional; every influence literally becomes part of the way we sit, walk, stand and move about in our daily lives.
Sometimes these patterns lead to every day aches or pains, which we first notice when getting up in the morning, driving, getting up from our desk at work, playing sport or out in the local health club.
Structural Integration methods balance and aligns the body along a natural vertical axis by gradually stretching, lengthening and repositioning the fascia, restoring its normal length and flexibility. The practitioner utilises deep, gentle pressure to free the fascial restrictions. Chemically it is the collagen in the fascia that gives it its plasticity and enables it to change. The practitioner utilises the appropriate pressure and combines the client's breath and movement to free the shortened tissue.
Structural Integration works by lengthening and opening the patterns in the connective tissue. As a result, the thickened, toughened tissue becomes soft, re-hydrated and more pliable, thus allowing movement and flexibility. Structural Integration changes the body's compensations because it organises the imbalances in the tissue. The systematic approach to relating gravity through the myofascial layers aligns the body and improves posture. The body lengthens allowing muscles the space to work and joints the freedom to function.1
About the Author
Terry O’Brien has worked in General Medicine for over 30 years, starting out as a Medical Officer in HM Forces, serving just over 15 years.
http://www.backdoctor.org.uk/
http://www.backtrouble.co.uk
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This page is provided by Ground Up Strength for information purposes only and should not take the place of professional medical advice. Although we have done our utmost to provide accurate and safe information, we are not medical professionals and the information on this page should not be taken as professional medical advice, or any other kind of medical advice.
This page created 01 Jun 2011 22:57
Last updated 21 Apr 2012 01:20
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