Back and leg pain- Acute injury
Main modality used: Bowen Therapy augmented by Chinese Meridian Theory
First Treatment:
John, (not his real name) in his mid fifties, came in for right lower back pain and upper leg pain. It was the result of a car door abruptly opening, slamming into him as he was standing there. Needless to say, he was in a lot of pain. The pain was not going away and he needed relief.
In this situation, it was clearly time to activate the channels to help move the Qi/energy and blood that had become stagnant from the inflammation in the soft tissues. Bowen Therapy was chosen for him since needles would have been too painful and really much less effective in this case. It would be the most effective in moving the congested lymph in the injured areas and increasing circulation overall to allow the debris to be moved out and more blood and fresh nutrients in. Then the body would have the raw materials to begin to heal quickly.
The great advantage of utilizing Bowen Therapy here was the gentle approach, since the technique consists of a very light yet precise roll over the muscles. This began to activate the innate intelligence in the body and communication was being established within the fascia of the entire body. This therapy, as it is practiced at our clinic, is an integration of these Bowen classical moves at certain predetermined areas of the body and Chinese meridian theory.
After the first move (as they are called) over the right lower back, John’s left arm twitched noticeably. Twitching is often a good sign, often signalling the resetting of muscle fibers. A few more moves near the area of the scapula completes the first set. Now John is left alone for 2-3 minutes so that his nervous system will be able to interpret this sensory input and translate it into action.
This time of rest is very important to the success of the entire treatment. It allows the body be able to assimilate what the signals that the precise move generated before going on to the next set of instructions.
Then more moves were done over the kidney area. Rest again. Then John was asked to flip over on his back and areas of his knee were activated. Also, additional acupuncture points were stimulated in this same manner that were not part of the Bowen repertoire. These areas were chosen according to meridian theory and the principle of "as above, so below".
2nd Treatment: 1 week later
John came in extremely thankful. Even though he had a heavy workweek involving a lot of walking, standing and getting in and out of cars, he improved immensely. In fact, he called 3 days after the first treatment to say that he could bend up and down without pain. The areas that were hit by the car door was achy still, but he felt 90% better.
On this day, John was quite achy in the scapula area. He did not present with this pain. The treatment itself caused it and it is quite common that areas that are tight yet were not causing pain yet are now trying to open up with the increased circulation. As the self healing and self regulating mechanisms have been activated, other areas of the body that held blockages of energy, unknown to John, are being forced to break up. Temporarily then, certain areas of the body, including the initial areas of pain but also including old areas of injury may feel very achy in the first day or days after the treatment. Again, this is a good sign that the innate intelligence is working for you and there is no need to worry.
All the pain subsided soon and John did not have to come back for this particular problem.
3rd treatment: 4 months later
John came in wanting help with his sore ankles. Upon examination his spine and lower back was very stiff. His hamstrings were also quite contracted and prevented him from raising his knee up while standing. Again, only Bowen Therapy was used as he preferred this to needles, having gotten such good results last time. In addition, he was given an exercise to help with this problem.
4th treatment: 1 week later
John came in feeling much better. Despite another busy, physically active week, his ankle pain was almost gone. His hamstrings were loosened up quite a bit. He did not have to come back.