BOWEN TECHNIQUE

Figure 1: Lateral ligament sprain treatment

applied regularly to a large number of people (in a team environment for instance) with no disruption to existing training or treatment. The main reason for its increasing popularity is the speed with which clients respond.

A standard soft tissue injury that might typically take ten days to two weeks to heal can often be addressed in half that time using The Bowen Technique. Bowen has a particular fondness for acute injuries and the normal waiting period to allow for inflammation to decrease is eliminated with Bowen.

The technique itself is simple in its approach and application and involves the rolling of skin and superficial fascia over deep fascia and muscle with thumbs and fingers. In between each set of moves there is a short pause, where the therapist ideally leaves the room, allowing the client to rest, before the next short set of moves is applied.

The pressure used is relatively light and gentle and a long way from the deep pressure associated with the work of many sports therapists. A side effect of this is the ease on the therapists themselves,

Figure 2: Use of elbow for deep pressure to hamstrings

who find they can treat more clients and attain better results while experiencing little or no fatigue themselves in the process.

The technique seems in some way to access the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting the body’s ability to restore structural integrity, although the actual workings of it still remain firmly in the realm of theoretical speculation.

There is growing evidence that it works and some recent ground breaking research is about to be published and presented at the First International Fascia Research Congress in Boston in October 2007. Although there are many studies demon- strating that certain treatments can increase hamstring flexibility, there is none that has demonstrated that this increase can be maintained.

A randomised controlled trial allocated 116 male and female volunteers to either a control or an intervention group, using a single treatment of The Bowen Technique significantly increased the flexibility of the hamstring muscles in asymptomatic subjects and maintained this increase for a period of one week.

Figure 3: “Mummy bear” release of hamstrings

No other treatment technique has been shown to maintain improvements in flexibility for a complete week without further treatment. In addition, this increase was demonstrated without any form of loading, warm up or stretching pre- or post-treatment.

It is the lasting effects of Bowen that could offer opportunities as far as sports therapists are concerned. Neil Burke is a sports rehabilitator working with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). This covers the incredibly physical sports of Irish Football and Hurling. “The mindset of most of the GAA players is that a rub will fix everything, but I have been sold on Bowen mainly from the work I have done with hamstrings.”

Burke who works mostly with the GAA team Moyle Rovers, cites the case of one player who had a torn left ACL and developed a hamstring tightness as protection. ‘He had a lump in the head of his hamstring twice the size of a fist and after five or six heavy sessions using my elbow I’d made little or no headway.

The change with Bowen

however was almost immediate and after two Bowen sessions the lump had disappeared and the range of movement

CASE HISTORY: FOOTBALLER “I was asked to try Bowen therapy by my physio as I had been having problems with my back, groins and upper leg muscles for most of the season. I’d been to a chiropractor a few times and on my last visit she had advised there was nothing really wrong with my bone structure. I continued to play but still felt restricted in my move- ments so I decided to give Bowen a try. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was determined to keep an open mind and give it a go. I can’t explain how it worked but after a couple of treatments the problems I had been having virtually disappeared. I was able to touch my toes with the palms of my hands - something I’d not been able to do for a long while and I seemed to be able to go the duration of a game easily where I had been struggling before. When people ask, ‘Does it work?’, I find the best way to tell them about it is my scoring ratio since having Bowen. I’d only scored 5 goals in 27 games before Bowen treatment. From the time I started having treatment until the end of the season, I scored 10 in 12 and from my point of view, that says it all! I also didn’t miss a game through injury.” - Danny Adams, footballer

10 sportEX dynamics 2007:14(Oct):9-11