What’s the Difference between Massage Therapy, Therapeutic Massage, and Structural Bodywork?
The primary difference is intention. My intention for massage might be to reduce short term pain or recent muscular exertion or strain, for example, post race for a marathoner or post hike. It might to simply relax the nervous system. I call this “soft work”.
My intention for therapeutic massage is to address a particular issue or concern of a client. On the first appointment I discuss the idea of “chasing symptoms” and why a whole body approach makes more sense. During our first meeting I want to work “head to toe, front to back” because it is COMMON for clients to discover that the specific area that hurts, is actually one of many areas of concern… and some of these other areas once discovered, actually are more painful!!
The intention for Structural Bodywork is to begin to address older body patterns that have resided in the body for a long time (a broken wrist as a child, the birth of three children, a car accident in my twenties, etc.) These painful injuries affect the shape of the body immediately and often become set into a deeper body pattern. Once the mind becomes accustomed to “yesterday’s pain” that becomes today’s normal. It doesn’t have to be this way.
The Anatomy Trains 3-Series (AT3) is an introduction to Structural Bodywork that has two intentions: First, it is a method to balance the hips, the shoulder girdle, and the spine over the course of three sessions. The second purpose is to introduce the client to this deeper work, which eventually could lead to an interest to Structural Integration, a 12 session whole body series.
You can learn more about Structural Integration at the International Association of Structural Integrators website (https://www.theiasi.net/)
In all cases the practitioner and the client need to discuss the intention of the work they about to embark upon and a realistic outcome.
Tell Me More About The Anatomy Trains 3-Series:
The AT3 Series focuses on balancing hip, shoulders, and the spine as both an introduction to Structural Bodywork and to move the client towards a better aligned body. This hopefully gives the client a sense of what might be possible if the more intense work of Structural Integration were undertaken.
Session One (of 3): Focuses on the body below the rib cage; hips, legs, and feet are addressed as the foundation for the physical structure above. If these are unbalanced, the structure above is very likely off center and causing stress in soft tissue structures above.
Session Two(of 3): Focuses on upper body above the groin and includes ribs, shoulders, and arms to correct structures that are potentially involved in rotations, tilts, or twists that cause strain or discomfort, often in the neck, upper back or lower spine.
Session Three (of 3): Focuses on the spine and connecting the work done in Session One and Two. There is often overlap of work done in the previous two sessions to integrate the body and brain (proprioception) to produce a new sense of posture.
Each session ends with system integration (three simple techniques) and usually involves some sort of gentle homework to wake-up areas of the body that have been worked during that session. A common result is improved postural awareness.
Describe A Typical Session? What Do I Need To Do?
For each session the client should arrive well hydrated and would be a good idea that they don’t eat within two hours of beginning. I require that the client wear close fitting sportswear (shorts, sports bra) or a two piece bathing suit.
Once the client and practitioner have met and completed paperwork, we will discuss health history (physical\ mental\medical, etc.) and arrive upon a realistic objective.
The practitioner will then perform an overall assessment and specifically address “body sections”, for example, the relationships of legs to hips or shoulders to neck to determine an approach towards a more balanced posture.
Through reassessment using pictures or physical range of motion tests, the practitioner and client will refine or identify what work will be undertaken towards the agreed upon objectives.
During the session the client will be asked to be actively involved by integrating motion within each technique that the practitioner is applying. Unlike “regular” massage, the client will actively get on and off the table to be re-assessed throughout the session. Each session will end with an integrating sequence intended to settle the nervous system helping the client’s body-mind to receive the work.
Will an AT3-Series Heal My Pain Issue? What Result Can I Expect?
Maybe. We humans always want immediate results! The purpose of the AT3 series is to re-balance the body in 3 major locations. This may result in greater range of motion in a particular joint (or more), less overall body tension, a better-felt sense of balance, and yes could result in pain reduction. It is intended to begin to release deeply held patterns so that the client can begin to move into the space created within the body. Some clients report feeling lighter or more balanced in their feet. An realistic idea to remember is “If it took you 10 miles to get into the forest, it’ll [usually] take at least a few miles to find your way out.”
When the body endures a physical trauma or a repetitive low energy shape (car accident, slumping posture, long commutes), it become embedded in the body and the mind. Over time this shape becomes the new normal. The result of the AT3 work is to DO this deep work, and in a similar way, let the body accept it…wait a little, and let it settle. Commonly clients mention that they feel different and notice they are more balanced in their feet, or they feel taller, or lighter. I cannot predict how it will settle in each body.
Why Should I Consider Structural Bodywork?
Over the course of our lives we collect our experiences IN our bodies. The broken arm as a child, a car accident, child birth, death of a loved one, repetitive exercise routines… all of these recruit sympathetic nervous system reactions and have a cumulative effect within the soft tissue of the body. Many traumas have an emotional component as well that we continue to “re-live” each time we are reminded (consciously or sub-consciously) and tense up again. These are often related and contained within our body patterns.
Structural bodywork is a tool to begin to unwind the body and move it back towards center, to re-balance. It is possible to experience an emotional release from some long-held “memory’ associated with a particular pain pattern, that once addressed, is greatly lessened or released.
I’ve Heard That Rolfing Hurts. Is This Like Rolfing?
Let me repeat, an AT3 series is not Structural Integration. Rolfing IS a form of Structural Integration. Therefore, an AT3 Series is NOT like Rolfing. That said, the intention of an AT3 session may be similar because both want to move the body in a way that creates more support below for the structures above. An AT3 series is a “taste” of the work that might be done if you wanted to pursue a true Structural Integration series.
“Does it hurt?” …is a loaded question. Very often the body already hurts, however proprioceptively the brain has adjusted to the misalignment as “the new normal”; when areas of the client’s body that already hurt are touched lightly to moderately, often it is experienced as “pain”. In other words, it isn’t that the practitioner is working deep, as it is waking up the body and brain awareness of tissue condition. Frequently clients will report that an initially painful area has less pain by the end of session while other places may be sore. Like a “good workout” any discomfort will usually dissipate within a couple of days.
A Few Words About Fascia…
If you google the word “fascia” you are as likely to find a bunch of non-sense or opinion as you are to locate good science about it. The Fascial Research Congress formed and met for the first time in 2007, which means: Up until the 20th century, there was no large group of researchers\scientists\ body workers defining and exploring questions like “What is Fascia? or “What is it’s Purpose?” In fact, these professionals are still working to clarify various types of fascia, where located, what is their function. There are more than the one professional fascia organization mentioned above.
While there are many things researchers DON’T agree on yet, here are some things the research can agree on: Fascia is primarily collagen, the same protein that comprises all connective tissue in the human body (skin, ligaments, tendons, etc.). Depending on mineralization and other factors, collagen density is affected and differentiates tissues (bone, muscle, etc) and while we give them all different names, all of these are collagen that have different qualities\ densities\ stretch-ability.
The work that I do with fascia primarily focuses on softer tissues. Some of these are more changeable than others due to varying densities, depth, level of hydration. The less hydrated or more dense the tissue, the more resistant it is to change. The art-form we undertake in this work is to palpate, observe, suggest, invite, maybe disrupt the body with techniques to push, hold, pull, hydrate, gently disturb tissue to increase awareness, hydrate it, expand it, mobilize it, and reawaken the body with the intention of bringing the body back into a more balanced wholeness.
Finally, once the work is done, once the connective tissue system has been changed and old stuck patterns have been disturbed, the body needs to settle. This involves a process of the client being more aware of movement, trying new motions, maybe exploring new activities.. and then seeing how the body responds. Some results are immediately noticeable but more likely at some later point in time, the client or others may point out, “Hey I don’t think you lean to the left as much as you used to.”