Academics
Academics
sds
Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:de] Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:fr] Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:es] Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:ja] Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:it] Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:pb]Perhaps the greatest challenge for the scientific investigation of our work is its essential holism: the multi-dimensional and holistic attributes that give structural integration its conceptual richness also complicate the scientific assessment of its results. Segmentation of reality and isolation of phenomena, often used for controlling multiple variables, in our context poses the risk of losing the whole, of overlooking the essence of the work. What we need is a scientific approach consistent with our paradigm.
To meet this challenge, ABR (Brazilian Rolfing Association), in partnership with Centro Universitátio Italo Brasileiro (Uniitalo), Sao Paulo, Brazil, created a postgraduate program for Rolfing SI, which I have supervised and coordinated since its inception.This program, which began in 2010, is open to students in the last stage of their professional certification training (Unit 3), as well as to practicing professionals. Program participants take University courses in scientific methodology and pedagogy and apply what they learn in the execution of formal case studies on the process of a class client or client in a practitioner?s clinical practice.
The case studies for our postgraduate program are far more extensive than those of the Rolf Institute?s basic certification training. At Uniitalo, the student researches a specific problem by engaging potentially useful theories, raising questions, developing hypotheses and seeking methods to investigate them; and then presents and discusses the outcomes according to accepted scientific parameters. In both scope and level of effort required, the postgraduate program case studies are comparable to any other master?s thesis; and those who complete it are awarded the equivalent of a master?s degree.
Here we present the abstracts of the case studies from the 2014 class. (1) These authors took on the challenge of employing a scientific approach consistent with our holisic paradigm. Each investigated a specific problem and observed correlations among the multiple dimensions of Rolfing and its taxomonies of access (structural, functional, psychobiological, and energetic). Even as they employed impeccable scientific methodology, they displayed an embodied holistic attitude congruent with the philosophical stance and conception of the human being that are fundamental to Rolfing. These researchers walked their talk, showing by example that science and holism can coexist, that there can indeed be a science regarding a holistic activity.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for the postural stability of an elderly person.
Investigated by Sergio Ricardo Bronzato, BS, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study investigated whether Rolfing Structural Integration, a holistic method of reorganizing the human structure in gravity, could improve postural stability in an elderly person. The hypothesis was that Rolfing SI could improve the person?s postural muscle tone and balance, as well as locomotion, which would offer the person a new outlook about moving. Persons with unstable posture are prone to repeated falls. Statistics show that among the elderly, falls have serious consequences, including prolonged incapacitation and even death. Fear of falling diminishes the person?s confidence and sense of well-being. The subject of this study was a woman, age 60. The treatments, which worked to balance muscle tone and span in gravity and restore previously inhibited movements, consisted of (i) ten sessions of myofascial manipulation combined with movement education, followed by (ii) three sessions of only movement education. The treatment goals included improved postural habits; more efficient anticipatory movements; better overall mobility skills; and an overall improvement in her sense of well-being and quality of life. Assessment tools applied before and after treatment included the Star Excursion Balance Test, which supported the hypothesis by showing marked improvement in various tests of balance. Responses to both the standard questionnaires used at Sao Paulo?s Center for Treatment, Research and Education regarding Rolfing SI (NAPER) and the WHOQOL (abbreviated Portuguese version) indicated significant improvement in quality of life after treatment. These findings, if corroborated by additional studies, suggest that Rolfing SI (either alone or as one component of a multi-disciplinary approach) can be efficacious for restoring patients? postural stability and avoiding the serious consequences of stability deficit.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration for Regulation of a Child’s Ideopathic Hypotonicity.
Investigated by Maria Beatriz Whitaker, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner </i>
This case study evaluated the effects of the holistic somatic approach of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a child with abnormally low muscle tonus. The Rolfing treatments sought to promote balance and equilibrium in muscle tonus throughout the child’s body, and thereby to improve the fluidity of the child’s motor function to support advancement of her psychomotor development to an adequate and healthful level.
Rolfing SI seeks to establish physical equilibrium in gravity, which, in turn, gives the client greater resilience and energy. Tonus represents the muscles’ readiness to respond to stimuli. The fundament of posture, tonus is a function of both physiological and psychological conditions. Meanwhile, psychomotor development is a maturation process that integrates movement, rhythm, spatial perception and sense of position into a person’s body schema and body image. If Rolfing can normalize a child’s muscle tonus, might this advance the child’s psychomotor development? The subject was a girl, age 21 months at the start of treatment. She had been evaluated shortly after birth and prior to treatment at 18 months; and was re-evaluated after treatment at 25 months. Methods of evaluation methods included the Denver II Screening and Development Test, created at the Federal University of Sao Paulo; photos; and clinical examinations.
<i>The Effects of a Single Session of Rolfing® Structural Integration in Two Clients Suffering from Acute Lumbar Pain.
Investigated by Licia Maria Novaes, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This paper presents a new approach to the relief of acute lumbar pain through the holistic methods of Rolfing Structural and Movement Integration. Acute lumbar pain, which affects the entire body, afflicts 80% of adults at some point in their lives. The Tonic Function Model, developed by French Rolfer Hubert Godard, addresses structure and function by attention to the activity of tonic muscles in the tasks of balance and orientation. Based on this model in particular, and on the principles of Rolfing SI in general, the author designed a treatment protocol consisting of a single session in which the subject experiments with perceptions of his own body?s weight, direction, volume, and rhythms. The subject?s perceptual experience allows reorganization and improved integration of the body as a whole, which relieves the acute lumbar pain. This case study of two subjects shows significant relief of acute lumbar pain, which relief was maintained for eight to nine months after the session. What?s more, the subjects incorporated into their daily activities the lessons of the single session.
<i>The Effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on a Japanese Woman’s Perception of Self and Environment.
Investigated by Cintia Lie Uezono, PT, Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
Physical changes effected through Rolfing® Structural Integration have been shown to influence perception of the body and its relationship to the environment. However, culture has a great influence on human behavior, including not only language, comportment and emotion, but also body image and perception. This case study examined how a Brazilian woman born and raised through age 5 in Japan responded to Rolfing SI. Specifically, it sought to identify the structural and functional changes Rolfing produced, and to correlate these physical changes with the potential changes in the subject?s self-perception. The subject was evaluated before and after the course of treatment through various means, including a map of body sensation; a chart of symptoms; the subject?s drawings of herself; photographs; interviews; and the subject?s reports. Despite the structural and functional changes these evaluations revealed, the subject herself reported no change in her image of her body. We conclude that the subject had not allowed into her consciousness the physical and related sensory changes. However, as the subject continues to live with the transformed physical experience, her sensations might give her an opening to greater self-awareness.
<i>The Benefits of Rolfing® Structural Integration in the Three Stages of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.
Investigated by Tania Maria Forlani, MPT Certified Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This case study sought to verify the effects of Rolfing® Structural Integration on clients in three stages of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: acute or ?freezing?, ?frozen? and ?thawing?. Ruggi (2011) had already shown good results with this form of treatment on one client with this pathology. In the present study, the author conducted a total of 15 treatment sessions with Rolfing Structural Integration on three clients, each one in a different stage of pathology. The clients? progress was assessed through the NAPER questionnaires, the Visual Analog Scale, the Simple Shoulder Test, and before-and-after photos showing the patients’ postures. All three patients benefitted from the treatments, although the relief of symptoms varied in each case. In particular, it seems that restoration of motion was facilitated by the postural improvements brought about by the treatments. Though at the conclusion of the treatments each client still had some limitation of movement in the affected shoulder, all clients perceived the benefits of Rolfing Structural Integration for reducing both motion restriction and pain.
<i>Form and Individual Identity, Explored through Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Investigated by Johannes Carl Freiberg Neto, BS, Certified Advanced Rolfer?, Rolf Movement® Practitioner</i>
This study seeks to investigate and articulate, through Rolfing® Structural Integration, the relationship between a person?s ever-changing bodily form and his perception of a stable self. Among the principles of Rolfing SI is adaptability of the human structure: specifically, that the structure can be altered through connective tissue manipulation and movement, and that forms are related to function. Because an individual?s unique identity as a self-organizing (autopoetic) system continues to exist over time, changes in form, or morphogenesis, may be conceived as adaptations that signify new relationships between the person and his environment. At any given moment, form represents a relationship, an existential dynamic, between the variable external environment and the living being. Because gravity is the single environmental constant, and the one around which the human upright posture is organized, the tasks of learning how to stand and walk in gravity are opportunities for enhancing self-sensing and awareness. Indeed, gravity is perhaps a moving force toward the organism?s continuing autonomy. This study employed the body map method, which allows the therapist-cartographer to recognize his role as part of the client?s environment and help the client to find the existential territory. In this sense, Rolfing SI can facilitate the transformation inherent in the ongoing becoming of the being.
END NOTES
(1) All case studies since the 2010 inception of the Uniitalo program are available in pdf format (in Portuguese, with abstracts in English) at the Ida P. Rolf Virtual Library for Structural Integration (www.iprlibrary.com or www.pedroprado.com.br), The papers are listed individually by author under the ?academic? publication category. They are also available at the library of the ABR, Sao Paulo; and in special collection of postgraduate program papers at Uniitalo.[:]Scientific Exploration of Rolfing® SI in the Holistic Paradigm through the Case Study Method
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