Fonte: Rolf Lines – SET/OCT 1988

The use of touch as a healing tool has been accepted, honored, suspected, discounted, and revived again and again for centuries. Throughout each shift in position, a constant reality has maintained: when one person contacts another person with touch, changes occur. If that touch is brought with ill intent, harm and disease result; when brought with positive intent, well being and health occur. As a result of the positive effects, many forms of the physical approach to health and well being have been developed. A spiraling evolution toward effectiveness and integrated applications of touch in our societies continue to advance.

The challenge of AIDS to so many peoples’ lives and the fears which have grown from this illness tax our understanding. As practitioners of the healing arts, we are faced with the need to apply our skills in effective ways to assist people with that challenge. Massage, Rolfing, structural therapy, Cranialsacral therapy, Myotherapy, Naprapathy, and chiropractic care are all very effective in the care of persons with the AIDS virus. The application of these modalities is the key to their successes.

In November 1986 the AIDS Alternative tive Health Project (A.A.H.P.) began treating people with the virus. The project located in Chicago, Illinois, has completed more than 9,000 treatments. The above mentioned modalities along with acupuncture, herbs, nutritional counseling and close integration with western medical care have given these clients hope and comfort. The usefulness in creating an improved state of health is remarkable. Clients and their physicians report improvement in their stamina and well being. They also report a decrease in their symptoms and their severity. During the nineteen months A.A.H.P. has been treating clients, ways to use “body” type therapy effectively have continued to develop.

The guidelines used by the project for the use of body therapies with AIDS are being expanded as the expertise increases. The following guidelines have provided an effective way for the practitioners to begin working with people affected by the virus.

1) The status of each person treated does make a difference in how you treat.
HIV+ (exposure to the virus) persons may be treated as any other client. Pay close attention to their histories and assess their changes with each treatment. As a practitioner, assist with prevention and optimize a person’s physical structure. That is of prime importance. Educate your clients about their bodies and their own uniqueness. Persons with ARC or AIDS diagnosis have added concerns dependent on the combination of symptoms they have. The treatments must address the combinations, not just one of the symptoms. Be creative. It is a chance to use all your skills, compassion and caring intent.

2) The client’s energy level is your indication of how long and how much work may be done. At the moment a person’s energy level begins to decrease or appears unsteady, finish up and be satisfied. The experience of over 3,500 treatments at the project supports this. To overwork a person’s system may mean several hours to several days of depletion and recovery to acceptable energy levels.

3) When a person has open sores or lesions (including fungi) use gloves around those areas. This is for the prevention of cross-contamination. Several problems like herpes, candida, and fungi can be spread or transmitted by touch. Gloves will add to the safety level of the client and practitioner. Also remember to wash your hands after each treatment. If you have open areas (including hangnails) on your hands, you should use gloves.

4) Take the time to explore your relationship to health, mortality and commitment to the treatment of people living with AIDS. Find your levels of awareness of gay, straight, substance-abuse and minority life styles. Enhance those. The intimacies of the body therapy treatments will challenge your and your clients’ personal boundaries to the fullest.

5) Integrate your treatments with the practices your client is using. The effectiveness of all treatments and care a person is receiving is dependent on that integration. It is important to understand what other AIDS treatments are and how they work. Where ever possible, open dialogue with doctors and health care practitioners must be done.

The following insights we have learned at A.A.H.P. may be helpful.

MASSAGE THERAPY for relaxation, stress reduction and muscle conditioning may be done very safely. It tends to stabilize and increase the person’s usable energy. Clients also report feeling like persons again; feeling cared for; and beginning to feel more acceptable to themselves and to others.

ROLFING, structural therapy, and Myo therapy require you to pay closer attention. Begin with short time periods (10 to 30 minutes) until you understand how your client responds to the work. Generally, the greater the number of symptoms (or the greater the severity), will require shorter and more area specific treatments. Again, watch the energy level. These treatments tend to have a great impact on people with a diminished immune system. We have seen consistent improvements in persons with respiratory distress, intestinal inconsistencies, musculo-skeletal problems, some neurological deficits, headaches, and equilibrium disturbances.

NAPRAPATHY AND CHIROPRACTIC care are very useful with area-specific problems and tend to conserve the client’s energy resources.

CRANIAL-SACRAL THERAPY is consistently safe and effective with AIDS/ARC and HIV+ persons. Its usage ranges from stabilization of energy to positive changes in neurological problems. The cranial-sacral treatments are especially helpful for mental/well-being issues, fever control, headaches, spinal stressers, and numbness of the limbs. Stabilizing of the cranial-sacral rhythm will enhance the client’s energy levels. The treatments can be used to “set the stage” for other needed treatments when an assist with energy and/or anxiety control are needed.

Each of the modalities are effective when used independently. When used in concert with each other, other alternative treatments and western medical care, the response to treatment is remarkable. The quality of life increases, the number of symptoms and their severity decrease, and a sense of well being is available again. Clients, their families and friends, and their physicians continue to support these statements.

The AIDS Alternative Health Project is currently conducting research projects with results supporting the use of alternative treatments in an effort to expand the availability of alternative health care to the AIDS community. Interested people and practitioners may contact the project for information and assistance in providing alternative health care to more people.

AIDS Alternative Health Project
3223 N. Sheffield Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657 US

Edward Spencer of Chicago, Illinois, is certified both as a Rolfer and Cranial-sacral Therapist and was co-founder of the AIDS Alternative Health Project in that city.AIDS: The Human Touch Approach