Working with Repetitive Stress Syndrome within Industry
Since April of 1992 I’ve been working on-site for Starkey Laboratories, Inc. I provide soft-tissue work, a combination of both release and organization, for people who have repetitive-motion problems, particularly of the hands, wrists, and arms. Starkey is the largest manufacturer of custom hearing aids in the U.S. (I’m told they provided a hearing aid […]
Explorations – Somatics
There has been an explosion of interest in “alternative” or “complementary medicine.” Congress established the Office of Alternative Medicine within NIH to foster empirical studies of alternative methods. David Eisenberg’s demographic study of the public’s surprisingly extensive use of alternative practices, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, was widely reported in the press. […]
Interdisciplinary Relationships in the Treatment of Chronic Back Pain
At the August 1994 Meeting of the International Society for the Study of The Lumbar Spine, a presentation was given by Drs. Tom and Ane Bendix of Denmark’s Copenhagen Back Center. They reported that “higher low back pain impact is achieved by an intensive multi-disciplinary program that included physical training, psychological pain management, work hardening, […]
Rolf Movement Integration: A Fresh Look
There is a popular notion among some members in the bodywork and somatics field that movement work is difficult to speak about. This is often attributed to the fact that the English language is inadequate in describing our internal experiences. Another reason given for this communication dilemma is the fact that (supposedly) our internal experience […]
Bioenergetics and Rolfing
BH: Were you a Bioenergetics therapist before you were a Rolfer, or did you decide to become one since you became a Rolfer? CL: I was in bioenergetics therapy and was introduced to Rolling when people told me that Rolling should be part of my therapeutic process. In therapy, I got Rolfed and then became […]
Mnemonic Body: Partner for Life
There are many moments throughout the sojourn of our lives, when our minds are not aware of our faithful bodies. Yet, these magnificent structures are continually engaged in unfathomable processes of expression and support. The more we come to study and to know them the more we understand how intimately, subtly and thoroughly they are […]
The Evolutionary Sequence – Part I
Part One Rationale and Principles of Movement Related to Structural Integration INTRODUCTION From 1978 to 1984, Caryn McHose taught Experiential Anatomy at Middlebury College, Vermont.’ The experience of teaching many classes of students confirmed that seeing and feeling specific body and body to space relationships transforms peoples’ movement and changes their physiology. The classes also […]
New Conceptions of Breathing Anatomy and Biomechanics
To understand the role of posture in the breath, we are going to start by looking at the biomechanics of the breath itself. Again, we will be primarily concerned with normal, quiet breathing and focusing therefore on the muscles involved in inhalation. All the muscles in Table One are said to be involved in inspiration […]
Don Hazen’s Neurological Notes
LAMINECTOMY Technically a laminectomy is the procedure of cutting away part of the lamina, the posterior part of the vertebral arch from the transverse to the spinous process, in order to gain access to the spinal canal. A discectomy is removal of part or all of the disc. Fusion is not necessarily part of a […]
Scoliosis: A Case Study
When Amy’s mother brought her tonic in 1993 she was 13. Extremely self conscious of her curvature, she would not look me in the eye, nor allow me to examine her with clothes off. I was pessimistic about how much help I could be to her after observing her trait and other abberant movement patterns. […]