Chapman's Reflexes and Semiotics

On her blog the Healing Presence, Kate Sciandra posted about the juxtaposition of metaphors in "the healing presence". I totally agree that we have great systems forfooling ourselves into thinking we have more "knowing", more control, than we actually do." Clients come to me for stress reduction, often complaining that their stress is mental. It is only once I start to work with them or probe deeper in questions that they remember where they notice it in relation to the rest of their body. As part of my Practitioner training program, I attended a class with Morel Stackhouse about Chapman's system of reflex points. The most striking part of the class was that she commented though we know where these points are located, we don't really know what they do to the body.

For those not familiar, Frank Chapman was an early-20th century osteopath who described a pattern of points which corresponded to various ailments/disorders. Dr. Charles Owens continued Dr. Chapman's work and subsequently documented some of the patterns into a book, "An Endocrine Interpretation of Chapman's Reflexes" .
As Kate stated in her post, "The map is not the territory" and this seemed to be especially true with my experience with this class. It is my understanding that Luann Overmyer conducted a study working with selected Chapman's points, which was discontinued due to a tremendous and overwhelmingly negative response to the work performed. As told to me, the clients all chose to discontinue treatment of their Chapman's points, since they became ill or at least uncomfortable.

The lesson that I took away from Morel's class was acknowledge the existence of Chapman's points as a system, with no expectation of using it for diagnosis (outside of our scope of practice) or for treatment (We don't really know what the result is of treatment of Chapman's points).
Another example of "the more we know, the less we know".

The Quest for "Just Right"

In his blog, Ben Crabtree recently discussed 10 modalities or techniques that are commonly available to massage consumers.

I would like to second his statements about Deep Tissue Massage:

"While some massage therapy practitioners use a heavier, sometimes uncomfortable pressure in Deep Tissue Massage it should be noted that a more moderate pressure can reach deep tissues and achieve great results with little discomfort."

While clients continue to request deeper massage, when the depth is sufficient to create guarding or tensing of muscle in a protective reflex, the results are temporary, at best.

My own experience is that this amount of pressure is variable from place to place on each individual person. One aspect of pressure that I have noticed is that sometimes, the skinniest client is the one who is requesting the deepest pressure, while a thicker client may ask for only very light pressure. This is in no way a direct correlation or an absolute. Certain clients in my own practice and that of the massage school where I work have given me pause to think about what shapes these differences. Why can a slight client tolerate heavy-handed pressure which another client of larger build cannot not?

One of the amazing preconceptions that I have encountered as a massage therapist is how effective a light touch can be. This was first brought to my attention during massage school when we were studying a style of lymphatic massage that relies upon feather strokes with infinitesimal pressure in a rapid, repetitious manner. The contact was hardly a fingertip at a time, yet several clients in my student clinic were describing excellent physiological responses to the technique. I have used those same principles in a clinical physical therapy setting with post-operative ACL patients to great benefit.

After starting to study Ortho-Bionomy, I was amazed at how the results which were desired by the client (and in some cases, the physical therapist whom I was working for), without a great deal of exertion or labor. As I have progressed, I have come to appreciate that different clients have different needs and consequently differing pressures.

As a client, it is your responsibility to communicate the pressure desired and if what is being applied is too little or too much. If you don't say anything, the therapist has no knowledge that you would like something other than what they are doing. Similarly, it is the therapist's responsibility to ask during the course of the session if the client would like the pressure modified or the same.

Whether a client or therapist, deep-tissue fan or swedish massage therapist, the amount of pressure applied during the session is always changing and is vital to creating a trusting, relaxing and therapeutic environment.

For more information, you can contact me via email at jonathanwaltonbodyworker (AT) yahoo.com or in Madison, Wisconsin 608-239-6612.

Cross-pollination of principles, continued

Further reading of Thomas Hanna's "The Body of Life" has proven to be very enlightening and is sparking further interest in his form of work. At the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training they offer more information how to study his work. Additionally, a colleague of mine is acquainted with a local instructor who was one of Hanna's early students.

In the descriptions of Hanna's work, one common theme that I have noticed is the gentleness and directness by which he describes the sessions.

"Having him lie down on his side, I proceeded to press on his vertebrae, making
comfortable movements [in the direction of least tension]...After twenty minutes
of movements designed to release the extensor muscles on the sides of his lower
spine, Richard was sound asleep."

This story reminds me very much of Lawrence Jones', D.O. discovery of positional release, which he developed into Strain-Counterstrain. When a long-time patient of Jones' arrived at the office with a bilateral psoas contraction on a busy day, Jones had little time to spare for the man who professed that the pain was so severe that he was having great difficulty sleeping. Jones took the time to find a comfortable position for the man, propped up on his back, knees up. Once in this position of comfort, the man fell asleep. Upon waking later, the man found that his contractions had released and his pain was dramatically improved.

Jones was intelligent enough to pursue the rationale for this event and discovered that he could release tight muscles and bring spinal misalignments back into place by placing the patient into a position of comfort.

Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O. studied with Jones briefly and built upon Jones' work, eventually creating Ortho-Bionomy. Arthur continued to teach Ortho-Bionomy in the US, Europe and Australia until his death in 1997. His work is very alive in the Society of Ortho-Bionomy International.

Posture and the cross-pollination of principles

Several years ago, I purchased Thomas Hanna's books "Somatics" and "The Body of Life: Creating new pathways for sensory awareness and fluid movement" and I am just now having a chance to look at The Body of Life". One of the things that I found that is so similar to my training in Ortho-Bionomy(R). "When muscle are painfully contracted involuntarily, the last thing one should do is to attempt to pull the muscles and force them to release and lengthen; they will not do so. If one forces the muscle to lengthen, the immediate result is pain and increased involuntary contraction of the muscle."

Much of what my clients seem to expect is a treatment will be painful and will be forceful. However, according to Hanna and the teachings of Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O., this is the worst thing that can be done. Instead, as Hanna continues, "I did not try to correct this curvature, but, instead did the reserve. I lightly encouraged the curvature of the low back by softly pressing down on it... As soon at I began doing the work of these muscles for them, a curious thing automatically occurred: They began to relax, because they had no work to do; it was being done for them, so their program of contraction became superfluous."

I look forward to exploring this topic further and seeing what else Hanna has to say. This "unwinding" or "moving into ease" is so pivotal to how I work and what I see as effective bodywork for the resolution of issues instead of a sensation in a given area.