No Pain, All Gain
By: Linda Campbell, Bowen Therapist
What if there was a therapy to improve stamina, stimulate recovery, AND balance the body to ultimately enhance sport performance?
Bowen Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive hands on therapy, which is performed by making simple rolling movements over muscles and tendons. It encourages the body’s own healing systems to resolve dysfunctions and restore whole body balance. Balancing the body means bringing it back to its natural rhythms. Body balance and symmetry coordinates the body and mind to allow all muscles to work smoothly and evenly together.
Bowen is being more widely used by athletes as it is extremely effective in sports injury prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal issues. It can provide immediate relief for many typical sporting injuries such as tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, pulled groin, knee and ankle injuries, pelvic pain, and repetitive strain injuries. Most acute injuries respond to treatment quickly, and may require up to three treatments. Chronic injuries typically require a few more.
Bowen can be used prior to, or along side everyday exercise, training programs, athletic competitions and events. While a few days prior to a big event is ideal to integrate the therapy, treatment any time is better than none at all. Even in the days following strenuous training, Bowen can help the body to relax again by calming the nervous system, help with any residual pains, and restore balance.
With an athlete’s body in balance, they’ll experience higher stamina, fewer injuries, increased focus and control over their body’s natural stress responses resulting in improved performance.
Ideally, once an injury is endured, you would receive treatment as soon as possible. During your session, your practitioner will ask about your health history and reason for visit. Then come up with a treatment plan your body will best respond to and assimilate without overload. The hands-on work is done in segments of movements, allowing you to relax and integrate each one before moving on to the next. The pressure used is almost always less than you would expect. It’s very common for people to fall asleep during a session. Sometimes, you may feel a momentary twinge. As always, be sure to tell your practitioner if you are uncomfortable at any time.
Whether you’re a professional athlete wanting to out-perform your competitors, an amateur trying to improve their run time, compete better in their favourite sport, wanting to minimize risk of injury while enjoying their favourite exercise, or even improve hamstring flexibility, Bowen Therapy can help you get there.
