Why is Bowen Therapy so effective?

By treating the cause rather than the symptoms Bowen Therapy has consistently shown it can have a profound and permanent effect on pain relief outcomes. This relief is experienced by many people who present with a wide range of painful conditions, even where other modalities or treatments have resulted in transient or little improvement.

GENTLE THERAPY HELPS TOUGH GUY BEAR TO FACE UP TO THE CHALLENGE

Intrepid adventurer Bear Grylls has a rather surprising ally in his efforts to stay at peak physical performance – the gentle complementary therapy called the Bowen Technique.

Bear is Channel 4’s ‘Born Survivor’ who is dropped into hostile locations and has to make his own way back to civilisation. His everyday life consists of jumping out of planes, diving into icy water, walking for days through the desert and climbing mountains. Apart from a penknife, his body is his only help.

Whenever he returns from his exploits in hostile environments around the world, Bear has regular treatments with a Sussex (UK) based Bowen therapist and now regards these as an essential part of his preparation and recovery.

“Bowen has helped keep my body together despite the continual bashing it takes,” he explains: “It’s a vital support in putting right a whole range of new aches and pains, making sure that old injuries don’t cause me problems, and helping me fight stress and fatigue.”

Recently, Bowen has helped Bear through his current dramatic series of adventures which finishes on Channel 4 this month. He’s now having further treatments as he gears up for his role as spearhead of the GKN Mission Everest Challenge, an attempt to soar over the summit of the world’s highest mountain using only powered paragliders.

WHY IS Bowen therapy so effective?

The Bowen Technique is a natural, non-invasive therapy with a very broad spectrum of application including chronic back pain, frozen shoulder, sports injuries, whiplash, migraine and asthma. It is suitable for all age groups. It is particularly effective in correcting muscular and skeletal imbalances.

It is non invasive, and the body’s receptors, feedback mechanisms and golgi tendon organs respond to the systematic, gentle pressure applied by the Bowen Therapist, altering muscular length and tension around the affected areas.

Some research that has focussed on the outcomes of Bowen therapy.

Amy Norman presented a study in 1998 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Physical Education, Exercise and Sport Science.

Bowen Practitioners rated the following results in their clients:

85% effectiveness in back pain with an average of 4.3 sessions
88% effectiveness in neck pain with 4.5 sessions
83% effectiveness in stress, tension with 4 treatments
83% effectiveness in their "other" category after 5.8 treatments

After receiving their treatments, clients themselves reported the following results:

85% effectiveness with back pain
80% effectiveness for stress and tension
80% effectiveness with Fibromyalgia
95% effectiveness with TMJ
80% effectiveness with hip pain
75.6% for "other" conditions

Psychological Effectiveness of Bowen

Ashley Pritchard, at Swinburn University department of Psychophysiology, Melbourne, Australia, showed that the Bowen Technique consistently reduced subjects' levels of anxiety, and enhanced individuals' positive feelings by reducing tension, anger, depression, fatigue, and confusion. Objective measures of decrease in Heart Rate Variability and muscle tension correlated with subjective feelings of relaxation.

Effectiveness on the Autonomic Nervous System and the Heart

By measuring changes in value and pattern in Heart Rate Variability before and after treatment, a study by Dr. Whitaker, MD, has shown that the Bowen Technique directly affects the autonomic nervous system. (This quieting of the autonomic nervous system allows the parasympathetic system to attend more clearly to healing.)

Fibromyalgia 1

In her study, Dr. Whitaker, MD showed the positive effect of the Bowen Technique on twenty patients diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Measurements of shifts in the autonomic nervous system by heart rate variability studies fully complemented the clinical assessments. Almost all experienced various degrees of relief, which lasted from a few days to several weeks. For some, repeated Bowen Therapy maintained complete clinical remission.

Fibromyalgia 2

A separate pilot study was carried out by Bowen practitioner and trainer Tim Willcocks on four participants (aged 39-52) who had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia from 3 to 5 years previously. Each was given four Bowen treatments over a five-week period.

All four patients experienced improvement, including better sleep, ease in walking, cessation of vertigo, lessened neck pain, improved balance and decreased exhaustion.

Asthma

Nikke Ariff did research between 2003 and 2004 to test the efficacy of Bowen in treating asthma. This research, carried out during a twelve-month period, included a majority of participants who had had asthma for over 5 years, and most over 15 years. The results were positive. Eighty-three percent of participants reported a reduction in the frequency of asthma attacks with 75% reporting less reliance on medication than before the beginning of treatments.

Of 24 volunteers who completed the program, 22 reported that secondary health concerns had also improved, including back, neck and shoulder pain; knee and joint problems; headaches and migraines; hay fever; irritable bowel syndrome and digestion; circulation; insomnia; anxiety, stress, depression and energy level improvement.

Blood Chemistry

Dr. Whitaker, using darkfield, phase and fluorescent microscopic live cell analysis, has demonstrated that blood chemistry changes following treatment. These changes corroborate reports by some patients of flu-like symptoms due to detoxification, which can occur following a session. Frozen Shoulder

Published in England by Dr. Bernie Carter, at the Metropolitan University of Manchester (UK), this study showed effective results with Frozen Shoulders after 3 to 6 treatments, even with those who had long-standing conditions. The study involved 20 participants diagnosed with frozen shoulder and treated with Bowen Technique.

70% of participants regained full mobility, equal to the unaffected side, by end of treatment. The other participants showed significant improvement in mobility and associated function. Some still reported mild ache but none reported any invasive or intense pain, which they had experienced before receiving Bowen.

At the conclusion of this study, participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the therapy, a commitment to use Bowen in any future case of relapse or for another condition, and the intention to recommend the therapy to friends and family.

Migraines

London-based Bowen practitioner Nikke Ariff completed the Bowen Technique Migraine Research Program which studied the efficacy of treating migraine headaches. The 39 migraine volunteers consisted of 37 women and 2 men. Thirteen of them had been suffering from migraines for 1-15 years; seventeen of them had been having migraines for 16-30 years; and nine had migraines for over 30 years.

In all, 31 participants experienced a positive result, representing 79.5% of the total group. At the end of the program, 36 of the 39 said they would recommend Bowen as a treatment to a friend or colleague.