Bowen Therapy

Bowen Technique is a gentle manipulation of the muscles of the body, intended to trigger the nervous system to begin a process of self-healing. Each series of moves on the muscles, tendons, and nerves, is followed by a pause to allow the body to integrate the information. The objective of each treatment is to restore the normal, healthy and balanced functioning of the body. The Bowen Technique has its origins in the work done by Tom Bowen in the mid-1970’s in Australia. The Bowen Technique has become part of an osteopathic service of soft tissue manipulation. It is often characterized as a combination of massage and acupressure, a neuromuscular reflex therapy. The core of my practice is The Bowen Technique: a hands-on holistic manuel method, leveraging a number of specialized osteopathic techniques. It is based on the gentle and precise manipulation of fascia, nerves and muscle tissue that allows the nervous system to begin the process of self-healing. This process typically will continue for several days after the treatment.

Niromathe Method

In addition to the Bowen Technique, I also practice the Niromathe Method. The Niromathe Method finds its origin in the work performed by “bone setters” in India. It was further researched and developed in Europe. This technique is known in the world of osteopathy and manual therapy as a unique and effective process, that improves blood flow, and releases the fascia around muscles and joints where an osteopathic lesion has formed. Louise Tremblay explains in short words the technique on her website.

Origins of the method

First inspired by the Moneyron method, who himself learned it from someone else, the Niromathé method was developed over the past thirty years in France, particularly by Dr. Raymond Branly and his researches. He added to the Moneyron method what he observed from other manual therapists, and also what other practitioners had suggested to him. It forms a whole, a method in its own right, hardly faster and more effective in specific cases. It is an invaluable tool for all manual therapists.​

The Niromathe Move​

The Niromathé move is very unusual. It is through this move that Ruffini’s corpuscles and Pacini’s corpuscles are recruited. One part of the move is slow and rotating while the other is fast and dynamic; thus, the whole gesture will have consequences at the CNS level. The receiving fields will be taken into account when performing the moves.

Positioning the body

With DNM, the person is placed in the most comfortable way, then the skin is stretched in the direction where the pain decreases. With Niromathé, the person is placed in the uncomfortable (but not painful) position: so the skin is already stretched! Then we make movements that will also stretch the skin… The cutaneous reflex methods are the ones we must learn and understand: they are the ones that give the best results for any muscular or joint « blockage ».

DERMONEUROMODULATION – DNM

The DermoNeuroModulation is particularly directed towards the treatment of cutaneous nerves. These nerves carry all the body surface information, which is transmitted to the CNS. Information from the mechanoreceptors, of course, but also from all those fibres that will measure our external environment, temperature, skin chemistry, nutrition, pH, etc. And they have almost always been forgotten, or worse, neglected. I think this is because we don’t see them: they don’t seem as important as muscles, fascias, or other structures even sometimes imaginary. The human is thus made, he must see to believe. Two important books confirm that tunnel syndromes are not reserved for “large” peripheral nerves, but that small nerves could also be affected. These books are: Nerve Injury and Repair by Göran Lundbord and Tunnel Syndromes by Marko M. Pećina.

DNM mainly treats neuropathic pain. It is not involved in pain whose causes are medical, such as injuries like cuts or fractures, deep somatic pain, visceral pain, and suspicious pain of unknown origin.

​”Manual therapy has long been a component of physical rehabilitation programs, especially to treat those in pain. The mechanisms of manual therapy, however, are not fully understood, and it has been suggested that its pain modulatory effects are of neurophysiological origin and may be mediated by the descending modulatory circuit. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the neurophysiological response to different types of manual therapy, in order to better understand the neurophysiological mechanisms behind each therapy’s analgesic effects. It is concluded that different forms of manual therapy elicit analgesic effects via different mechanisms, and nearly all therapies appear to be at least partially mediated by descending modulation. Additionally, future avenues of mechanistic research pertaining to manual therapy are discussed.”

​Source:

The Role of Descending Modulation in Manual Therapy and Its Analgesic Implications: A Narrative Review
Andrew D. Vigotsky1 and Ryan P. Bruhns2

Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Pain Research and Treatment
Volume 2015, Article ID 292805, 11 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/292805