In my fifth decade of practice, I am a Rolfer and chiropractor. Additional focuses in my practice are cranial and visceral manipulation, and the treatment of pelvic floor imbalance. All of the systems which I utilize in my practice are manual therapies: I use my hands as my main treatment modality. The therapies I utilize work with and through different fascial/connective tissue networks: myofascial, cranial, visceral/organ, and joint. All operate on the principle that balanced, integrated structure leads to balanced, integrated function, and on all levels—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. I work with people who don’t feel good and with people who feel fine. I work with people whose primary issues are physical and I work with people whose primary issues are emotional.
Rolfing® Structural Integration is a system of connective tissue manipulation, a physical approach to balancing human beings. Its effects are profound and long-lasting. It begins with an initial series of ten sessions of myofascial (the connective tissue of the musculoskeletal system) manipulation. It is not massage. The manipulations are firm and sometimes intense, but they are not painful. Rolfing Structural Integration can be used to improve function and performance as well as to treat a variety of physical problems and injuries.
Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle physical and energetic system which balances the structure and function of the central nervous system and of craniofacial structure. It deals with issues as general as stress-reduction and as specific as headache, disc herniation, and TMD (temporomandibular joint dysfunction).
Visceral Manipulation is another gentle physical and energetic system, one which works directly with the organs (including nerves of the central and peripheral nervous systems) and their supporting tissues. Dysfunction in these structures can be the source of a variety of problems with digestion, elimination, reproduction, respiration, etc.—dysfunction in any of the systems of the body.
Chiropractic deals with balancing structure and function at joints (and chiropractors work with all the joints of the body, not just the spine). Many people think that chiropractic is about adjusting bones. More accurately, the bones are simply used as levers to manipulate the soft tissues which they are attached to when these tissues can’t be accessed directly.