The what technique, I hear you say? Is that anything to do with Jim Bowen? Does it involve darts, a bull, and the chance to win a speedboat? Fortunately not, you'll be glad to hear – indeed, apart from the name connection, it has nothing to do with Jim Bowen, or indeed any other game show host! | "We're getting the body to do the work - it's about tapping into your own ability to be able to take away your pain." | | Julian Baker |
Rather, the Bowen Technique is a soft tissue remedial therapy. Named after its innovator Tom Bowen, it can help relieve (amongst a whole host of other ailments) sports injuries, back, neck and knee problems, allergies, and respitory conditions. "It tries to remedy what is wrong with us," Julian Baker, Europe's leading Bowen practitioner and teacher, as well as the founder of the European College of Bowen Studies (ECBS), told me. "It's a soft tissue therapy, which works on tendons, ligaments, and muscles across the skin. It doesn't work on cracking bones or anything like that - it's very gentle." Julian brought the technique to Frome, and indeed the UK, from Australia in 1992, and set up the ECBS. You can listen to my interview with Julian, and find out more about what the Bowen Technique's all about, by clicking on this audio link:
So, for someone like me who's had more or less continuous neck and shoulder pain for about two years, and who's tried physio and different types of massage etc, how will Bowen help? Not only that, but what happens during a Bowen Technique treatment? And just how super, smashing, great (see what I've done there?) is it?
 | | The Bowen Technique treatment in action |
"You have to treat the body as a unit, rather than trying to treat isolated parts of it, so we do a certain number of rolling movements on the body, generally through light clothing," says Julian. "A feature of the technique is that we then leave the room and allow the technique to start to take effect. "We're getting the body to do the work - it's tapping into your own ability to be able to take away your pain." You can listen to me having my treatment with Julian, and find out more about how the technique actually works on the body, by clicking on this audio link:
That evening, following the treatment, I felt incredibly tired and drained, and also very thirsty, as Julian said I might. Apart from that, I can't say I noticed much difference to the pain to be honest. However, writing this a few days later I have noticed a definite improvement. My shoulder and neck feel much looser and freer, and the pain isn't as intense. I'm pretty impressed, and what Julian said about how the Bowen Technique works makes sense to me. So, I'm intending to have a few more treatments to see if I can heal once and for all - here's hoping! For more information about the Bowen Technique, go to the ECBS website:
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