Structural Integration Massage Therapy From Midtown Chiropractic

Ten or even five years ago, mention of the words “Rolfing®” or “structural integration” likely elicited quite a few blank stares. And most people outside the holistic health industry probably never considered that their everyday aches and pains could be associated with connective tissue. But today, like many other holistic therapies, structural integration is a growing field. As more and more people are realizing that they don’t have to live with bodily discomforts, poor posture and the stress that these conditions create, they are actively seeking new solutions.

Structural integration was created by Ida P. Rolf, PhD, a biochemist who, more than 50 years ago, started developing her holistic system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education as a way to organize the entire body in gravity. She studied a broad array of sciences and holistic therapies, ranging from atomic physics and mathematics to yoga and homeopathic medicine. All of her research played a part in her development of structural integration.

Structural integration works to align the human structure in space by altering fascia. Fascia is an elastic network of fiber that encases and protects muscles, and separates all functional units of the body.

To understand how fascia works, think of the human body as a complex system of blocks wrapped in this elastic layer of connective tissue. Each block may be made up of additional smaller blocks and arranged in their own sacs of connective tissue, all of which work together as a whole in movements, behaviors and responses. Ideally, these blocks are arranged in a balanced, ordered pattern that allows for normal movement. But when injury, strain or gravity alters the arrangement of the blocks, the fascia network is also strained and altered, and the entire system can be disrupted.

Because fascia works as a whole throughout the body, damaged areas transmit strain in various directions and a person may feel pain or discomfort in places that aren’t related to their injury in conventional ways. Successfully integrating a person’s structure means creating symmetry by realigning the components of their body in three-dimensional space. So essentially, structural integrators work with a client’s connective tissue to resculpt the entire body and create symmetry on all three major axes.

Reference:
http://amtamassage.org/journal/summer08_journal/summer08_art3-1.html