Bowen Technique & Parkinsons Disease

http://www.theparkinsonhub.com/your-quality-of-life/article/bowen-therapy.html

Today’s Therapist International Trade Journal   -   Sept / Oct 2001   

The Bowen Technique Making a big difference with Parkinson’s Disease            

Bowen practitioner Brenda Broadbridge worked in the day hospital as an Occupational Therapy Assistant at Wallingford Hospital in Oxfordshire.  

M, a 64 year old woman, was a patient in this unit.  She had been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for 12 years.  She came to the hospital for treatment of very bad osteoarthritis in the left knee and a painful neck, which was tilted sharply to the left as a result of the Parkinson’s.  Her posture was also affected with a tilt towards the left.  

The Parkinson’s, of course, caused her painful muscle spasms and uncontrolled tremors and jerking.   While M was being treated by the physiotherapist in the day unit, Brenda could not treat her with The Bowen Technique because it is not a recognised therapy at the hospital.  However, when M was discharged from the treatment in May 1998, Brenda began to treat her privately with Bowen.    

M had a Bowen treatment once a week and within the first six weeks, the pain in her neck had gone and the neck was much straighter.  Her knee was also much improved and the tilt in her posture was very much lessened.  Her family remarked to Brenda repeatedly how straight and well M walked now.    

The affect on the Parkinson’s Disease symptoms were equally welcome.  The tremors and muscle spasms are not so intense, but “softer” as M describes them.  

Brenda says that sometimes when she arrives to give a treatment, M is just due for a pill and she is experiencing particularly noticeable tremors.   However, as soon as Brenda starts the Bowen, the tremors stop and M relaxes totally.  When she gets off the table at the end of the session, Brenda says she is “like a 2 year old” - energetic and enjoying a freedom of movement that is more than she could have imagined possible before Bowen.   

Has the Bowen treatment made a difference to M’s life?  “Oh, yes - a big difference,” says M.  She used to have to crawl up the stairs, both for safety and because of the weakness and pain in her left knee.  The knee will now support her weight without pain and her posture and tremors are improved sufficiently for her to walk up and down her stairs regularly.  She has a chair-lift, but very rarely uses it.   

Both M and her brother have Parkinson’s Disease, although his is of a different type from M’s.  They are both involved in a research project at a hospital in Oxford, which is looking for any genetic basis for Parkinson’s.    After the initial improvements in her health during the first six to eight weeks of treatments, M did not want to give up her weekly treatments.  So Brenda has been treating her every week.  

When Brenda has been away on holiday for a few weeks, M really notices the difference.  She says her body feels different and she perceives that symptoms are building up again.  Brenda notices a difference also when she gets back, as M’s muscles are definitely tighter.  But M and Brenda have no intention of seeing what would happen without Bowen.  Apart from holidays, they will stick to the once a week treatments that make all the difference.  

Contents provided by the European School of Bowen Studies (ECBS)   

For further details about the Bowen Technique please contact Karen on 01954 260 982 / 07714 995 299 or email [email protected]