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Smart Bowen Therapy
What is Smart Bowen Therapy?
Smart Bowen Therapy is a holistic remedial healing modality that treats the whole body. It helps relieve pain, supports mental and physical well-being and aids relaxation. It involves a soft rolling/stretching technique, applied in a series of mostly two directional cross fibre movements using the thumb and the fingers. Smart Bowen therapy is deliberately applied directly to active trigger points and acupuncture points on the body. It is non-invasive and non-manipulative, and enables the body to heal itself and restore balance and harmony (homeostasis). It is safe and effective to use on any person from newborns to pregnant women and the elderly.
The Development of Smart Bowen Therapy
Specific Myofacial Adhesion Release Technique (SMART)
Bowen Therapy was developed in Geelong, Australia during the sixties and seventies by Tom Bowen. He had a background in osteopathy, massage and acupuncture. Tom believed that the body, given the right stimulation, can self-correct and heal itself. Since then, Bowen Therapy has undergone further research and development. Brian Smart was a therapist with a particular interest in developing improvements to Bowen; conducting numerous clinical trials over the course of twenty years. By working on the meridians of the body and integrating acupuncture points from traditional Chinese medicine with trigger point therapy, Specific Myofascial Adhesion Release Technique (SMART) Bowen was created.
Smart Bowen Therapy for Physical and Emotional Wellbeing
Balancing body and mind
Smart Bowen Therapy helps to relieve acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain and imbalance. Moves are applied over muscles, ligaments and tendons, sending neurological impulses to the brain. These result in an immediate response of muscle relaxation and pain reduction. Electrical impulses sent to the nervous system remind the body to regain normal movement in joints, muscles and tendons. This helps to relieve muscle spasms and increase blood and lymph flow.
Smart Bowen Therapy balances the autonomic nervous system, helping the body to shift out of the fight-or-flight state into a relaxed and calm state. Many moves are located along the acupuncture meridians or specific acupuncture points, which are known to stimulate and balance the body's energy. These moves help release emotional stress, depression, nervous tension and anxiety in adults, children and teenagers. In general, people feel happier, more relaxed and sleep better after a treatment.
Smart Bowen Therapy balances the autonomic nervous system, helping the body to shift out of the fight-or-flight state into a relaxed and calm state. Many moves are located along the acupuncture meridians or specific acupuncture points, which are known to stimulate and balance the body's energy. These moves help release emotional stress, depression, nervous tension and anxiety in adults, children and teenagers. In general, people feel happier, more relaxed and sleep better after a treatment.
The Fascia
Smart Bowen is a soft tissue therapy and works on the fascia of the body. The fascia is the biological fabric that holds us together; a 3D spider web of fibrous, gluey and wet proteins that binds our body together. From the head to the toes, the fascia holds muscles, ligaments and bones in their proper place. The fascia envelops, separates and influences every organ and tissue in the body.
Restrictions in a person’s range of movement, with or without pain, arise from stiffening of the fascia. The soft tissue hardens and dries with both age and lack of movement, causing stiffness and sometimes pain. The therapist helps to change the status of the fascia and starts the re-hydration process. A healthy fascia is crucial for our stability and movement, our performance and general well-being.
Restrictions in a person’s range of movement, with or without pain, arise from stiffening of the fascia. The soft tissue hardens and dries with both age and lack of movement, causing stiffness and sometimes pain. The therapist helps to change the status of the fascia and starts the re-hydration process. A healthy fascia is crucial for our stability and movement, our performance and general well-being.
Trigger Points
Smart Bowen Therapy is different to other forms of Bowen Therapy because wherever possible, moves are applied directly to the active and latent trigger points and or acupuncture points on the body. These are specifically selected according to the clients presenting problems (Brian Smart 2014). A myofascial trigger point, defined and extensively researched by Dr. Travel and Dr. Simons is a hyperirritable spot in a skeletal muscle - a taut muscle band. It is usually painful to touch, and can refer pain away from the affected point and to other areas in the body. This is known as a referred pain pattern. There are two types of trigger points: active and latent. Active trigger points produce pain constantly during movement and can reduce the flexibility of muscle. Latent trigger points are sensitive spots, and that only cause pain or discomfort when they are compressed.
Smart Bowen Therapy is applied directly to the body’s active trigger points, which often helps to resolve problems quickly. When a Bowen move is performed directly on a trigger point, the body’s response is some discomfort or pain at the site of the trigger point. This stimulates the body to release its own natural pain relievers: endorphins. The release of these endorphins often makes a person feel much more comfortable in a very short amount of time.
Smart Bowen Therapy is applied directly to the body’s active trigger points, which often helps to resolve problems quickly. When a Bowen move is performed directly on a trigger point, the body’s response is some discomfort or pain at the site of the trigger point. This stimulates the body to release its own natural pain relievers: endorphins. The release of these endorphins often makes a person feel much more comfortable in a very short amount of time.