BOWEN THERAPY

The lady in the middle is Judy Terwilliger of Flexibly Fit in Sacramento. Here is my story of my encounter with Judy:

I've been training at CrossFit East Sac the last two weeks. On Monday we did snatch ladders, and on Tuesday I did a workout with heavy dumbbell snatches. Those of you who know me know how sucky my flexibility and mobility are in overhead positions. All that snatching was very taxing on my shoulders.

About half way through the morning on Wednesday, I noticed my right shoulder was very sore. It hurt to move in certain positions. I went to the gym and trained, and the shoulder felt a bit better after my workout. 

All morning on Thursday, the shoulder was hurty. By lunch time, I popped a bunch of Aleve and Tylenol because it was bothering me so bad. I haven't taken NSAID's for months, so I was starting to freak out a bit.

After my class, I went to CrossFit East Sac to train. I told Travis about how achy my shoulder was, and he had me do a bunch of different things to try and get the shoulder feeling better. Finally, he tells me, "Dude, I just called my physical therapist. She can fit you in right now. She does this thing called Bowen Therapy. It will help."

All I heard was "physical therapist." Im thinking I am going to a PT's office and they can tell me if my shoulder is fucked up or just really really sore. I didn't pay attention to the Bowen Therapy part.

I show up at Flexibly Fit to meet the therapist. It looks just like a doctor's office with other peeps in the waiting room too. I had to fill out paperwork and then I meet Judy. She seems like a nice lady. I still had no clue what I was in for.

Here is a little snipet of what Bowen Therapy is:

"A simple and powerful technique that helps relieve all kinds of pain, it is so gentle that it can be used on anyone, from newborn infants to the elderly.

The Bowen Technique is not massage, acupressure or chiropractic.  There is no manipulation, adjustment or force used.  The practitioner uses thumbs and fingers to gently move muscles and tissues.   In between each set of moves, the practitioner leaves the room.

These pauses and the gentleness of the treatment are what make Bowen unique.   It offers rapid, long-lasting relief from pain and discomfort.   Most conditions respond within 2-3 treatments.

While it can help speed up recovery time, the Bowen Technique is not meant to replace medical treatment.   However, due to its high rate of success, more and more members of the medical profession continue to be amazed at its effectiveness and have begun to add the Bowen Technique to their practices. "

If I had read this before I went in, I would have been pissed. Gentle??? I am sure Judy was barely digging into my connective tissues and muscles, but it sucked! HOLY SHIT! This was the most painful exerience I've had in quite some time. It turns out that 31 years of training and not focusing on stretching, mobility, or myofascial release means that you have some serious knotted up muscles and other connective tissues in your body. Imagine someone digging into your knots in your major muscle groups, then digging in places that you didn't even know you had muscles or tendons. This was truly a misearable experience. Rolling out times ten. I felt a little nauseous afterward.

The good news is that for the most part, my shoulder was simply in total lock up. Almost two hours after I stepped into the office, I was able to move my shoulder around with more mobility and way less pain. Judy was pretty sure there was no serious damage. I'll get back to training tomorrow and take it easy on the shoulder for a day or two. 

Flexibly Fit treats numerous members of Crossfit East Sac. As a matter of fact, Judy is traveling to the CrossFit Games to work on Cori Boone, who qualified for the CrossFit Games in the 45-49 master's women division. Hopefully I can get her to wrench on me a little bit that weekend too.

I know I have a lot of work to do when it comes to stretching and mobility. I'll be spending more time on mobilitywod.com and researching some better stretching techniques. I think Bowen Therepy would also help me, and I would be open to seeing a therapist regulalry since I was told it gets way less painful as you work out the knots. Does anyone know of a Bowen Therapist in the Fremont area?? If so, please post to comments.

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WORKOUT   4/27/2012

• 5 x 3 bench press

(You can do a standing press if you did the Power Hour on 4/26)

Then.....

• 75 burpees box jumps for time

POWER HOUR by CrossFit Football

• 5 x 3 power clean

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Comments

[chiropractors waukesha wi]

These chiropractic methods are designed to restore the movement and mobility in your joints through a controlled treatment that is applied manually. These movements allow joints that have become restricted in movement to come alive again and regain their mobility.

[Ernesto Medina -Chiropractic Intern]

Thank you Lancaster for the shout out!! We did get that overhead squat up about 35lbs after releasing all those adhesions in your rotator cuff. I can in fact do the exact same thing and probably accomplish it in 2-3 days. With my jiu jitsu family always getting hurt I have focused my studies to specializing in athletes and athlete specific injuries. Even managed to fix up Zvi's knee too. I'd love to speak to and give more information to anyone that is interested. Either contact me or ask Lancaster for the info. Peace!

[Brian H]

Freddy,
I met you at my L1 in 2009. I'll see you at regionals. Travis sent me to Judy as well, and I can't thank him enough. From what I've heard, Judy is a different kind of Bowen practitioner, focusing on sports and more. I hear others are more gentle, but I'm not sure that's what guys like you and I need (I'm 35, and I'm trying to compete at an elite level.) I am looking into other Bowen specialists, but I will travel from the Modesto area to see Judy and here staff regularly, because I think they're that with it.
Brian Huberty, CrossFit Oakdale

[patrick]

http://bowendirectory.com/#California

[Jahed]

sounds like voodoo

[Annie]

WHY YOU ARE NOT EATING LIKE A CAVEMAN PART 2: Do you really think cavemen found a berry bush or a fruit tree and thought, "I'm only going to eat a handful of these berries or one piece of this fruit so as not to have too much sugar."......Heck no! That freakin caveman feasted and then filled his loin cloth with that junk! He probably even stayed around that bush or tree until it was out of season. duh.

[Freddy]

Actually Chris, the moral of the story is my body is a fucking mess AND I am a big wuss.....

[Freddy]

Yes the magic show is still on!!! Stage & chairs get delivered tomorrow morning =)

[Large Goose]

Is the magic show still a go? Looking forward to it.

[Chris]

So.....moral of the story is you are a big friggin wuss?? ;)
As my dad reminds me daily, getting old sucks!

[Kats]

I need to find one here in Maui cuz my hips and chest flexibility is horrible.

[Lancaster]

I've been going to Ernesto, our very own, chiro intern..At OW. He's done wonders for my shoulders, back, and hip. I've also added massage sessions from the standard massage envy to help with recovery. Fortunately the things you are learning now helps us so we don't wait 31 years... Bowen Therapy.... I'll give it a shot if it can help me do the splits like Jean Claude Van Damme GBO!!!