Bowen Technique

At Lumina Wellness Physical Therapy, we are happy to offer the Bowen Technique for our patients. The Bowen Technique is a gentle form of hand therapy that is applied to specific points of the body, in order to relieve pain and promote healing. It is done using only the thumbs and fingers, and it follows a very specific process for achieving optimum results.

Brian McKeever, Owner of Lumina Wellness Physical Therapy, has done extensive research and study in manual therapy techniques that address the CNS as these techniques have the greatest effect on releasing the underlying muscle imbalances. He has training in Strain Counterstrain, Muscle Energy, CranioSacral, Motor Point Manipulation, and was one of the first 50 practitioners with advanced training in PRRT™. He has found Bowen Therapy to be one of the most effective manual therapy techniques to relieve pain and musculoskeletal dysfunctions and for the past 20+ years he has continued to advance his study of the Bowen Technique.

Brian was fortunate to have mentored directly under Albert LaShell, one of the first instructors of the Bowen Technique in America, as well as study the teachings of Albert's cousin, Milton Albrieght, who was the first Bowen therapist certified outside of Australia. Brian is one of a handful of therapists certified to teach Albert's Bowen Technique.

Effectiveness of Bowen Technique

A study of Bowen Therapy's prevalence and effectiveness by Amy Norman under the advisement of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill demonstrated:

What is the Bowen Technique?

The Bowen Technique was created by Tom Bowen in the 1950s as a way to eliminate pain and suffering. He had a gift for noticing subtle imbalances in the human body, and he was determined to find a way to correct them as quickly as possible.

This specific form of treatment is done in a "rolling motion" with the thumbs and forefingers on different places of the body as deemed necessary by the hand therapist. The overlying skin is gently moved over the underlying tissue in a small designated area, as far as the skin is able to move. This helps to stimulate nerve pathways, allowing the different nervous systems within your body to interact.

Before moving from one designated area to the next, your hand therapist will take a small break known as the "two-minute break." This break allows for optimum interaction between nervous systems and increases the effectiveness of pain relief and healing.

How does the Bowen Technique work?

While the Bowen Technique promotes relief, recovery, and healing through physical touch, the method is focused around the brain's response to the specific acts of physical touch. The brain receives and interprets information from your sensory organs — approximately 600,000 signals are traveling back and forth between the brain and the body every second.

In the case of the Bowen Technique, the brain is not able to respond immediately. This is where neuroplasticity and the "two-minute break" come into play. The body needs time to create a response for the uncommon sensation. The brain will send signals to the area that was just treated, and will formulate a concluding response based on the sensation. Since you will most likely be lying down at this point, the response is usually a deep relaxation, which helps to stimulate the healing process and achieve pain relief.

Is the Bowen Technique right for me?

The Bowen Technique can be used to treat a wide variety of conditions. Bowen therapy is completely non-invasive — no needles, drugs, nor machines are required. It is safe for everyone including babies, children, expectant mothers and seniors with osteoporosis. Bowen therapy is very distinct from other forms of therapy like massage, chiropractic, acupuncture or physiotherapy. There is no manipulation of the bones or kneading of muscle tissue. Treatments can be effective even when other therapies have not resulted in lasting relief.

Conditions that can be addressed with Bowen therapy include:

• Low back pain: joint stiffness, discal pain, sciatic pain, functional scoliosis and low back pain from pregnancy
• Thoracic back pain: chest pain, subluxed ribs and restricted breathing patterns such as asthma
• Neck pain: chronic headaches and migraines, sinusitis, dizziness and whiplash problems
• Sacral and Pelvic pain: sacro-iliac dysfunction, pelvic rotational anomalies, leg length discrepancies, groin strains
• Lower Extremity pain: hamstring strains, thigh strains, knee joint pain, ankle sprains, compartment syndromes
• Shoulder pain: rotator-cuff problems, impingements, and decreased range of motion
• Upper Extremity pain: tennis elbow, golfers elbow, carpal tunnel disorder, pins and needles and neural pain
• Temporal-mandibular joint pain (TMJ): clicking, popping, grinding teeth
• Special considerations: digestive problems, constipation, visceral pain, balance and proprioception problems, repetitive strain injuries