Why 10 Sessions Vs Treating Symptoms?

I am often asked whether someone needs the 10 sessions or a few sessions to address a ‘symptom’ or complaint such as neck pain. Well I think we all need the process of structural integration to re-align and re-balance an accumulation of strains/sprains from living our lives or difficulties trying to move through this world on two feet. That aside, the primary objective of the 10 sessions is to work in a systematic way of working with strain that runs throughout the body. This means working with primary restrictions vs. secondary symptoms. Through the growth of sciences and anatomy, we have long left the beliefs of Hippocrates (wholism) and have become completely identified with the body as parts vs. a connected and integrated system. This view point completely misses the global functioning of an organism or human being, it is also no wonder our current science’s or therapies are not producing the quality of life that many of us seek. My view and training is to try and bring us back to the idea and notion that ‘everything is connected’. The idea that stress or strain in one part of our body will directly impact another part of our body. Just iron a shirt, and you see that as you work to release one wrinkle, it has a ripple affect to another part of the shirt, which you then need to go and smooth out, the body is no different. So getting back to the original question does one need the 10 sessions to eliminate a chronic complaint? If someone slept awkward during the night and woke up with a crick in the neck, then probably not, a session or two of structural bodywork may be all that is needed. However, if this issue is more chronic, then if just ‘fix’ the problem, it will come back in 3 months, or more often the case, I will end up pushing that strain much like the ironing of a shirt to another part of the body, and pain or discomfort will arise there. This is often seen in many therapy centers as ‘chase the pain’. So in order to fix something and change the body, you cannot just ‘fix’ that area you have to change the whole pattern and that is what Structural Integration is about, you cannot get lost in focusing on ‘symptoms’ otherwise we miss the small, unconscious, primary pain free shortenings that set these patterns in motion and It is about repatterning the body towards a more optimal place of balance and ease that achieve the consistent and reliable results that clients are often looking for or hoping for but, may gone on for quite some time from therapist to therapist or doctor to doctor with a local mindset.

It is also helpful to understand that ‘symptoms’ are the last item in a chain of events. By the time things begin to be symptoms whatever has been going on in the body in terms of disorder has been there for a long time, and where one is registering the ‘symptom’ whether this be a pain, ache, irritable bowel, lack of energy, feeling ‘stuck’ or unable to move forward in life, where ever this may be this is really the weakest link in a complex web of imbalances, it is the place that has become overworked because other parts are not participating enough in sharing the functional burden. Structural Integration is about getting to the cause or chronologically a much earlier state of disorganization than any symptom would give us to understand.

A brief example of this would be someone that presents to me with a chronic neck complaint. Most therapists will apply moist heat to the neck, perhaps some ultrasound or light stretching, followed by massage or manipulation of the cervical spine. However, as a Structural Integration practitioner I want to look at the whole structure, the whole person and look for the strain patterns that are transmitting up to the neck. Often you will see someone in this pattern w/locked knees, a tipped anterior pelvis, a lordotic curvature in the spine, followed by a kyphosis or pushing backwards of the spine in the posterior thoracic (the bodies attempt to maintain balance), the next sequence is that head migrates forward in an attempt to balance the thoracic region, but after this compensation there is no further place for the body to try and adapt, and as strain continues to be pushed into this region, by nature of the persons current structural alignment and balance, the body will finally find a boiling point and begin to register this to the person with ‘symptoms’. So using this analogy and the earlier typical treatment protocols if I only ease the cervical area, then yes I may calm the ‘symptom’ of neck pain, or speed the healing of tissues locally, but in doing so, I’ve also moved this strain to another part of the body where it will likely show up and register as a ‘symptom’ and have not attempted to remove the strain by balancing and organizing the whole structure in gravity.

Whether treating a specific local area or orthopedic condition of the body, or someone looking to balance and realign their body, the fact remains while you can mobilize or reduce a complaint or injury in a short time the clients structure isn’t open enough to support the longevity. There is a series of 10 sessions that enable the body layer by layer to not only achieve more maximum structural alignment but to maintain it. These progressive sessions also allow the client to practice either self help or movement re-education and awareness exercises to embody the session work.

By: Joe Ackerman

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Joseph Ackerman "Joe Ackerman of www.CoreStructuralTherapy.com specializes in Structural Integration which is a system wide process of deep bodywork and movement education. It is designed to improve the Structural and Functional abilities of the human body in its relationship to the field of gravity.