Benefits of Smiling

Bowen for Mental Health

Why should we smile?

1 It improves our mood.

When you smile your body releases three different hormones: dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. These hormones “trick” your body into feeling happier, as low levels of these hormones are associated with depression. Something as simple as looking through favourite photos on your phone or creating an album can bring a smile to your face. You’ll be surprised by how much your mood can improve by doing something as effortless as smiling!

2 It decreases Stress.

Laughter and smiling have several health benefits including lowering stress hormones and reducing physical tension throughout your body. Try listening to a funny podcast on your morning commute or during an evening walk. Finding something or someone funny not only improves your mood but laughter also relaxes your muscles by increasing your blood circulation. So, the more you laugh, the more you will feel calm and stress-free!

3 It reduces Blood Pressure.

When we are stressed, our heart rate increases, and our blood pressure rises. Just like smiling through a worrying situation can help lower stress levels, smiling can also help lower blood pressure. According to Chris Norris, “smiling and laughing initially increases heart rate, then relaxes the muscle, and eventually decreases the heart rate and blood pressure.” Smiling isn’t just an expression you can wear, but a way to improve your overall health.

4 Strengthens your Immune System.

That good feeling when you smile or laugh triggers a chemical reaction in your brain, which releases small proteins called neuropeptides. These tiny molecules maintain immune tolerance and may help fight potentially serious illnesses. Life can be hectic so make sure to include humour in your daily routine. Whether it’s watching your favourite comedy or sharing funny videos or memes with friends it’s important to find ways to keep the mood light and find time to have a laugh.

5 It reduces pain. T

The endorphins that are released when you smile can temporarily reduce body aches or minor pains. Over time increased laughter can elevate your pain threshold and help you build a higher pain tolerance. So, if you’re experiencing soreness make it a priority to get some laughs in while watching one of your favourite comedy flick or being with some-one that makes you smile and laugh. You’ll not only limit body pain but you’ll be improving your overall health and well-being, too!

6 Last but not least and my favourite reason of all.  Smiling is contagious

How many times have you heard that a smile has the power to light up the room? While it is certainly a beautiful sentiment, it carries a hint of truth. Smiling not only can elevate your mood, but it can also change the moods of others for the better.

Your brain automatically notices and interprets other people's facial expressions—and sometimes, you may even mimic them. That means that you might spot someone else's smile and unconsciously smile yourself. Yes, it is scientifically proven that smiles are contagious

bowen treatment for anxiety

Free Bowen Therapy Taster Sessions.

I am delighted to say that I will be offering Free Taster Sessions of Bowen Therapy at Theale Jubilee Summer Fete from 10.00am until 4.30pm. The event is on the recreation ground, postcode RG7 5AS.

Come and say hello, ask any questions you might have and try a treatment. No need to book - just turn up. If you have any questions beforehand, please do call me on 07710722615.

Theale Jubilee Summer Fete Sunday June 5th

Stress Awareness

Bowen for Mental Health

Stress Awareness

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where deadlines are too close, the to do list is never ending and getting longer and problems are becoming larger?

According to the Mental Health Foundation in 2021 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. 

What is Stress

Stress is primarily a physical response. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to ‘fight or flight’ mode. This releases a complex mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare the body for physical action. This in turn causes a number of reactions, from blood being diverted to muscles which shuts down unnecessary bodily functions such as digestion.

 

Some stress is good we need it to survive. Nowadays the ‘fight or flight’ mode can still help us survive dangerous situations, such as reacting swiftly to a person running in front of our car by slamming on the brakes. Unhealthy stress however is like a bridge is carrying too much weight, it will eventually collapse. With a bridge we generally see the warning signs before this happens, as the bridge would bow, buckle and creak. Although there are often early warning signs for humans, far too frequently we ignore them and try to carry on.

When our body goes into a state of stress in inappropriate situations, the blood flow is goes only to the most important muscles needed to fight or flee,. This means that brain function is minimised which can lead to an inability to ‘think straight’. This is a state that is a great hindrance to us in both our work and home lives. If we stay in a state of stress for long periods, it can be detrimental to our health. 

Some common signs of Stress are:

  • Pounding heart or chest pain.
  • Fatigue.
  • Muscle aches.
  • Tightness/dryness or feeling there’s a lump in your throat.
  • High blood pressure.
  • Depression.
  • Increased use of smoking/alcohol.
  • A change in eating habits.
  • Lack of sex drive.
  • Insomnia.
  • Mood swings.
  • Anxiety.
  • Headaches.
  • Crying.
  • Withdrawing and isolating oneself.
  • Changes in close relationships.

Some serious effects of that bridge collapsing are:

  • Mental and Emotional Breakdown.
  • Taking one’s own life.
  • Serious health issues including:Cardiovascular disease:
  • The heart is the first organ in the body to experience stress and heart and circulatory diseases cause a quarter of all deaths in the UK. That's more than 160,000 deaths each year – an average of 460 deaths each day or one every three minutes in the UK.
  • There are around 7.6 million people living with a heart or circulatory disease in the UK: 4 million men and 3.6 million women.
bowen treatment for anxiety

How to avoid Stress.

  • Eat for wellbeing.
  • Get a good night sleep – for tips on this visit my blog on insomnia.
  • Exercise.
  • Learn to say no.
  • Improve your time management.
  • Turn the tech off.
  • Have a relaxing therapy.
  • Stop/reduce smoking and drinking.
  • Set realistic goals and expectations.

How Does Bowen Therapy help Stress?

Bowen Therapy works with the body’s nerve receptors to calm down the nervous system. This prompts the body to move from the fight/flight freeze mode to the parasympathetic mode.

Our fascia holds onto trauma throughout a person’s lifetime.  Bowen Therapy helps to release these emotions and most people experience a feeling of relaxation and well-being at the end of a treatment.

How stress differs between men and women.

Stress tends to manifest differently in men and women for many reasons. These include differences in biological factors, immunity, sex hormones, and fight or flight responses. Because of these differences, research indicates that in general:

  • The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (stress response system) and the sympathetic nervous system have a greater response in men vs. women when exposed to the same stressor. This puts men more at risk for experiencing an increase in aggression, cardiovascular disease, and decreased immune functioning.
  • Stress tends to activate different areas of the brain in men and women. When exposed to the same stressors, men experience a stronger stress response than women, and have a higher amount of cortisol measured in their saliva.
  • Because of differences in brain responses men may be more likely to react with the fight-or-flight response under stress compared to women. Women show more of a pattern of tend and-befriend. This increases men's susceptibility to high levels of stress during certain situations when compared to women.
  • Chronic pain may impact men differently because of the relationship between testosterone, stress, and pain. Testosterone mitigates feelings of pain. But stress can decrease levels of testosterone and increase cortisol, thus intensifying feelings of pain.

Each individual's unique culture, religious beliefs, upbringing, early experiences of childhood trauma (if applicable), and genetic factors can all play a role in how stress is processed in men and women.

Men have a lower incidence of reported mental health disorders when compared to women. However, they are also less likely to seek support from their doctor or a mental health provider. Men are also more likely to die by suicide than women.

Migraines and Headaches

man with migraine resize

Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the developed world. It affects around 1 in 8 people in the UK. It costs the economy around £1 billion in lost production. These figures take into account time taken off work, the cost of replacement staff and periods when employees are working under par during episodes. Despite these figures, migraine remains a misunderstood and under managed condition.

Migraine is more than just a headache. It can be a debilitating condition, which has a considerable impact on the quality of life of people with migraines and their families. Episodes can be completely disabling, forcing the person to abandon everyday activities for up to 3 days. Even in symptom-free periods, people may live in fear of the next episode

A migraine is an intense headache accompanied by other symptoms such as nausea (feeling sick), vomiting (being sick), visual problems and an increased sensitivity to light or sound. Migraines commonly last between four hours and three days. Some people experience migraines several times a week. Others might only experience attacks every few years. If you experience headaches on 15 days or more each month, and eight of these headaches are migraines, this is known as chronic migraine

man with migraine resize

A few of the types of migraines/headaches are below

Types of headache illustrated on a woman face

1 Sinus Headaches

These headaches create pounding pain around your nose and eyes. It can  feel as though you’ve just taken a punch from the heavyweight champion of the world.

Some describe a sinus headache as an ice-pick forced into their head, whatever the description the result is the same - pounding pain.

Bowen Therapy can work to ease congestion and clear your air passageways.

2 TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Headaches)

A temporomandibular joint headache is when the pain begins on the side of your face or if your jaw feels tender.

To relieve this painful headache, you must heal the source of pain.

Bowen Therapy works to realign your jaw. The gentle treatment works around the facial muscles, helping you find balance both physically and mentally.

3 Tension Headaches

Muscular tension creates headaches that can feel like migraines.

They often result from improper posture, sleeping positions, or heavy stress.

These headaches feel like a band of pressure that starts at the point of tension and moving upward into your head to cause pain.

Bowen Therapy works to release this tension, which reduces the impact it has on your headaches.

Common triggers of Migraines are:

  • Emotional triggers. These include stress, anxiety, anger, excitement, and shock.
  • Physical triggers. These include tiredness, loss of sleep, irregular sleep, strenuous exercise, tension in the neck or shoulders, eye strain (for example, after looking at a computer screen), and dental problems (for example, teeth grinding).
  • Dietary triggers. Dietary triggers include lack of food (dieting), irregular meals, alcohol, caffeine, certain foods such as chocolate, cheese and citrus fruits, and certain food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame (a sweetener),
  • Dehydration can also cause migraines.
  • Environmental triggers. Bright lights, loud noise, strong smells and smoky environments.
  • Poor Posture. A common cause of migraines

How to help avoid migraine attacks.

  • Ensure a good sleep pattern
  • Drink plenty of water to keep hydrated,
  • Manage stress and let go of anger and resentment.
  • Taking regular exercise may also help prevent migraines.  Exercise helps with breathing, improving blood sugar balance and maintaining general wellbeing. Although avoid very strenuous activity that your body is not used to as this can sometimes act as a migraine trigger.
  • Keep a food diary to see if there is any correlation between a food that you eat and having a migraine.
  • Keeping a diary of your migraines can be a useful way to record when and where you experience attacks. Check for any patterns, and try to identify your triggers.

How does Bowen Therapy help migraines.

Bowen Therapy is a very gentle, relaxing therapy which helps calms the body and helps to alleviate stress. It also affects the hormonal and digestive systems of the body hence getting rid of unwanted toxins in the body. Bowen Therapy also works on realignment and posture which helps to eliminate poor postural alignment. I also where appropriate offer exercise advice. If you would like to find out how Bowen Therapy could help you, please get in touch as I would love to help.

 

Men’s Health

Bowen for Mental Health

Two in five (41%) men in England, Scotland and Wales aged 20-59 do not seek support when they need to, because they prefer to solve their own problems. The survey also showed that men often don’t want to feel like a burden and don’t feel their problems will be understood.

The survey found that some of the main reasons why these men find life tough and struggle include debt or financial worries (36%), relationship breakdown or family problems (30%), loneliness or isolation (29%) and job loss or job-related problems (25%).

This information came form the Samaritans. This link is very useful https://www.samaritans.org/news/real-people-awareness-campaign-encourage-men-seek-help/

Why are men less likely to get help when they are ill

  • Men have lower levels of health literacy than women with men twice as likely to have inadequate health literacy
  • Men are less likely than women to use a general practice or visit a pharmacy - in persons aged 20-40 women attended a general practice twice as often
  • Men are less likely than women to acknowledge illness or to seek help when sick. Health is often socially constructed as a feminine concern
bowen treatment for anxiety

How Men can Help Themselves

Everyone knows the importance of a healthy lifestyle. If you have a busy schedule, you may find it hard to make time for regular exercise or find yourself eating a lot of takeout and junk food. But you can’t afford to be passive about your health. Take a proactive approach by following these basic health tips for men.

  • Visit your doctor - Schedule yearly checkups with your doctor and keep these appointments.
  • Eat natural foods
    Packaged and processed foods are often full of sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, artificial additives, and calories. Limit the fake stuff and eat a wide variety of:
    fresh fruits and vegetables
    whole-grain products, such as brown rice and whole-grain breads
    fiber-rich foods, such as beans and leafy greens
    lean cuts of meat and poultry, such as skinless chicken breast and lean ground beef
    fish, such as salmon
  • Get moving
    Heart disease is the leading cause of male death in the UK, with 119,000 men having a heart attack each year, compared to 69,000 women. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to prevent heart disease and keep your ticker strong. It can also help you improve and maintain your overall physical and mental well health.
  • Maintain a healthy waist
    If your waist measures more than 40 inches around, it could be cause for concern. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Trusted Source, it raises your risk of obesity-related diseases. For example, men with large waists are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
  • Get your vitamins
    Most people can get the vitamins and minerals needed for optimum health by eating a well-balanced diet.
  • Break unhealthy habits
    1. Smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your health. Secondhand smoke is also very dangerous.
    2. Drink alcohol in moderation. Men should consume no more than two drinks per day, or the equivalent of 24 ounces of beer, 10 ounces of wine, or 3 ounces of spirits
    3. Avoid recreational drugs. They’re linked to many health conditions. For example, cocaine use can cause heart attacks and strokes. Injected drugs of all sorts can lead to serious infections and skin breakdown at the injection sites.
    4. Don’t use anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass. This can lead to serious health consequences. Possible outcomes include sterility, heart disease, skin disease, and behavioral problems.
  1. Protect your skin
    1. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer. It’s one of the deadliest cancers. Men over the age of 50 are at a heightened risk of developing it. Your risk is also higher if you’re Caucasian.
    2. When you’re outside: spend time in the shade, cover your body with protective clothing,
    3. cover exposed skin in sunscreen, avoid tanning beds
  2. Get your prostate checked
    1. If you have trouble urinating, develop pain when you urinate, or notice blood in your urine, it may be a sign of prostate problems. Make an appointment with your doctor.
    2. To find out more about prostate cancer, this website has some good information https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate-information
  3. Check for colorectal cancer It’s important to begin screening for colorectal cancer starting around age 50. More information can be found on https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/bowel-cancer#heading-Three

What emotional support can I offer?

If someone lets you know that they are experiencing difficult thoughts and feelings, it's common to feel like you don’t know what to do or say – but you don't need any special training to show someone you care about them. Often just being there for someone and doing small things can be really valuable. For example:

  • Listen. Simply giving someone space to talk, and listening to how they’re feeling, can be helpful in itself. If they're finding it difficult, let them know that you're there when they are ready.
  • Offer reassurance. Seeking help can feel lonely, and sometimes scary. You can reassure someone by letting them know that they are not alone, and that you will be there to help.
  • Stay calm. Even though it might be upsetting to hear that someone you care about is distressed, try to stay calm. This will help your friend or family member feel calmer too and show them that they can talk to you openly without upsetting you.
  • Be patient. You might want to know more details about their thoughts and feelings or want them to get help immediately. But it’s important to let them set the pace for seeking support themselves.
  • Try not to make assumptions. Your perspective might be useful to your friend or family member but try not to assume that you already know what may have caused their feelings, or what will help.
  • Keep social contact. Part of the emotional support you offer could be to keep things as normal as possible. This could include involving your friend or family member in social events or chatting about other parts of your lives.
  • What practical support can I offer?
  • There are lots of practical things you can do to support someone who is ready to seek help. For example:
  • Look for information that might be helpful.  Help to write down lists of
  • Help to organise paperwork,
  • Go to appointments with them if they want you to
  • Ask them if there are any specific practical tasks you could help with
    For example,
    offering them a lift somewhere
    arranging childcare for them
    taking over a chore or household task.
  • Learn more about the problem they experience

What can I do if someone doesn't want my help?

If you feel that someone you care about is clearly struggling but can't or won't reach out for help, and won't accept any help you offer, it's understandable to feel frustrated, distressed and powerless. But it’s important to accept that they are an individual, and that there are always limits to what you can do to support another person.

https://www.healthline.com/health/mens-health#prostate

https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/8/13-132795/en/

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/helping-someone-else-seek-help/

Mental Health

Bowen for Mental Health
Bowen for Mental Health

Mental Health

Mental Health Awareness Week takes place in May every year.  It is an annual event, aiming to help the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. The Mental Health Foundation started the event in 2001. Each year the Foundation continues to set the theme, organise and host the week.

What is Mental Health?

People with a physical disability are more likely to experience a mental health problem, while people with a mental health problem are more likely to experience a physical health problem.

  • More than 15 million people - 30% of the UK population - live with one or more long-term conditions, and more than 4 million of these people will also have a mental health problem.
  • People with long-term physical conditions are more likely to have lower wellbeing scores than those without.
  • People with cancer, diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure are at greater risk of a range of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and PTSD.
  • Of people with severe symptoms of mental health problems, 37.6% also have a long-term physical condition. This compares with 25.3% of people with no or few symptoms of a mental health problem.

This has been taken from the Mental Health Organisation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-physical-health-conditions

bowen treatment for anxiety

These statistics are frightening and over the years to help address this I have studied psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, positive psychology, emdr plus along with a few others to help address these problems. This gives you the opportunity to have a gentle hands-on-therapy, to be able to talk, not talk or a combination of the two. It really is about what you need to do.

Bowen Therapy for mental health problems whether it be insomnia, anxiety, depression, or stress works with the body’s nerve receptors to calm down the nervous system. This prompts the body to move from the fight, flight, freeze mode to the parasympathetic mode. Bowen Therapy works with the fascia which holds onto trauma throughout the person’s lifetime and can help to release these emotions. It is common not only for a person to feel very relaxed but to experience a release of emotions, either during or following a Bowen treatment. Some other benefits that make Bowen Therapy a good choice is that the treatment is very gentle and can be carried out through light clothing so there is no need to undress. There is no force, or manipulation during treatment and after a few moves there is a break allowing the body to do the work.

A common feature of people with anxiety, depression and stress is poor posture as people hunch over and cross legs and arms to make themselves as small as possible so that they feel safer. This inhibits breathing which in turn can make the anxiety worse and can cause misalignment in the body which can cause pain thus compounding the problem. Bowen Therapy can help address the misalignment problem as well as the mental health conditions and there are specific moves to help with breathing.

Women’s Health

Bowen Therapy for Women's Health

Bowen Therapy has been used to help with a wide range of Women's Health issues ranging from fertility to the menopause. I have been absolutely thrilled to help clients with fertility issues and hearing their positive pregnancy news is always very exciting. This was a wonderful email I received from a very happy client which absolutely made my day.

“My life has changed so much since last time I saw you (in a good way ) and you were part of this. After we finished working together, I made some changes in my life, I become pescatarian, I started to be a bit more kind to myself when I needed and I enjoyed my "time of the month" pain free. On 17th of June we found out I was pregnant and 2 weeks ago we were told that we will be having a baby boy due on 21 of February”
CA Bracknell

Fertility issues appear to be focused on the brain-pituitary-ovarian axis. Stress, negative emotions, and unbalanced FSH disrupt the hormonal communication between the brain, pituitary, and ovaries. Sympathetic overdrive decreases ovarian blood flow and egg production as well. This is where the Bowen Technique excels-rebalancing the nervous system to increase parasympathetic activity leading to a balancing out of hormones, decreased stress levels and increased blood flow throughout the body. Bowen can also be used alongside all fertility treatments such as Clomid challenge, IUI and IVF.

Though virtually all women experience menopause, it has remained taboo for many women. Hormonal changes during menopause typically bring unpleasant symptoms, but relatively few women talk about or address their menopause symptoms. On average, most symptoms last around 4 years from your last period. However, around 1 in every 10 women experience them for up to 12 years. I have also worked with several clients with different aspects of the menopause. I recognise that this can be a very difficult time and affect us all very differently. Bowen Therapy for the menopause treats the body as a whole and has been shown to help with various symptoms including hot flushes, tiredness, anxiety, sleeplessness and many other hormonal issues. Everyone is different and the number of sessions required will often vary. Often three are sufficient as this lady found. To find out more about the menopause please read my blog.

“I can highly recommend Lee, she treated me for menopause issues and was amazing. After three sessions the hot flushes had gone and so had the ice-cold feelings, not to mention the lower back pain and tight shoulders! I was also sleeping much better. Lee is very knowledgeable about the body and helped me with some posture issues and better sitting positions also. Thank you, Lee.”
DP Twickenham.

To find out more about the menopause please read my blog.

Men’s Health

Men's Health Matters!

A recent report from the Samaritans showed that (https://www.samaritans.org/news/real-people-awareness-campaign-encourage-men-seek-help/)
Two in five (41%) men in England, Scotland and Wales aged 20-59 do not seek support when they need to, because they prefer to solve their own problems. The survey also showed that men often don’t want to feel like a burden and don’t feel their problems will be understood.

The survey found that some of the main reasons why these men find life tough, and struggle include debt or financial worries (36%), relationship breakdown or family problems (30%), loneliness or isolation (29%) and job loss or job-related problems (25%).

Generally (although certainly not in all cases) men are less in tune with their bodies and one of the most important things that I do is listen to what is being said.

Bowen Therapy treats the person as a whole and on the first treatment it will generally address the most important issue, so if a gentleman has come with pain because he is unable to sleep, often the first result will be a good night's sleep as this is when the body repairs itself.

Bowen Therapy switches off the “flight or fight” response which means that stress levels and anxiety generally reduce. This can have a knock on with posture as if we are anxious, we tend to stoop and close in on ourselves.

It can also help with re-alignment, posture and re-occurring injuries, so Bowen Therapy is simply great for men as well as women.

I also look very much at what you do for a living and any sports as often problems are caused by our everyday living and work, so it is important sometimes to change the way we sit or move to prevent the same problem keep cropping up.

I am seeing many more men now who are experiencing symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, mental exhaustion, and anxiety , to find out more about this please read my blog on Men's Health.

Pain

bowen treatment for pain
bowen treatment for pain

Pain

Whatever type of pain you are experiencing whether it be Lower Back Pain, Shoulder Pain, Neck Pain or Plantar fasciitis, Bowen can normally help. Bowen for pain relief works on a deep level. It gently and powerfully helps your whole-body tore-balance the tensional relationships of the connective tissues (fascia). This in turn can take the pressure from the painful area and relieve the symptoms.

It does not just work on the specific area. Bowen Therapy is also known to relax your central nervous system, allowing your body to be more in its ‘rest and repair’ state which is so often under active in our highly stressed modern lives. This helps you stop tightening your fascia when stressed thus aggravating the problem, (try clenching your fist and see how the remainder of the body feels particularly the jaw and shoulder).

When we are in pain we compensate and start moving the affected area in a different way. We will change our posture to accommodate the pain and over time we compensate more and more until the other side is unable to cope as it can change our total posture.

The beauty of Bowen is that we look at the whole body – it is all connected! I will look at what you do for a living, the movements you make and really work to get to the root source of the pain. Exercises can also be prescribed where appropriate and sometimes changing the way you move can really stop the problem from re-occurring. My aim is not just to relieve the pain but prevent it coming back. This is where my personal trainer background and the exercise and rehabilitation course I attended really help.

I have treated some people who have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel, carpal tunnel syndrome or RSI and sometimes it stems from problems in the back or the jaw. Headaches and migraines likewise can come from tense shoulders and even sometimes the ankle being out of alignment. Whiplash can often be a cause of a misalignment right through the body, as can neck and shoulder pain. Frozen shoulders are often a result of a problem with the pelvis being misaligned.

Plantar Fasciitis

Things you can do to help Plantar Fasciitis.

  • Wear good shoes that give you arch support and have shock absorption.
  • Try shoe inserts which help to cushion the foot.
  • Put some ice on your heel in order to reduce the inflammation.
  • Rest your feet. Reduce or stop the activities which have caused it.
  • Do some simple stretching exercises, such as towel stretches, calf stretches and toe raises.
  • Do not use heat.
  • Get your biomechanics checked by a professional.
  • If you are overweight, lose weight. It decreases the stress you put on your feet, by being heavy. If standing up is part of your daily job, then losing weight is one of the most effective things you can do to cure your plantar fasciitis and to prevent future occurrences of it.
  • Have Bowen Therapy.

How does Bowen Therapy Help Plantar Fasciitis?

On this page you can watch the video about how Bowen Therapy addresses Plantar Fasciitis just@02

People often suffer with pain or injuries in their feet due to problems elsewhere in their body. Bowen Therapy treats the body as a whole and I have been delighted with the results of the clients I have treated with Plantar Fasciitis.

With foot mechanics being the primary cause of plantar fasciitis, helping the foot back into alignment is a key goal of any treatment.

That’s how Bowen helps plantar fasciitis – between the ice for the symptoms, and the stretching for maintenance.  Bowen helps bring the entire body into balance.  When the pelvis, legs and feet are helped back into alignment, gait is improved, and the plantar fascia is not re-injured.

Feet are often the victim of a culprit elsewhere in the body.  Pelvic misalignment through impact of the lumbar spine, short hip flexors or tight hamstrings may all play a part in how legs move.  Knee and ankle alignment further influences how the feet land, and the amount of strain felt by the sole and the arch.

Being totally pain free after one treatment however is unlikely especially if the plantar fasciitis has been a problem for a while.  It may need a few treatments with time and exercises to help the body learn and maintain a new posture.  Walking that “feels different" with the change to alignment and gait, needs to start to "feel normal”, so the feet can remain pain free.

To find out more call me on 07710722615.