About Rolfing (fascial manipulation) and its Basis of Operation: By Aparna Duggal

Rolfing is a form or system of bodywork involving connective tissue (fascial) manipulation and movement education aimed at integrating the physical structure. Rolfing works to release the restrictions, strains and adhesions that create pain, inflexibility and general discomfort and fatigue. The body is, then, freer and more balanced and there is a sense of inner strength because the body is working as a whole rather than disjointed segments.

To explain further, whenever the natural balance of the body is disturbed-that is it doesn't follow the best geometry of the human skeleton either through the effects of gravity (which according to Dr. Rolf, is the major cause of stress on bodies when they are out of vertical alignment) or through injury, stress, repetitive use, illness or simply the aging process-in time the whole body gradually changes form or posture to adapt to the unhealthy deviation.

For example, on a fateful Sunday morning you take that dreaded fall in the bathtub injuring a knee or a hip. To avoid pain, you instinctively and unconsciously tighten the muscles around that knee or hip to avoid or reduce the experience of pain whenever they are in motion. You adopt incorrect postures and styles of movement to compensate for the injured muscles. When the involuntary reflexes of tightening injured muscles and moving in awkward ways is carried on day after day, eventually because muscles alone cannot carry this additional tension, the fasciae around the muscles give up some of their elasticity and thicken, tighten, shorten and twist to support the new movement patterns of your body( which are unnatural and therefore a strain),and, in time, the shape and function of the whole body alters with them. Any restriction that you may have imposed on your leg to protect it becomes, in this way, somewhat of a permanent fixture due to the now hardened fasciae. The body changes its shape to reflect how it is being used. So, no surprise, if the reflection staring back at you from the mirror is, therefore, of no Adonis or Venus but of a properly hobbling bath-tub klutz!

As the body must work against the pull of gravity, the entire muscle and fascial system gradually shifts to compensate for this first change. In a chain reaction the misalignment and restricted movement in the injured leg is communicated further upward being exhibited in a faulty movement through the pelvis, which disturbs the balance of the thoracic region affecting the pattern of breathing and ultimately even the set of the head. Like a house teetering on collapse, with its vital support beams and posts out of place; the body continues to function, albeit inefficiently, with off kilter body parts pulled into painfully unnatural positions. The result-chronic pains, inflexibility, rigidity, fatigue, tiredness.

There are two types of changes in this world Reversible and Irreversible. Fortunately for us, connective tissue damage of this kind is reversible-or so the proponents of Rolfing hold. The key principle of Rolfing that "the body is a plastic medium" is related, to a large extent, to the fact that the fascia is a pliable and elastic entity in its original, unaltered form. It is this quality of plasticity that enables the human body to be anatomically ordered, thus lengthened and centered along its vertical axis.

The most immediate plastic component of the body that we can get our hands on, in order to physically alter form and function of the body, is the fascia. Fascia gives form to the body; it is the most pervasive tissue and innately malleable. Chemically it is the collagen in the fascia that enables it to change. Collagen, a colloid is capable of changing from fluid to solid, and solid to fluid in response to the forces acting upon it (reversible, see?...as promised!). Thus, with chronic tension imposed (through injury or incorrect use) on it the collagen-laden fascia that had thickened, hardened, shortened and twisted can again, through the application of corrective forces (rolfing) be re-hydrated and restored to its original fluidity or elasticity. This returning elasticity of the connective or soft tissue will now slowly free the tied up, previously injured muscles and enable movement and correct positioning in the once rigid limb or part.

And so like optimal car performance after an alignment and tune up; Rolfing attempts to return elasticity to your body so it can go back to its original blueprint specifications. Thus allowing body parts to now work together rather than against each other eliminating pain and making daily chores less of an effort resulting in increased levels of energy. Putting one out of whack piece is not enough, as in a well built house which has every brick, beam and post in place every part should be in its correct position for the body to work smoothly.

Copyright © March 2003 Aparna Duggal

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