Please allow me to explain:
Client wants
Client wants are what the person is very much aware of. They are the symptoms that create pain or discomfort and are the driving force behind your commitment and visit for treatment. These are very important as quality of life is now being affected to the point where something has to be done.
To resolve the client’s wants are paramount, however, at times it can only be seen, when viewed by myself, as a superficial success. This is where client needs come into play.
Client needs
This is the area of my work that gets really interesting. Client needs are about the bigger picture, it is the driving force behind the symptoms, the root cause. There are 2 areas within the muscular/skeletal systems of work that are hugely relevant:
Structure: Wherever possible the body should be balanced and symmetrical, in other words perfectly aligned. Unfortunately this is usually not the case because as we go through life our body/structure adjusts to our environment meaning that the things we do in life such as sitting, sleeping, working, sports, various activities and previous injuries to name a few, all have an impact on our structure. It is vital for long lasting health that structural imbalances are addressed and body alignment is restored.
Function: This is very much dictated by the structure of the body. Our bodies are superbly resourceful and will generally always find a way to create a function, even when the structure has changed. This is very much our primal instinct for survival coming to the surface, in as much as we still need to be able to move and perform certain tasks even if they are not performed in the most efficient manner. Research is now starting to clarify what many body workers have known for years and that is, that the body will adapt extremely quickly to a new way of working and those neuromuscular pathways will be re-laid to become the norm (21 days approx.). The body will then remap the tissues accordingly, thus “locking in” a new function. The body has now adapted indiscriminately so there is no awareness of whether or not it is a positive or negative adaptation.
If this has created an imbalance within the body then there will be adjustments made throughout your muscular/skeletal system to compensate for this new function. Over a period of time this is likely to bring about various symptoms, usually aches and pains that are quite often far removed from the root of the problem. It is very much the weakest link within the chain of compensations that becomes symptomatic. We can help to reverse this whole process through the Bowen technique superbly well by changing the tensional relationships around the body which in turn leads to better alignment. This will then create a more positive function within everything that we do and symptomatic pain dissipates very quickly.
This is why the body must be viewed as a whole for long term health and injury rehabilitation/prevention. Our bodies are seamlessly connected from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes and nothing must be overlooked. All systems of the body work as part of the whole, one complex living organism, which needs “looking after” on every level. Functional Healing strives to achieve this through the specialised application of the Bowen Technique.