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Walking Tall
Massage alternative realigns the body
Question: What is neither physical therapy nor massage, but is used by its practitioners to alleviate pain, promote easier breathing and increase body function? Answer: rolfing. Also known as structural integration, rolfing has been practiced for about 50 years, though many laypeople and members of the medical community don’t know what it is.
Created by the late Ida Rolf, who earned a doctoral degree in biological chemistry at Columbia University, the procedure is based on the premise that the body’s connective tissue restricts opposing muscles from functioning on their own.
Rolfers use hands-on manipulation on people of all ages to separate bound-up tissue and release, realign and balance the whole body. The result is enhanced posture and freedom of movement, along with resolution of discomfort from back pain, repetitive motion injury, trauma and aging, according to the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration, which trains practitioners.
Unlike massage, rolfing does not promote relaxation. “Rolfing and massage are really different,” says Jeff Belanger, a certified advanced rolfer from Ann Arbor. “Rolfing lets your structure as a whole untwist and become stronger. What we’re working with is the habits of muscle tightness.”
Rolfing is done in a 10- session introductory series during which the rolfer works on specific areas of a client’s body once or twice a week. A session can last from 60 to 90 minutes and generally costs between $100 and $115. Rolfing normally is not covered by health insurance.
The effects are fairly permanent, says Belanger, and the 10 sessions are not usually repeated, but can be followed up with three maintenance sessions. Some clients return to extend the results or readjust after physical trauma or body changes.
Walk this way
Justin Spewock, 40, of Genoa Township, has dealt with many aches and pains caused by wrestling in high school and college. He underwent a 10- session series with certified advanced rolfer Kim Tillen Hicks of Milford, and says it’s made a difference.
“I feel tremendously better,” says Spewock. “I have a lot of sports injuries that caused me to change the way I walked.”
In fact, Tillen Hicks, 52, who also is a physical therapist, has gone through the 10 sessions herself, in part to promote good walking habits.
“One of my personal goals is to walk into my 70s and 80s, straight,” she says.
Tillen Hicks and her colleagues caution people to avoid rolfing if they are pregnant or have cancer or a connective tissue disorder. The National Institutes of Health says that rolfing has not been scientifically proven as a remedy for back pain, but has not issued any warnings against its use.
Rolfer Robert Auerbach of Detroit, who practices in Dearborn, Grosse Pointe Farms, Royal Oak and Sterling Heights, says though rolfing is not meant to be psychotherapeutic, it can bring attitudinal changes.
“Emotions do get stored in the body, and they get stored in different places,” he says.
“If your body is brought to a more upright position and if you are standing measurably taller … all of those things can certainly add or contribute to a more positive attitude.”
No state oversight committee governs rolfing, so rolfers need not be certified to practice. Rolfers are typically trained at either the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration or the Guild for Structural Integration, both in Boulder, Colo.
Practicing rolfers advise visiting both schools’ Web sites, www.rolf.org or www.rolf guild.org, to find an experienced practitioner and to talk with a rolfer and clients.