Is There a Manual Therapist in the House?

Think about a house.

Let’s say it is 30-40 years old, has been occupied its whole life and now it has some settling to where one of the doors doesn’t close fully anymore because the door frame is not quite the same shape as the door. This presents three choices.

1. Leave it alone. You don’t close that door much and there is no problem if it is open all the time.

2. Mechanically change the door or the door frame. You can plane a little off one or both so they now have the same shape, or close enough, so that the door goes into the frame and closes fully. It is no longer truly square but the door now closes easily and all is good. The door didn’t cause the problem of not fitting but this adaptation keeps the doorway functioning as you want it to.

3. Take the door and slide it into the door frame as best you can and then apply force in just the right way to counter the settling of the house so the house shifts throughout itself and the door and frame mate just like originally. This way the cause of the problem is resolved and the door fits fine again. Maybe not so practical with a house, but theoretically possible.

Now consider a body where a musculoskeletal area doesn’t work so well anymore. Faced with this many people start by trying number one. Leave it alone and get used to it. After all, if you keep moving you may get things back in line and the body can heal things that are injured. Usually. Sort of.

If that is not acceptable or didn’t work so well, then they try number two - change the mechanical aspects of an area that is not working as needed or is causing pain. Stretch the ligaments so things slide a little further, stretch the muscles so there is more range to work with and better adaptation to the demands, etc. In the case of live bodies that may or may not actually resolve the cause of the problem. In my experience most long term or repetitive problems are not caused at the area of pain. If fact, it is supposed to hurt there when they stress it like that, if it didn’t then something would be very wrong.

Which takes us to option three – use the relationship of the bones and tissues in the dysfunctional area to change the rest of the body that is straining it. The advantage here is that, unlike houses, we are constantly generating energy and movement to power mechanical changes in our bodies. If the joint surfaces are positioned to minimal strain (the door put into the bent frame) the nervous system will assess this input and provide energy and direction to actively change the rest of the body. In terms of our house analogy, the house will actively change its shape overall to return to having the door mate to the frame because it’s the position of least strain for the door.

That last option is the conceptual core of ReTensioning®, to use joint surface congruency to assess and orient individual bones to one another in a way that improves how they fit and use that as stimulus for the nervous system to reorient the tensional relationships in the body. Because ReTensioning® relies on the client’s systems to do the processing and directing the changes in tissue it is a very holistic approach that is custom fit for their body and situation. Consequently, there is often very good, sustained changes in tension and function in clients after they receive these techniques.

Overall, ReTensioning® provides a way to help clients change themselves in a manner that is integrated with how they move and interact with the world. By using very low force, just enough to be perceptible, and relying on the client’s systems to make the actual changes ReTensioning® provides a means for the client to take the “settling out of the house”.