Common Symptoms
Symptoms vary greatly between individuals because they depend on which part of the nervous system is damaged.
Fatigue: Extreme tiredness often experienced in the morning.
Mobility & Muscle Issues: Muscle weakness, stiffness (spasticity), tremors, and difficulty with balance or coordination.
Vision Changes: Blurry vision, pain with eye movement, or temporary blindness.
Numbness or Tingling: Often felt in the limbs.
Cognitive & Emotional Changes: Memory issues, concentration, depression and mood swings.
Other Issues: Bladder and bowel dysfunction, dizziness/vertigo, and sexual problems.
Bowen Therapy as a treatment option for managing Multiple Sclerosis symptoms.
Bowen Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive, and complementary approach that may help manage multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms by relaxing the nervous system, reducing muscle pain, and improving mobility. It can provide relief from fatigue, gait issues, spasticity, and discomfort. The therapy promotes muscle balance and may aid in recovering from relapses.
How Bowen Therapy Can Help MS Symptoms:
Mobility & Spasticity: Gentle, subtle inputs to the body (fascia and muscles) help improve mobility and reduce spasticity (muscle spasms).
Pain Relief: Addresses compensatory pain caused by muscular imbalances and tension.
Fatigue Management: Many patients report increased energy levels after sessions.
Nervous System Regulation: It helps calm the nervous system, potentially slowing the progression of neurodegenerative conditions.
Secondary Symptoms: It is reported to help with fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive issues (concentration/memory), and bladder control.
Bowen Therapy is particularly effective for clients with compromised neural communication, as it involves gentle moves rather than forceful manipulation. Regular sessions are generally recommended to build up strength and energy, with some people spacing treatments further apart as they gain relief. It is a complementary therapy intended to work alongside conventional medicine to manage, not cure, Multiple Sclerosis.
Multiple Sclerosis Success Stories
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS - woman, Bowen practitioner, 40's. Bowen practitioner believes that Multiple Sclerosis patients receive a number of benefits from Bowen Technique treatment. She herself has MS and in her own experience, Bowen assists with muscle spasm, fatigue and in the bowel/bladder problems that are common not only in those who are incapacitated, i.e., wheel chair bound. Both bladder and bowel incontinence are also common in those who have the relapsing-remitting form of MS and Bowen can assist with both the frequency and urge forms of this, using the relevant lower back Bowen procedures. This can mean the difference between waking several times throughout the night (thereby upsetting sleep.....essential for repair) and sleeping straight through the night. For those that are recovering from a relapse and the nerve damage /incapacitation that results, Bowen moves can open up neural pathways that have been closed down by a pain response and inflammation and it thereby aids the speed of recovery. In short, this confirms positive responses to Bowen treatment for those with MS, but, as for stroke victims, the treatment needs to be little and often.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS - woman, 30's, ongoing treatments. Mary is the mother of 3 boys and in the summer of 2002 was told she was likely to only live for 2 more years due to the type of MS she has. Mary first say a Bowen Therapist after her diagnosis and at that stage she was unable to walk unaided, had practically lost her speech and had no upper body strength. Mary did not wish to take the prescribed medication but instead chose to go on a gluten and dairy free diet. She went for an assessment and treatment at an immunological/wellness clinic in the Czech Republic and she started an intensive program of nutritional support. Two months later began weekly treatments with Bowen. While she was already beginning to show some signs of improvement, with the addition of the Bowen treatments there was rapid improvement in all areas. When Mary first came, she had to check where her feet were visually to get them onto the treatment bed but by the 3rd treatment, she could get on the bed and know where her feet were through the normal functioning of positional body knowledge. Her speech had come back and was fluent with only the occasional missed word - usually speech is the most difficult thing to get back. After three Bowen treatments, she was able to walk unaided and had begun to play the piano again. Thereafter, she was able come to her appointments without a caregiver to help her (although she is always driven by someone else, as she is not safe to drive yet). Mary's consultant is completely bemused: his first thought was that there had been a misdiagnosis, but they reviewed all the scans and it is certain that she was not misdiagnosed, as the lesions are clear on the original scans. Mary has not had a recent scan to see if these have changed. The consultant's advice to Mary was: "I don't know what you are doing, but keep on doing it". Mary's improvement has been remarkable and she is particularly aware of this when she goes to the physio clinic for exercises and sees other MS patients deteriorating. For her, the combination of a change in her diet coupled with regular Bowen treatment has made an enormous difference to the progression of the MS. (Still doing well in 2005).
It is recommended to consult with a qualified Bowen Therapist to create a personalized plan.
