For 5 full days after a Bowen treatment, your body will continue to change as you incorporate the “movement” messages. By following these guidelines, you will ensure that you receive the greatest possible benefit from your session. Don't exercise excessively for the first 48 hours after your treatment, or exercise that your body isn't used to. Avoid exercise that could be to blame for your imbalance.
Bowen isn't necessarily an ongoing therapy. The person can experience relief only after the first session and significant resolution or recovery in three sessions. However, chronic or long-term conditions or repeated injuries may require additional treatment and, if symptoms do not resolve, you should consult your doctor. Many people with long-term chronic conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, find benefits from attending Bowen's regular treatments as part of their ongoing treatment plan.
To allow your body to undergo the healing processes introduced by Bowen Therapy, do not apply other types of body treatment, including self-applied massage for at least 5 days. Your therapy session with Bowen will be most effective if you avoid getting a massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, or other type of body work in the days leading up to the session. Because “bowen” isn't designed to make you feel better instantly, it's designed to make you instantly better recover. The body continues to adapt for days after treatment, with Bowen's movements giving the body the triggers to begin a healing process, not the healing process itself.
Bowen Therapy does not impose changes on the body, it stimulates and “asks” the body to make changes, initiates the body's innate self-healing response. I had treated many of Bowen's treatments as “just the session, expecting the session to be the resolution time, not really understanding that the real impact on my body was going to occur in the days following the session. By filling out the form before treatment, you'll have more time during the initial treatment to discuss your condition, create a plan, and work with Bowen's movements. Unlike other practical disciplines, in which the practitioner imposes correction on the client through the technique performed, the Bowen technique allows the body to heal itself with minimal intervention.
Bowen therapy can be used to treat related musculoskeletal or neurological problems, including acute sports injuries and chronic or organic conditions. It is recommended that seven days after treatment you do not receive any manual therapy such as massage, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, acupuncture, magnetic therapy because they could interfere with the balance that has been achieved with Bowen's technique. Bowen's technique is safe to use on anyone, from newborns to the elderly and for any related musculoskeletal or neuromuscular condition. Intense exercise, in which the muscles are doing a good hard workout (and may hurt later or need a good stretch), will also distract the body from Bowen's triggers.
A Bowen treatment consists of sequences of small movements at different pressures, each at a specific site in the body. Because of Bowenwork's subtlety and the body's continued response to it, other forms of manipulative therapy performed up to four days before or five days after a Bowtech session may interfere with its effectiveness. After a Bowen treatment, it's important to drink plenty of water to help flush toxins out of the body.
