Body of Evidence or Just a Twinge of Improvement?

The stress of Christmas may be over, but the after-effects are likely to be lingering. And if they are, you might be thinking of trying out one of the many complementary therapies which promise to relax body and mind. One of the latest to arrive in Edinburgh Scotland is the encouragingly named Body Stress Release, (or BSR). It is based on the idea that, while we all need a certain amount of stress to stimulate survival, too much b e c o m e s negative. This so-called stored stress can be the root cause of a range of health problems from backache and migraines to pins and needles and general lethargy.

BSR aims to "release" the excess stress by applying gentle pressure to the parts of the body where it is stored in order to encourage the muscles to relax. It is described not as an alternative to medicine or a way of diagnosing or treating conditions or diseases, but as an extra way of helping the body heal itself. The longer the stress has been stored in the body, the longer it will take to encourage muscles to relax.

Kerry Teakle is the first BSR practitioner in Scotland, and one of only 12 in the UK. When I arrive at Medicalternative, on Hawthornbank Lane, Dean Village, for my first treatment She begins by explaining the principles of BSR. She then asks me about my current state of health, including aches and pains, so I admit to the occasional twinge in my lower back and poor posture at my desk at work. I am then asked to lie face down, fully clothed - including my shoes - on a bed.

The room is relaxing, with dimmed lights, but I feel slightly uncomfortable on the bed, which does not have a pillow or a hole for my face to rest in. At Teakle's request, I move down the bed until my feet are dangling over the edge, which also feels a little strange. She explains that she needs to be able to "wiggle" my feet so that she can observe my muscle responses to see where my stress is stored. "When I'm moving your feet, I will see a reaction in the rest of your body, for example one leg will get longer, which shows where the body is storing stress," she says.

For the next 20 minutes or so, she alternates between standing at the base of the bed wiggling my feet and standing at the middle or the top, gently prodding or kneading the troublespots she has identified with her fingers to "release" the stress. While not painful, the pressure to various parts of my back and neck is not exactly comfortable either, and I don't find it particularly relaxing.

Teakle then asks me to turn on to my back, after which she continues to poke my neck and shoulders. Afterwards, she warns me that my back, which hasn't hurt for months, may start to twinge following the treatment because she has opened up the "communication channels". She adds: "No feeling, no healing." She also says that I may feel either full of energy or very tired after my treatment. As it turns out, I feel quite lively and my back doesn't twinge at all.

Under BSR, clients are encouraged to return for two follow-up sessions - each, like the first, costing £30 and lasting around half an hour - one four days later and the last I I days after the first session to make sure that the treatment is working. "It's not a quick fix, it's a process," explains Teakle.

In the meantime, she gives me some "homework" in the form of daily exercises. The first involves lying face down when I get into bed and taking a few seconds to run my fingers down both sides of my neck, checking for tension. If I find any, I must give the spot three gentle prods. The second involves lying on my back and spending a few minutes doing 100 stomach contractions before I get up.

My second and third appointments follow the same course as the first and I feel neither better nor worse than I did beforehand. I have to confess I don't manage to do my homework once. To be fair, I do not feel I have many aches or pains to alleviate, and I am, according to Teakle, one of the "least stressed people" she has treated. But while it may not have done much for me, the impact of BSR on other people in greater need is reportedly huge.

The treatment is credited with rescuing a near cripple from a life confined to a wheelchair. That man is South African Ewald Meggersee, who co-developed BSR with his wife Gail to try to treat himself.

A fall from a tree when he was five had left him with continuous shooting pains and cramps in his lower back and legs. Traditional medical and chiropractic treatment had failed to relieve the pain so, aged thirty-something and faced with the possibility of spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair, he went to the United States to train with his wife as a chiropractor - a therapy involving manipulating bones. During their studies, the couple met Dr Richard van Rumpt, a retired chiropractor who had researched a new approach to standard chiropractic manipulation which involved "listening" to the body and using it as a biofeedback mechanism ... in other words, observing its responses and using them to find out where problems were.

Using that theory as the basis of what became known as BSR, the Meggersees opened a practice in Cape Town in the 80s and claim that since then thousands of South Africans have come for treatment. Reported success stories include a woman in her 40s whose severe asthma cleared up after only three sessions, and a 50-year-old diabetic whose need for insulin ceased as his diabetes improved. Now 54, Ewald explains how BSR is still improving his life: "For the first time in my life I can feel the sensation of socks and shoes on my feet and have improved movement in my ankles."

The only prerequisite for becoming a BSR practitioner is to have personal experience of the therapy. Teakle herself says she suffered back pain for 20 years and failed to find any treatment which helped until she tried BSR. After feeling the benefit and coincidentally being made redundant from her job at Scottish Courage in Edinburgh, she applied to train as a BSR practitioner. "I had had a bad back for 20 years, which I think was caused by a combination of ballet and just not using my back properly," she says. "I've probably spent a fortune on it. In the last year alone I spent over £1,500 on physiotherapy.

"It was a case of opportunity - my mother had received BSR on holiday and said I should try it. I did, then I was made redundant so I applied to learn how to practise, got accepted, and went out to South Africa to train. It's amazing. It really seems to have sorted my back out."

For more information about BSR, contact Medicalternative on 0131-225 5656 or at Waterside House, Hawthornbank Lane, Dean Village, Edinburgh, see the website at www.medicalternative.com, or visit www.bodystressrelease-uk.co.uk.