Managing pain and stress

with body stress release

Charlotte Richardson-Knott explains the principles of body stress release and how it may be able to help people with back pain.

In my early twenties I started to experience debilitating chronic lower back pain. I knew something was terribly wrong when I began to feel old before my time, that my joints needed oiling, intense early morning lower back stiffness and that my first steps out of bed in the morning resembled more of a penguin shuffle than an actual step.

My lower back became increasingly worse. In a desperate attempt to alleviate the pain I tried all conventional routes of treatment with little success. A colleague introduced me to body stress release. After the first release, I could breathe again, I could move my lower back and I felt a weight lift instantly off my shoulders. With further releases, I started to regain my flexibility and strength as the pain gradually subsided. My energy, enthusiasm and passion for life returned and I knew I had to learn to help others in their quest to ease their pain.

I have been a body stress release practitioner for many years now and delight in assisting people regain their health and vitality whilst empowering them with knowledge and awareness. With stress statistics in the UK reaching record highs, body stress release offers a refreshing, enjoyable and holistic approach to coping with the diverse effects of stress.

Stress and health
We are constantly subjected to various forms of stress in our daily lives. A certain amount of stress is necessary to provide us with challenges and to stimulate us to strive for survival and progress. The body, designed to be self-healing, has mechanisms that constantly monitor every function that is taking place. It is continuously adapting to both external influences and stresses and to internal changes and stresses. Health may be defined as 'the body's ability to constructively deal with all the stress to which it is subjected'. In this way, it is constantly repairing itself and maintaining its optimum level of efficient functioning. Certain stress factors will cause a temporary reduction in the body's efficiency or health; for example, a strained muscle will be stiff and painful for a few days and then return to its normal condition.

Stress overload
Stress becomes a negative, destructive factor in life when it goes beyond the individual's ability to adapt to it. When the point of stress overload is reached, instead of the stress being released from the body, it becomes stored within the body as 'body stress'. As we differ in our emotional and physical makeup, we have varying degrees of susceptibility to stress overload.

The causes of stress
Emotional/mental - These include fear of the future, financial worries, competition in the work-place, disintegrating family relationships. At times we experience sudden violent emotions, such as anger or shock, or we undergo milder but ongoing forms of mental strain eg anxiety, depression and resentment. These manifest as problem areas in the diaphragm, jaw, neck, shoulders, as muscles tighten in a defensive posture, to armour is against the onslaught of life's stresses.

Mechanical stress factors
The body is designed to withstand a certain amount of physical force - bumps, jerks and falls, but if the mechanical stress goes beyond the body's limit of adaptability the effects may become stored as body stress.

Chemical stress factor
The sources of chemical stress include pollutants in the air, insecticides and certain food additives and preservatives. Harmful chemicals may be consumed, inhaled or even absorbed through the skin.

The effects of body stress
When the point of stress overload is reached, the stress becomes 'locked' into the body and manifests as lines of tension. The body adopts a protective mode of action by means of automatic reflexes, causing adjacent and overlying muscles to splint the area. This action has a dampening effect on the nervous system, thereby causing the brain's filtering mechanism to ignore the areas of body stress. In times when the body is required to take greater defensive action, stiffness may become noticeable ultimately leading to postural distortion, loss of flexibility, pain, numbness and discomfort. A person with body stress may also feel tense, tired and lacking in energy and enthusiasm for life. Headaches, backache and indigestion may follow. It is also possible for the body stress to be present without the individual feeling any pain or stiffness -he or she will simply come to accept as normal their sense of having less than 100 percent well-being.

While the stress or tension remains stored in the body, the normal tone of the body is disturbed, causing a reduction in its general efficiency. As its defence mechanisms become weakened, the body becomes less and less able to deal with further stresses to which it is subjected daily. In this way the individual moves increasingly further away from the optimum state of health.

The body stress release technique
This technique is specifically designed to help the body release all its stored tensions. With the person fully clothed and lying down, the practitioner carries out a series of tests to locate the exact sites of body stress and determines the precise directions in which the lines of tension exist. This is done by applying light pressure to the various points on the body, and observing the response. In this way, the body acts as a biofeedback mechanism supplying the information required. The practitioner then applies a manual stimulus, by means of light but definite pressure, in the exact directions necessary to encourage the body to release the stored tension.

If the body stress has occurred recently, the process of releasing it is usually very rapid. However if the stress has been stored for a long time, the stress releases may have to be carried out a number of times over a period. This is because the tight, protective layers of the muscles tend to relax by degrees back to their normal tone. Since body stress release works with bodies natural striving to be stress free, it is a gentle procedure that does not require force. It does not involve massage, manipulation or the use of any machines or medication.

Practitioners take individual lifestyle factors into careful consideration and offer valuable advice, guidance and monitoring to prevent accumulation of future stress and tension.

Who needs body stress release?
Body stress release is for everyone, from infants to the elderly, whether sick or healthy. As we are all subjected to the stresses of living, we all tend to accumulate stored tension with the resultant decline in the body's efficiency. Even babies may have body stress after a difficult birth. Therefore everyone's quality of life may be enhanced, by being assessed for body stress and having it released from time to time. Clients coming for body stress release are usually looking for relief from pain, stiffness, or other discomfort. Whilst body stress release is not a diagnosis or treatment of any specific condition or illness, it assists the body in restoring its self-healing capacity. People have reported improved health relating to a wide range of conditions.

Musculo-skeletal and neurological complaints: lower and upper back pain, sciatica, scoliosis, hip pain, neck pain, whiplash, headaches, migraines, frozen shoulder, bad posture and repetitive strain injury. Gastro-intestinal: heartburn, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhoea. Emotional problems: stress, insomnia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks and general fatigue. Childhood conditions: colic in babies, poor posture, bed-wetting (enuresis), growing pains in children. Accidents and falls: long term effects of mechanical accidents. Sport: enhanced sports performance.

Wellness
Body stress release also has a broader objective. It is concerned with assisting 'wellness' and many people benefit from having regular releases to maintain their health and wellbeing.

A brief history of body stress release
This unique complementary health technique is the result of many years of dedicated research by chiropractor Ewald Meggersee, motivated by his own long history of ill health. Fear of becoming totally paralysed while still in his early 30's led Meggersee, together with his wife Gail, to pioneer the body-wellness system known as body stress release (BSR).

Body stress release has been successfully researched and practised since 1981. As of 2009, there are over 250 qualified body stress release practitioners worldwide, located in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA. There are currently 30 practitioners in the UK.

Practitioners are passionate about their profession and are strictly monitored and regulated by the International Body Stress Release Association. The association was constituted in 1987 setting international standards in terms of comprehensive training, supervision and continuing professional education and development.

The Body Stress Release Association in the United Kingdom is a member of the British Complementary Medicine Association (BCMA).

I recently had the misfortune of experiencing a very bad fall down a very steep flight of stairs with a particularly bad landing on my sacrum and coccyx. I knew an immediate release was required to address the tremendous shock and reaction felt throughout the entire body. After three releases, within five days I was fully recovered with the confidence of knowing that any long term ill effects had been prevented. I remain forever grateful for body stress release.

Charlotte Richardson-Knott MBSRA BCMA is a BackCare professional affiliate member and body stress release practitioner.