Experience a Totally Different Physical Therapy Treatment
Contributed by Elaine Hedden, MSPT
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the words Physical Therapy? Do you envision a painful treatment or having to endure difficult exercises that help you break up scar tissue? Traditional physical therapy does have a reputation of no pain no gain. There is a radically different approach that is so effective and so gentle that Tony Robbins in his latest book, Life Force, dedicated an entire chapter to this technique.
This completely different technique in the world of manual therapy is called Fascial Counterstrain (FCS) and is so gentle yet so effective that those who are frail or infants can receive this kind of manual therapy.
Counterstrain was originally discovered by Dr. Larry Jones in the 1960s and it has dramatically grown and improved over the many decades. Brian Tuckey, PT has taken Counterstrain to a whole new level and is the developer and creator of Fascial Counterstrain (FCS). He was recently featured in the newly released inspirational movie, Helen Believe, since he was her primary Physical Therapist and was an integral part of her healing journey.
What is a Fascial Counterstrain (FCS) session like? Most often, the patient is fully dressed because the soft tissue releases can be felt through clothing by the therapist. Sometimes the therapist needs to work directly on the skin, and the treatments are always very gentle. Treatment begins at the head, or the cranium feeling for soft tissue restrictions that connect to the rest of the body. I always explain to my patients that sometimes treatment happens in areas where there is no pain. Why?
If you think of a tree that has leaves that look sickly, do you treat the leaves or the roots? Fascial Counterstrain is about getting to the root cause of chronic or acute pain and inflammation. You can learn more by going to counterstrain.com or listening to the podcast below. In the fascinating podcast, Thriving Within, I am interviewing my instructor and the developer and creator of Fascial Counterstrain (FCS), Brian Tuckey, PT. If you have further questions about physical therapy, The Bearfoot Wellness Studio, or FCS feel free to give me a call at 907-622-2327(BEAR).