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WHAT
STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION
CAN DO IN
SPORTS MEDICINE
FOR THERAPY & ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE...
THAT
COMPLEMENTS YOUR OTHER THERAPIES
Part 2 of 2 - What Sessions
are like, and
How you feel from them
Includes lots of key Testimonials
Jump to Part 1
What it is.
How it's different from what you already do,
So it adds benefits to your program.
How it's compatible and helps what you already do, do more.
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"What
the Treatments are Like,
"How they make you Feel,
"What they can Do for you."
"Includes Descriptive Testimonials"
Olympic Athletes, Track Coach,
College Athletic Trainer, Chiropractor,
People who work out.
Scanning: Read Bold - Black, Blue
& Red
Faster major point Scanning: Read Red & Blue
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by Louis A. Gross BSEE
Founder of The Institute for Enhanced Performance
School Certified Master Postural Integrator, since 1983
Body Structure & Bodymind Performance Specialist
A Resource for Body Professionals of all Kinds
27 years successful experience
For more information & free consultations, call 1-321-726-9083
louisryoshin@yahoo.com
WHAT THE
TREATMENTS ARE LIKE
AND HOW THEY MAKE YOU FEEL
My Sessions are 1-4 hours
long. (Typically, other people's sessions are shorter, 1 or 1-1/4
hours long, and less frequent.)
I can come for a visit or
people come to me, and I can do multiple 2-3-4 hour sessions in a week, usually
for a number of days in a row when people bring me to them.
This gets a LOT of improvement
very quickly, and the whole structure is then more aligned and looser.
Stretching is also easier, and I also have self-help DVDs for Bodywork style
stretching & doing your own fascia hands-on, or other people on you.
At the start of a
session, even though we know the basic sequence we need to do to unravel and
improve the body, most practitioners do a visual "body reading" and often use
Polaroid or digital photos or a tall mirror to show the person where the tightness is, how it's hindering his or her
movement and how it's causing pain or setting up an injury.
Then we
manipulate the soft connective tissue of the muscles with our fingers, hands and
arms, following a muscle group by muscle group organization. We spread
the tissue as if we're working with putty, rather than squeezing, stroking or
pressing it as is done in massage. Some practitioners, like me,
also
teach special stretches and "integrated" movement techniques that add to the
Bodywork improvements.
Each session creates
improvement in the area worked. And each succeeding session builds on the
work before it by working on other, related muscle groups.
We start on the outside of the body and as each layer of tissue loosens and
lengthens, we work into the next deeper sections.
As more and more
parts of the body are treated, all the parts benefit further and the whole body
maintains the benefits longer. At various times we compare photos from
different sessions to see the progress that has been made and compare what we
see with what the person feels.
Typically, people notice
that they're standing straighter, without effort, and their reach and stride are
longer. Everything feels "lighter," more alive and loose, even parts they didn't
know were tight.
Even top athletes noticed
breathing was fuller. The spine, pelvis and shoulders moved more flexibly when
they breathed. They then realized how tight they'd been without realizing
it.
As we lengthen each of the body parts
like legs, abdomen and chest, people feel their backs lie flatter on the table.
This means they're getting more aligned as well as looser.
This greater looseness and longer
muscle length now becomes the regular condition. And there is also a feeling of much greater relaxation.
People say they can stay relaxed even in
the midst of intense activity, like running or handling many activities in a
busy work day.
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The session is
educational. Sometimes you feel tight or loose and you don't really know why. In the session you become more aware of why something feels
tight or loose. And you learn which muscle groups affect others.
When you get tight somewhere, you often feel that the actual point of
tightness is the problem, and you don't realize that it's being caused by
tightness and a problem elsewhere. Lou would work on one area and
I'd feel it become looser somewhere else.
In fact, I really didn't know I was stiff in
some areas. But now that I've had the bodywork I can feel it's a lot
freer, even though I didn't know it was tight before.
Christina
Cahill (Nee Boxer), 800/1500 meters
6- TIME BRITISH CHAMPION
3-TIME OLYMPIAN
The series of bodywork sessions has been an educational
experience. I'm more conscious of my structure and
more knowledgeable of how the various parts are interconnected and
interact with each other.
When one part gets tight and out of alignment, I
understand what effect it has on other parts and have a pretty good idea what
needs to be done to correct the situation.
Mr RM, Retired Housing & Urban
Development Manager,
AGE 60
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Almost everyone feels some improvement from the first session,
especially from my own method of long sessions. In each, I work to improve
a number of different body areas together. An increasingly significant
improvement happens even from the first 8-10 hrs. A complete structural alignment for
an average size person takes about 10-15 2-hr sessions.
Improvements are long
lasting:
Very noticeable benefits from even the first few sessions last for weeks, months
and even years.
In all cases, any chronic shortness and lack of
flexibility or “stretch-ability” that was removed, is now gone. New
tightness from current activity can then usually be removed easier and faster than it
took to loosen the old accumulations.
One of
the features of my own unique hands-on method is, as I said above, that I can do long sessions,
and even a number of long sessions in a week or two. 3-4 hour sessions for
serious athletes are common. I once did 10 hours in the first week
for an Olympic jumper. His leg and foot spring got a lot better while
their tightness and his chronic low back problems got a lot less.
I did over 20 hours in one week
for a serious Sprinter
who flew me in & put me up.
http://www.backfixbodywork.com/Testimonials_FlashReport.htm
I also add other
practices we do right while I'm doing the Bodywork.
These include
concentration breathing exercises that increase both mental focus and body relaxation
at the same time.
And I show people my Structural Bodywork method
of getting more out of their stretches. In fact, my stretching positions add
benefits beyond what they've gotten from the positions most people already know.
Athletes say my treatments feel
great! They do a lot quickly. "And they make you feel good right
after, even so loosened up that you're ready to start workouts. "
When I worked on some 10K runners right after their race, they said they felt they
could go right back out and run again.
I never had this quick a
response to any treatment, and I've been dealing with
the same lower back problem for
20 years.
Usually, when it hurts it lasts for 4-5 days and I have to totally rest. When I walk around I have extreme difficulty.
What's so
different about this treatment is how rapidly it makes big improvements.
I had a 3-hour session. I'm standing up straighter with
less pain. I notice a big improvement in flexibility in my neck,
shoulders and chest. My hips, pelvis, and calves are much
looser.
Overall, I feel I'm better aligned.
I even feel
more peaceful inside. And I feel carefree and at ease in a situation that
usually gets me tensed up.
Mr
KB, Counselor
Former College
FOOTBALL
LINEBACKER
I've been an athlete for 15 years and had a lot of people work on
me. This is the most unique kind of bodywork I've ever had.
It's different from massage and very innovative.
From the first 2-1/2 hrs I had a deep relaxation and felt energized
at the same time. I felt solid in my stance. I also got a
lot from the concentration breathing exercises
we did during the bodywork. It
brought me down into my body and it also relaxed me faster.
After the second session I didn't feel as if I'd just had four
hours of work on me (plus 2-1/2 hrs the day before). Judging from the other
kinds of bodywork I've had, I think I would have been dead or wiped out, and I
wasn't at all. We had combined more breath and energy concentration practice
with this bodywork and instead of feeling wiped out I
felt really focused and like I was ready to start workouts on schedule
1-1/2 days later. I also felt more centered.
Gwen
Loud, Long Jump, Keiser Track Club
US Olympic Trials Finalist 1980-1992
3rd in U.S. at age 30,
1984 NCAA Champion
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In my
general approach to the body, I tailor the typically followed "recipe" of
sessions to a person's specific needs. So I won't be doing just one set of
prescribed strokes per session as a number of other practitioners do. I work on the overall body
integration and alignment while I'm also working on specific issues.
And I try to do a lot in each
session so people's benefits come sooner.
I also do tune-up sessions between
or before games, events or performances. I can even work on-site; and even
on a chair, couch or rug. My special hands-on technique enables me to do
good work through clothes, too.
These sessions can immediately remove tightness,
especially on the back, neck and shoulders. They not only restore, but
sometimes increase, range of
motion, flexibility and speed. They can, of course, lessen the chance of pulling a hamstring or other
muscle. And while they do create some of the benefits of a massage, they are
also re-alignment tune-ups.
I accompanied
an elite college track team to the state championships. While there, the
top long jumper came to me with a bad spasm in one leg. After a 40 minute relengthening of mainly that leg, his next jump took second in the
meet.
After I broke my shoulder, I had this Bodywork.
Because of the
treatments, I was able to have full range of motion in my shoulder which
the doctor had thought would be impossible. I also returned to
work a month earlier than the doctor had predicted.
I’d also worked out in a gym after the injury was fixed to build
myself up, but I also tightened myself up significantly again. A few more Bodywork hours corrected that, too.
Ms JS, Registered
NURSE,
Recreational Athlete, SKIER, SPEED HIKER,
WORKS OUT Regularly, age 47
I work out in the gym and now have faster
recuperation from intense efforts. It doesn't seem to hurt as much;
I'm not really sore afterwards as I used to be. I had thought
that pain was "normal."
I'm more
flexible. And when I do leg lifts my flexibility increases,
whereas before I would just tighten up more.
And my chronically tight neck has
stayed much better.
Ms
CE, Store Manager,
GOLFER,
WORKS OUT Regularly, age 42
My whole way of running feels
smoother and looks smoother to others. It's also more fluid and my legs
move with less effort.
The chronic tightness and bone rigidity in my feet is greatly corrected and my lower legs are much looser and more flexible.
The pains I was having in my lower back and hips are gone. I feel less tight
and looser all over my body and my bones and muscles
are much more in alignment. Even my spine, where I was told I had a
protruding disk, looks better.
Ms AB, MARATHON RUNNER, age
46, Engineer &
Business Owner
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WHAT ELSE THIS
TREATMENT CAN DO FOR YOU
We can generally say that getting Structural Integration makes people look
better, feel
better and perform better!
It noticeably improves mechanics, accuracy, coordination and mental concentration.
People say they don't have to work at control as much; it just comes.
And as you'd expect expect from greater looseness, there's more speed,
power, flexibility and dexterity.
It improves balance,
posture and "bearing." It raises the center of
gravity for better movement. Yet it lowers the concentration center so
people are more grounded. They are also more energetically
centered, from top to bottom, and also from outside, now to deeper inside.
Athletes and dancers who have gotten very
tight, even over many years' time, have regained quite a lot of their
flexibility, muscular range of motion and
even endurance, just by getting loosened a lot, and somewhat integrated.
This treatment also
improves the physiology of the fascia and many other metabolic functions.
There's less
compression on the blood and lymphatic channels and even on the organs.
There's also more fluidy and open spaces in the tissues around the muscle cells
themselves. So we can get a noticeable increase in the speed and volume of
cell respiration, blood nourishment and waste removal.
Besides
the fact that a better neuro-muscular function increases people's economy of
effort during activity, the metabolic and physiological improvements increase
it, too.
And it often took people a lot less
time to recover from intense workouts or performance. One 50
year old chiropractor said, after just six hours of treatment, that he was no
longer wiped out after his 90 minutes squash workouts.
To
draw perhaps an obvious conclusion, because this kind of body "processing" can increase
performance and lessen chance of injury, it not only can keep a person
"healthier" during the length of a season, but it could also lengthen their
careers.
Musicians, singers,
actors and even TV and Radio newscasters can express themselves with greater power of projection
that comes from more of their body. It is also centered further
down, in the "hara," and their expression sounds calmer and more "even."
Even if it's with an instrument, our own energies "operate" that instrument.
The overall muscle system is
looser and more powerful at the same time. That gives them a larger range
of emotional expression. And they are more
articulate in their speech and even hand movements. The face looks less
stressed and maybe even younger, and facial expressions can be more animated.
The head itself is less tight, as are the neck, shoulders and back.
Since more of the body's cavities
are available to resonate, and resonate further, singers can experience a
broader range of verbal tone and octave, with less strain.
One actor said just his
character now came out. "He" wasn't in the way.
Another actor said the body-oriented,
vibratory tension release sounds, and the energy center strengthening sounds,
both did a lot for him right before his performance. He said they did a
lot more than the usual speech enunciation exercises he'd been taught in his
acting training.
Lou did an outstanding job and was a great
contributor to our winning both the cross country and track and field state
championships. This was the first time that any community college
had ever accomplished this feat and could only be done by having our
athletes healthy throughout the entire season.
I found Lou to be very dedicated to his profession as
well as extremely knowledgeable. His enthusiasm was contagious
and carried over to all of the student athletes with whom he worked.
The athletes were extremely impressed and looked forward to working with him
in order to not only reduce whatever ailments they might have, but also to
prevent them from occurring in the first place.
I have the fondest regard for Lou and can truthfully recommend him to any
coach or instructor who wishes to reduce injuries in athletes and students.
Ronald J.
Allice, Head Track
and Field Coach
Long Beach Community College
Now Head Coach at University of Southern California
At LBCC he'd created a Dynasty, winning the California
Jr. College State Championship 9 out of 13 years
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As I said at the beginning
of this article, compared to other many loosening methods, this one works fast. In just a few hours
treatment it can remove weeks, months, years and even decades of bunched up
tightness,
including tightness people weren't even aware they had, but had been
unconsciously limiting their performance.
It routinely removes accumulated stress,
tension, soreness, and fatigue usually right away.
As more of even just the outside
muscles are spread back out, the size of the area in pain from
injuries, or very tight spots, will often become smaller.
As the range of motion gets bigger,
people find they only get "that pain or tightness" when they move their neck,
arm, back or leg further than they could before.
And, as you read at the end of
Section 1, it breaks up scar tissue from old injuries.
Because of this "big" re-lengthening, it significantly decreases the chance of
non-contact injuries
such as back spasms,
disk problems, and leg problems such as hamstring, Achilles tendon and groin
pulls. And to some degree, if the muscles in the whole, long, interconnected
areas are lengthened, it can lessen the chance of shoulder separations, and knee and ankle sprains.
I was
absolutely ready to schedule
back surgery
for a severe extruded disk in my lower back at L5-S1 (12 millimeters). (My spine surgeon said even 6-8mm is considered bad.)
I'd
had low back pain on and off over the years which had gotten very bad in
the previous 3-4 months before the bodywork. I also had sciatica in the
right leg for the previous 2 months.
I had 5-hrs of Bodywork
in two sessions. About two weeks after
the second session the pain completely subsided and I had full use of my right
leg.
Two years later I am still well.
Mr. N. S., Interior
Designer & Firm Owner, age 38
I've had a lower back problem off and on for
30
years.
Lou's treatments
that corrected a chronically tight, spasming and painful right leg have also
corrected this back problem.
It even used to hurt when I coughed.
Now it
hasn't bothered me for months.
Doing my work is
easier. I don’t have to strain, I can twist my body without it
being tight, and I’m more flexible. I can do my own exercises
and stretches and demonstrate them for my patients, and I couldn’t do
that before. Stuff moves now.
Dr DS,
DC,
CHIROPRACTOR
and Advanced Kinesiologist |
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is, & How it Can Help You
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Stretching Tips article
Improve on Your Own with
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Copyright 1995, 2002
Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved
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