Bowen- Your thoughts?

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poiuytrewq

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After yesterdays poor diagnosis by my McTimony chiro a friends recommended I try her friend who's a Bowen and natural healer.
This horse has had a Bowen treatment a few years back and tbh I was very sceptical (especially about her little stick things which measured his energy or something)
I like scientific things, I like proper medication not herbs, Id rather my chances with a surgeon than a natural healing type person and struggle to get my head around alternative type therapies.
I cant help it, its just the way I am!
What does everyone else think?
 
I'm not as interested in the modality as much as the talent of the person delivering it.

BTW - some medications are based on herbs and plants ;)

If you develop AF you will be put on Digoxin - made from foxglove.

If you have surgery your wound may be packed with Kaltostat - made from seaweed......:)

I put my faith in what works best, no matter the origin :).
 
I'm a skeptic on most things.

I had Bowen on me a couple of years ago (I may be young but have the most awful back, and when it goes I can not move! My back bends too much in every direction, so doesn't know when it's gone too far until I'm crippled in agony)

As I say I had Bowen on my back and it worked with me, the lady could barely touch me on the first session, and by the last could do a lot more. She also told me what she thought was wrong with my back before I had been diagnosed by a rheumatologist.

I tried it as my friend had it done on her gelding, and also herself and was pleased with the results.

All I can say is give it a go. It's not herbal but gentle muscular manipulation. Which was all I could handle at the time. Anything more and I would have been climbing the walls in agony.
 
I am also sceptical when people start talking about 'energy' etc, even though I am open minded to herbal things because as Oberon says a lot of medicines are derived from natural things. I believe acupuncture works and would consider using that, and would be open minded to Bowen and such things but feel like I don't have the money to experiment with at the mo. One day when I have loads of spare cash I will try them all and report back!
 
I was worried it would be all chakras and energy when I went to a demo, none of that , all.about muscle fibres direction and manipulation but faster than massage and not ages in one place, tried it for horse and me, painful but brilliant
 
I have had Bowen treatment and found it effective and produced a definite improvement to my range of motion following a (non horse related injury).

I would consider it for my horse, but just as you get good vets and bad vets I would look for one who is recommended by others.

Eta - My Bowen therapist didn't employ any sticks, tricks or energy gubbins and was very practical and professional
 
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lovinyourwork said:
I was worried it would be all chakras and energy when I went to a demo, none of that , all.about muscle fibres direction and manipulation but faster than massage and not ages in one place, tried it for horse and me, painful but brilliant
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Painful? Are you sure you had Bowen and not a sports massage, now they blinking hurt. Bowen on the other hand isn't painful. I was in that much pain already I couldn't have coped with anything severe!

And wonky donkey, it's gentle manipulation so no pushing shoving and extreme pressure, just gentle twinges, as such you don't need a therapist built like hulk hogan to be able to have the desired effect.

As renvers said - get a recomended therapist if you do consider it. It's like anything you get good and bad.
 
My Bowen lady is about 7 stone wet through so strength has nothing at all to do with it.

She is amazing with humans and horses.
 
It could be a coincidence but my new 5 year old has gone from being a tense nightmare to ride (bucking, leaping, broncing, kicking out, nappy etc) to being relaxed and forward going with no silliness after she was seen by a Bowen lady last week.
 
I have someone to work on my boy and she's amazing. Had the worst back when I got him and sensitive all over.

He's completely different now. Definitely worked for him.
 
Never used it but can't say I would atm as I had the physio for my mare who is very lame on the advice of the vet. Bowen lady was treating someone else's horse and commented that hadn't I thought about using Bowen for my mare as it would really help her in front of the physio (without asking what the problem was, just on the basis of seeing her trot once). FWIW it looks like the mare has bone chips on its shoulder and its going to be xrayed.
 
wonkey_donkey said:
There is no way a 10 stone Bowen Therapy woman (or man) can do effective muscular manipulation on a 500kg horse ...... simples.
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This is very true of the hind end especially, but it isn't about using strength to move muscles and joints. It's about setting a tightness or spasm back to it's normal state, like pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete on a computer to reset it.

I am interested in the Masterson Method - which works on the basis of small, gentle, movements which release tension, and you work along according to the horse's subtle messages to you (twitching, eye movements, yawning etc).

Practitioners believe horses will brace against intensive treatments and gun-ho massage and so 'sneaking under the radar' with gentle joint manipulation (at the major junctions of the axis, shoulder and hind end) and so relaxing the horse will achieve better results.

I have seen the man himself at work (on DVD) and I have to say it's amazing watching the horse's reactions.

He's added to my list of people to see :o.

http://www.mastersonmethod.com/about-the-masterson-method-and-jim-masterson.html
 
Interesting replies thank you.
I know a lot of medicines come from plants and herbs but my point is they have been produced by a scientist and clinically proven.
I like proof that things work. I may give it a try then perhaps. Id hate to think the answer to our problem is right there and ive just dismissed it without even trying!
 
poiuytrewq said:
Really!? Oh god am I sounding idiot like! :0)
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You're just not cynical enough yet :D

Did you hear about the PhD student who basically proved Parkinson's drugs were a waste of time? Probably not because he was silenced by the drug companies......:rolleyes:

We used to love it when drug reps came to the hospital - they brought us lots of nice food :p.
 
wonkey_donkey said:
There is no way a 10 stone Bowen Therapy woman (or man) can do effective muscular manipulation on a 500kg horse ...... simples.
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It's not all about brute strength you know, or else, how would we move a horse just by touch?

It's all about technique. And yes humans do have a magnetic field and we kind of do function on electricity made in our own bodies and nerves can get blocked and muscle fibres do sometimes do weird things and spasm, and move. You can manipulate muscles very gently and because they control bones, they can pull bones out of place, muscle fibres are very strong. Weak muscles can be strengthened but spasmed muscle sometimes needs to be "reset" to make it let go of said bones. It's all connected.

You do not need to be a giant to do this. There are many techniques to try.

Physio is all about strengthening or relaxing muscle. It's effective.

Osteopathy is all about realigning bones but often if the muscle is still tight, it will just pull the bone out of place again. Hence repeat visits.

Mctimoney is all about energy and since we are made up of energy and it can be stored in strange places in our body e.g. Shoulders, back, knees etc energy can be redirected or released.

Acupuncture also works on energy and natural meridians.

Can I also add though... Having been through manipulation and then eventual surgery, I would recommend an X-ray or MRI first to rule out anything more serious like a tendon about to snap or something as it was in my case. It's worth it and could save you money in the long run.
 
Was a bit of a skeptic like yourself OP - couldn't really see that some gentle prodding (I know there must be much more to it than that - but that's how it looks!!) could have much of an effect. Have to say though that horse definitely reacted to it. Started rubbing and scratching like mad when given breaks throughout the treatment sessions - neck, shoulders, bum etc. This apparently is because the release causes increased blood flow which makes them itchy

He also has not napped once when leaving the yard on his own and he did last winter. Could be coincidence and he may get worse as he gets fitter from hunting etc, we shall see

I have mine both massaged a couple of times a year too by an equine sports physio and she remarked that the one that had had the Bowen felt like a different horse from when she did him in the spring (she wasn't aware he'd had a Bowen treatment). Now could be because he had a two month holiday at end of last hunting/team chasing season which would have given any niggles chance to heal/rest, but could be the Bowen
 
Well there are all levels of 'bowen' people out there, some absolute lunatics, and some superb people. I had someone treat my horse who was a 'bowen practitioner' and they were barking, and my horse showed no reaction whatsoever to their treatment. I have however got an EMRT practitioner (Equine Muscle Release Therapist another branch of Bowen therapist) out to my horses and WOW, what a difference. After each treatment my horse changed, he was an ex racer with short paces, suddenly after one treatment he could open up through the shoulder, that brought me hind problems as his back end was not working with the front. Another treatment, we gained increased stride length from behind too. Then lateral work improved, My horse adores his EMRT sessions, now we have one a year as a top up treatment and he looks and feels fantastic. I really recommend Julian Gaze, he is based in Worcestershire, but does travel. A real horseman who has total empathy with the horse, but no fluffyness, no discussion of chakra's, no strange energy sticks, and no mention of auras. Just a fantastic approach and rapport with horses.
 
I'd second emrt. Wonderful for muscle spasm!!! I used Lesley Bayley who used to edit Country Life. She was wonderful though. I believe Equine Touch is very much the same and have heard great things!!
 
All such systems can make horses feel better and that's great however they are not a replacement for proper veterinary work up with a fully qualified equine physio assessment .
I have no issue with all these type if things I get an equine touch person to my horses and have done the owners course myself but its important that the why of any soft tissue pain , muscle asymmetry etc in properly investigated and the only person who can do this is a vet working with a fully qualified equine physio.
Failure to do this can result in keeping a horse going with a serious issue brewing that could have been dealt with at a much earlier stage .
I got myself involved where a horse was being repeated seen by a therapist ( not sure what the correct term is) it was clear to anyone with experiance the horse had hock pain ( it was the owners first horse ) but the horse had a year of "treatment" before I got dragged in to persuade the owner to call the vet how anyone could have done anything to the horse with insisting that the vet was called was beyond me and that's made me much much more wary of such approaches.
 
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