Does Structural Integration work?

Question

My massage therapist wants me to do structural integration. I have fallen arches, I suffer from IT in my left knee, I run and cycle and am really hurting these days. The left side of my body is really tense even though my right side is dominant. She has done it and said it worked for her, she did my feet a little bit tonight and she said it was working. I can't tell, but then again, I am not very in tune with that kind of stuff.

I googled Structural Integration, and there are a lot of links, but nothing really saying firmly if it works or not. I would like to hear definitive no's too, otherwise, I am worried that it is not drastic enough for the cost.

Make sense? Help!

J

Answer 1

Every therapeutic intervention (treatment) is an individual experimental trial. Whether it is an antibiotic or other drug, surgery, dietary change or structural work; the only way to know 'if it will work' is to try it.

The nice thing about something like structural integration is that it has little downside risk. Unlike drugs and surgery that literally put the patient's life at risk, this therapy is likely to 'do no harm' and may do you a lot of 'good'.

Best wishes and good luck.

Answer 2

As someone who happens to work at a massage school (though doesnt do massage (go figure) there is one thing in your post that concerns me - "not drastic enough for the cost"

What on earth are you expecting? I mean we are talking about a variety of massage for goodness sakes!

Does it work? well, I know a buddy of mine who runs marathons all the time that swears by it. I know a lot of other people who basically said "eh, I dont know how much I notice it."

Sounds to me like you would benefit more from a good pair of Dr. Schols inserts (dynastep are great), and adjusting your bike (a good bike shop should do it for free) so that you and the bike work more effectively together. Finally, try some yoga with a teacher who can help you with your specific conditions. Thats what I would do.

Good Luck