Rolfing Massage - Session 2: The Feet

Correct foot alignment was the focus of my second Rolfing session

I just received my Rolfing Session 2. (This blog post is a continuation from when I received my first session.)

The timing of my massage session was horrible. I had gone from attending a stressful 4 hour phone conference, to racing off to work for a few hours. While at work, I became infuriated at one of my clueless coworkers who was working on my project behind my back. Before I knew it, it was time to leave work to drive to my massage appointment. During the 1 hour drive in horrible traffic, I tried to relax and calm down.

Walking into Kelly’s office, I explained that I was stressed because of the traffic, and that I was angry at my coworker who I felt might be trying to undermine me. She immediately asked me where I stored my stress. I answered my legs and shoulders. Ignoring my answer, she immediately went to work on my stomach, explaining that there was a network of fascia radiating from the belly. I was surprised when she bore her elbow directly down on my belly button. I thought that feeling my my pulse underneath her elbow would freak me out, and thoughts of rupturing my abdominal aorta passed through my brain, but instead I felt extremely curious. It was unlike any sensation I had ever felt. I could not tell if I was feeling intestinal pain or if I was feeling fascial pain. It surprised me too when she let off the pressure, asking me whether or not I had felt the release. According to Kelly, the fascia in my belly had suddenly released. Unfortunately, I was too wrapped up in all the other strange sensations to register it.

This rest of the session was focused on my feet and lower legs, which is traditionally what the Rolfing Session 2 is all about. As she explained to me, better alignment in my feet and legs results in better shock absorption when I’m walking, leading to less pain in my back. She said my ankles were tight and dedicated an hour plus on just my ankles, and the sides of my shins. She directed most of her effort on lengthening the inner side of my lower legs and feet, which seems counterintuitive at first since I thought I was rather flat footed. Per usual, I involuntarily yelped out in pain. But it began to make sense as the hour wore on what she was trying to do. Sitting at a chair is a good example. As you sit at a chair with knees at hip distance apart and feet parallel, do your arches reach the ground? Mine don’t. My feet tend to invert (see picture above) so that my outer soles touche, but my arches are raised. By lengthening my legs, my Rolfing massage therapist was trying to encourage a healthier walking stride and more supportive standing structure.

It wasn’t until a day later that I felt the changes more fully. My legs were feeling all tender from the painful massage. My inner shin and inner ankles felt less tight. I paid attention more to my walk, focusing on preventing my foot inversion. But the biggest change of all was in my belly. I felt a lot of the tension there had disappeared. Oddly, I didn’t know there was even tension in my belly until it was gone. I guess Kelly was right. I must store stress in my stomach. I will forever remember to breathe down into my belly when I am stressed, and will even try poking at my belly to relieve tension. 

(Epilogue: I gently confronted the coworker who had infuriated me the following day, and it turned out he wasn’t intentionally trying to undermine me at all. So all is well that ends well.)

Rolfing Massage - Session 1

So, I think I began my first Rolfing session. Last week, I met Rolfer, Kelly Armstadt for potentially the first session in the Rolfing 10-part series. This was the direct result of writing down some of my non-travel related bucket list items for the new year, which included experiencing Rolfing. (And I love me a list to cross off.)

Just in case you don’t know, Rolfing is a special type of massage therapy which focusses on myofascial release for lasting pain relief, and for radically restructuring bodies. After undergoing the regimented 10-part series, people’s posture, and general biomechanics are purportedly more aligned and more efficient. Search the internet for “Rolfing” and you will see an abundance of before-and-after pictures. It is also known for: (1) humiliating photos in one’s underwear (see left picture), and (2) being very, very painful due to the deep restructuring. Kelly reassured me, however, that she had stopped taking photos of patients long ago, and that she would be attentive to when the pain wasn’t being beneficial. 

Rolf Body Alignment Before-And-After

Massaging the rib cage

I undressed down to my bra and a pair of hot pants and stood in front of Kelly so that she could see how my body was aligned. As she viewed me from the front, side and behind, I felt surprisingly comfortable, albeit excited to explain to her why I was seeing her: I had some minor pain in my right lower back that nevertheless was limiting my mobility, and I had some concern about improving my body alignment so as to avoid hip problems as I got older. (My mother received hip replacement surgery for both hips.) I finally explained that I am just generally enthused and curious about learning about all forms of bodywork and experimenting on my own body. (I am also entertaining a career as a massage therapist or physical therapist in my retirement, although I didn’t tell Kelly that.)

She explained that she saw some forward pelvic tilt, and some arching of my upper back to compensate, which wasn’t news to me and was what made me want to see a Rolfer in the first place. But she also saw some right shoulder drop, and some flat footedness, which wasn’t something that I had really thought could be addressed with Rolfing. 

After laying down on her heated massage table, I was kind of half hoping that there would be some pain, because my belief is that there is no real improvement unless there is pain, and I wasn’t disappointed. She interspersed soothing strokes with strong pokes with her out-stretched fingers in so many weird places that I couldn’t help but involuntarily yell out in pain. Notably, she didn’t use any massage oil, I think, because fingers need to stick to the skin in order to shear and separate the myofascial tissues connecting skin to underlying muscle.

This first session was about opening the breath. What this means is getting massaged around your sternum and rib cage, which wasn’t as ticklish or invasive as you might think. Nevertheless, it made me nauseous and I asked Kelly to stop so that I could sit up. Kelly told me that my nausea was probably due to being unaccustomed to being opened up in that way. After a few sips of water, I felt better and was ready to continue. Here were the things that were most interesting (read: painful) to me in my first session:

1. Quadratus lumborum - this spot is better accessed from the side, and when she dug her thumb into this area, I yelped. As a part of my self care, I found a near analogue by lying on the ground and using the hooked end of my Therastick as a lever to poke around that area. You need extra leverage because this area is incredibly thick and stiff.
2. That spot on my wrist between the ulnar and radius bones in my fore arm. My left wrist had been in pain, and I hadn’t even addressed that with her. But she found that spot on her own and bore down on it. Afterwards my wrist felt much better,
3. The gluteus medius - this was so painful that it felt like she was bruising me rather than massaging me. But the pain is so worth it because you can feel your hip lengthen, and oddly you feel super sedated after being pushed down on this area.

After the session was done, I noticed a dramatic change in the way that I was feeling. And that feeling translated to how I stood. My pelvis was not as forward tilted and my torso also felt longer. I felt like my lower back pain was noticeably improved as well. Unfortunately, a week has passed, and most of the stiffness and pain came back, probably due to sitting a lot at my job, and also due to some of the emotional patterns that I continue to manifest in my body. I have a feeling that undergoing the Rolfing 10 part series, may not be sufficient. However, I will still proceed with the Rolfing, just to satisfy my own curiosity, and to continue learning about my own body and methods for self-care.