Whether you are a believer or not, many types of bodywork, Myofascial Release included, often tap into emotional issues with clients. This was a tenant of my MFR training, though I have many issues with this. I know that I, as a physical therapist, am not trained, licensed, or equipped to deal with a person’s mental health issues. But what to do when things come up during a session?
Asking a patient to simply feel what is happening at that moment can be beneficial, but has it’s limitations. My training taught me to allow “unwinding” to be the full expression of repressed trauma and injury. Blast out the cobwebs. I was told that mental health therapist don’t have a clue as to how trauma is stored in the body. This is how I practiced for many years.
But there were certain aspects of my training that made me pause; should I be triggering a patient to go back into those memories? Specific techniques were taught which were designed to kick the pebble to start the avalanche. The more I thought and read, the more I realized that this type of therapy was well out of my scope of professional practice.
Over the past year I began co-treating with an innovative mental health therapist; a person who understood the Myofascial Release therapy that I performed. We shared a patient who expressed an interest in having the three of us work together. We’ve had real success blending these two modalities together, much to the benefit of our mutual patient. I find that when I reach an area of deep restriction, one where the patient senses some deeper involvement, the mental health therapist can dialog and interact to help uncover and truly deal with the issue. As this process unfolds, it is easy to feel the body follow suit, relaxing and opening up even more. The mental health therapist finds that the patient taps into deep set emotional issues when a physical area is touched or treated. It has been a fabulous experience for all three of us.
So, what about unwinding? I believe that it has benefit; at times great benefit. But the Myofascial Release therapist should know their own limitations. Therapy is about what is best for the patient, not what is best for the ego of the therapist.
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