Physical Benefits of Structural Integration

Institute for Enhanced Performance 1
THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS

OF STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION BODYWORK
A SHORT COURSE IN HOW OUR BODY STRUCTURE
OF BONES, MUSCLES & JOINTS IS DESIGNED TO WORK,
TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE
THEN, HOW IT DEVELOPS PROBLEMS

LIKE STIFFNESS, PAIN AND INJURY and
HOW THIS TREATMENT CORRECTS THOSE PROBLEMS,
WHILE -ALSO - IMPROVING THE BODY'S ABILITIES
TO BE EVEN BETTER THAN THEY WERE BEFORE.
By Louis A. Gross BSEE, Certified Postural Integrator, Master Level

Call 1-888-299-5973 for more information and free consultation
www.backfixbodywork.com louisryoshin@yahoo.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pg 2....What Structural Integration Bodywork is and How it can help you.

Pg 3....Knowing how our structures are put together helps us know how to make them work
better.
Pg 5....What goes wrong? How our fascia gets short and how that misaligns our bodies, which
causes even more problems.
Pg 7....Why Yoga and Stretching exercises rarely correct structural imbalance, and how to be
more effective in your stretching.
Pg 9...The unique benefits of an integrated structure
Pg 11....How Structural Integration Bodywork is different from massage, and
how there's a difference between muscular tightness and fascial shortness.
Pg 12....Structural Integration is very compatible with chiropractic and helps chiropractic
work better.
Pg 13....How to correct specific problems using "Structural Knowledge," without having to do a
complete alignment.
Pg 14....How long will it take to feel results? And how long does it take to become integrated
and aligned
Pg 15....Where did this treatment originate and How are practitioners trained?
Pg 16....My own work and background.
Pg 17....How to find out more and schedule consultations and treatments
Pg 17....What other books and products are available and how to order
Attachment:
Pg 19....A list of specific conditions that can be corrected very effectively, including what's the
cause and how to fix it.
Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

1-888-299-5973 www.backfixbodywork.com louisryoshin@yahoo.com
WHAT STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION BODYWORK IS,

and HOW IT CAN HELP YOU
Structural Integration is a personal transformational process that creates significant,

long-term improvements in our physical abilities that enables us to get a lot more out of life.
In the process of making this long-term transformation, many physical problems such as
chronic pain and tension actually go away permanently, simply because the reasons for that
pain and tension have been eliminated. This booklet explains how and why these improvements
happen, and how it can benefit you, personally.
Structural Integration Bodywork (also abbreviated as Bodywork in this booklet) is
the purposeful and organized manipulation of the soft "connective tissue" of your body, called
fascia (fah-sha), a fibrous, putty-like tissue that surrounds and goes through all our muscles.
In the course of daily or athletic activity, this fascia "bunches-up," or gets short, and holds
your muscles in a tighter form, even if you're mentally and emotionally relaxed. This
shortness accumulates only a little at a time, so we usually don't notice it's happened until we feel
stiff, or very tense, or even get a pain or injury.
Fascia also bunches up from falls, blows, accidents and even emotional tension and
stress. And it starts, for all of us, in childhood. Even little kids and teenagers have a lot of
bunched-up fascia. This limits their abilities in sports and gym class, and it also perpetuates both
hyper-activity and withdrawal.
To correct the shortness, the practitioner uses his or her fingers, hands and arms to
spread the fascia, like putty, instead of pressing or stroking over it as is done in massage. The
spreading makes all your muscles longer, restoring them back toward their proper lengths.
This lengthening gives your muscles a greater range of motion so your movements will have
greater flexibility and dexterity, even if you've been tight for a long time.
This improves your ability to get around in a more lively manner, and removes stress,
tension and pain. Everyone feels much looser and more relaxed, no matter their age. In
athletics, it improves performance and reduces the chance of injury. If you are injured, it can speed
your recovery. People notice they're stronger and more precise in their movements. Mental
awareness and alertness also improve, as does the connection to our own bodies. Instead of feeling
hunched-over or slumped, people actually feel they're standing taller and straighter, without making
any effort to do so.
In my own practice, I've seen this treatment help children as young as five, seniors to
the age of 91, and even Olympic athletes. Everyone finds he (or she) can do his best, easier.
One of my specialties is improving seniors' abilities to get around much better. Another is
improving the capabilities of athletes and performing artists. A third is correcting long term pains
that most other treatments can't fix. And a fourth is removing accumulated tension due to long
term stress. I also specialize in personal growth development and improving people's benefits in
psychological therapy and spiritual work.
Structural Integration is formally known as the Structural Integration Method of

Connective Tissue Manipulation, and is not massage, chiropractic, nor physical therapy. In
fact many of these kinds of practitioners have never even heard about it, no less seen its benefits.
But it was developed by a physiologist, it's been around for over 35 years, there are a few
thousand school trained practitioners around the world, and it works! This booklet
tells you how.
.
KNOWING HOW OUR STRUCTURES ARE PUT TOGETHER

HELPS US KNOW HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK BETTER

This section will explain exactly what your muscles are made of and how they can
accumulate tightness. A short time after we're conceived inside our mothers, we've developed
three kinds of tissue: endoderm - which develops into our inner organs and glands, ectoderm -
which develops into our brains and nervous systems, and mesoderm - which develops into our
muscles, connective tissue and blood.
The muscles and connective tissue form the actual structure of our bodies. And
connective tissue, as you will see, is the substance which connects, and holds together, all our
body parts. While most of what we usually do for our structures is focused on making our
muscles bigger and our cardiovascular system stronger, we can also improve the condition and
shape of our connective tissue, and that can boost the effectiveness of both our athletics and
everyday activities, very much.
Fascia, the softest connective tissue, is all over your body. It's a fluidy, fibrous
material containing blood and lymph capillaries, fatty tissue and immune cells. Its fibers are
little protein pieces called collagen, which primarily gives you form, and elastin, which allows you
to stretch and then return to the same shape you were in before.
Every structural muscle cell in your body is surrounded by fascia. That's the cells'
avenue to breathe, get nourished and eliminate waste. The fluid in the fascia is the same fluid that's
in your blood stream, and the red corpuscles carrying your nourishment come out of your
capillaries, cross this fluid, and enter your cells.
As you will see, the shape of your body, from inside to out, is determined by the shape
of this fascia; by the position and density of its fibers within its fluid. We call fascia the
"organ of structure." By varying the amount of fluid and the compactness of the fibers, nature
also uses this same kind of tissue to make our bones, cartilage, ligaments and tendons. These are
the other, tougher forms of connective tissue.
Underneath the skin is a layer of fascia just like that between your muscle cells. It
goes all around your body, like a big sack, and holds everything together, kind of like a
shopping bag. This soft kind of fascia even fills in spaces between our organs.
So fascia is all over our bodies, from the skin down through the depths of every
muscle. It may be a few millimeters thick on the eyelids, or stuff you can grab on your belly. In
this form of fascia, the fibers of collagen and elastin lie in many different directions, to form a three
dimensional web that will twist, turn, and expand, to go along with any way you move.
Muscles look something like three dimensional corduroy. Muscle cells are fibers.
They look like long rods, a fraction of an inch thick and perhaps many inches long. In
between and around each one is this fluidy, fibrous fascia. Then, around a bundle of muscle
fibers, the fascia forms a thin sheath, or sack, to make a bundle, with all the fibers of collagen and
elastin running in the same direction as the muscle fibers, so they can stretch along with the muscle
movement. On the outside of the muscle there's an even thicker sack, so we can pick the whole
thing up and hold it, without the muscle fibers falling on the floor like pick-up sticks.
At the ends of the muscle fibers, all this fascia becomes our tendons. They're tougher
rods of the same kind of tissue which are used to connect the muscle to the bones. When your
nerves activate the muscle fibers, they contract and pull the fascia with them. That pulls on
the tendons which causes your bones to move. (Neat, huh?) This bends or straightens our
elbows, blinks our eyes, makes us speak and enables us to sit down or stand up. When the nerve
signals stop, the muscle fibers relax out to their full length, the fascia returns to its original shape
and the tendons release their pull on the bones. This is how we move ourselves around and express
ourselves in the world.
I mentioned other kinds of connective tissue. It's a very handy substance. And it
makes up our skeletons, and what holds them together. Bones are connective tissue with
mineral salts added, to give them hardness and a fixed shape. Bones determine the size of our
different body parts, and they're also sturdy so they can support our weight. Cartilage is tough

connective tissue, and somewhat elastic. It makes up things like our ears, that you can flop with
your fingers or lie on while you sleep. And then they still go back into their proper positions.
Cartilage is also used as a cushion inside our knees. Ligaments are more like tendons, but thicker,
tougher and shorter. They connect the bones together inside our joints, and define the directions
that the joint moves in, like front to back in our knees and elbows, and all around in our shoulders
and hips. Ligaments even hold the bones of our pelvises and skulls together. And finally, there are
thick, wide sheets of tough fascia that give extra support and protection to certain joint areas, like
around the ankles, and in the lower back and over the top of the head.
Therefore, when you think of your actual body, you can think of it as a big, formed
"glob" of connective tissue of varying densities and toughness. It can move any which way,
and carry along, inside it, all your muscles, organs, glands, nerves and blood and lymph
vessels. The softest connective tissue, the fascia, also serves as the conduit for energy,
nourishment and waste removal for every muscle cell in your body. Obviously, the way you
"motor" this form is by flexing and extending the lengths of your muscles. The "computer" that
directs this is your brain and the "wiring" that connects it to the muscles is your peripheral nervous
system. Your respiratory and digestive systems supply the power, and your elimination system
keeps it "running clean."
When I talk to people about Structural Integration Bodywork, I like to use the image that
our bodies are like giant chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and nut cookies. The nuts, raisins and
chips are our muscle fibers, organs, nerves, bones, and so forth. They're held in their
positions inside the cookie by the dough, which is the fascia.
In fact, the shape of the cookie, and the positions of all the goodies inside it, is
determined by the shape of this fascia. And this is a key piece of information. The soft, fluidy
fascia can, and does, change shape by either physical pressure from the outside, by intensive
contractions of our own muscles, or by holding ourselves in particular positions every day.
The forces push the fibers of collagen and elastin closer together, so the length of the whole
material gets shorter. This makes the muscle fibers themselves stay short, because they can't
release to their full lengths. The short, putty-like sacks surrounding them are too bunched-up, so
they only let the muscle fibers release partially. Even if you mentally relax or take a hot bath you
can't lengthen fascia because it's not connected to nerves.
Long, or stretched-out fascia, on the other hand, does allow the muscle fibers to release
back to their full length as soon as the nerve signals from your brain stop. This is what stretching
tries to do. But as you'll see, there are a number of limitations to how much stretching can do
when the fascia's short.

WHAT GOES WRONG ? HOW OUR FASCIA GETS SHORT and

HOW THAT MIS-ALIGNS OUR BODIES.
WHICH CAUSES EVEN MORE PROBLEMS
Structural Integration Bodywork manipulates the fascia in a good way. As I said, it

makes everything longer. But everyday muscular activity and any bumps, bangs or falls you
may have makes it shorter. This section will explain some of ways fascia bunches up, and then
the problems that causes you.
As you use your body in a repetitive, even forceful way - in order to accomplish your
athletic feats or daily physical efforts - you also push the fibers of your fascia closer ogether,
"bunch them up" so to speak. It all becomes shorter: the outer sack of fascia, the sheaths round
your muscles, and the deeper fascia within the muscles. And you feel tighter.
The shortened fascia keeps the length of the muscle fibers partially contracted. Even
if they want to re-lengthen when you relax or stop your efforts, they can't because they're held in a
shorter sack by the putty. This happens from even mild everyday non-athletic ovements, too, and
from repetitive behavior and emotional tension. But it gets worse when you "work out," either at
the gym, or in your job, like doing construction, lifting boxes, and grabbing or holding things all
day long.
Typical repetitive activities that cause fascia to grow into a shorter shape are leaning ostly
on one leg, holding a baby or school books in the same arm, carrying a heavy purse on the same
shoulder or leaning over a desk every day. Even tensing up emotionally on a regular basis will do
it. (Scar tissue from surgeries and injuries also shortens the fascia.)
You gain power when you work out because you're improving the electro-chemical
abilities of your muscles. But you also lose range of motion because the passive fascia
bunches up, and that makes your muscle "form" shorter. The muscle fibers can't lengthen back
to their full size. We say they have a "shorter range of movement." And when that happens, we all
have less strength - because the muscle fibers can't use all of themselves, less flexibility - because
the amount of length you used to have is reduced, and more tension - because the result is just the
same as if you were tightening purposely all day long.
This shortness can also cause injuries and pain. As time goes on, the tendons and
ligaments might be called upon to stretch more than they're designed for. They might be called on
to provide the length that your tight fascia can no longer provide. This can cause pulled or torn
muscles, tendons and ligaments. And it can keep a muscle so tight that it's always hurting.
Another thing happens. When the fascia in your structure gets short, the positions of
your bones and muscles go out of alignment. Locally, joints become misaligned, and that makes
them more susceptible to injury. At the very least, they don't bend or straighten fully and may look
a little distorted. And if the muscles and tendons that go across them are really tight, it could cause
the bones to rub in the joint, creating a kind of pseudo-arthritis where the joint has pain, develops
calcification and doesn't move easily. This is not a chemical or metabolic arthritic condition; it's
just mechanically caused by the very short fascia.
Overall, when a number of muscles become short, as they usually do, the different
areas (like shoulders, legs or backs) don't work as well, and the whole body's ability to move
around feels limited. Posture also gets worse.
We even find that "compensations" start to happen. In order to counter the effects of
one group of muscles being short and pulling your bones closer together on that side of your
body, your brain has to make another group short to try to pull you back, or at least hold you
in the middle. So we end up getting tight all around. It's a new kind of equilibrium, but a
tighter one. It's as if the body starts making corsets around different parts.

This misalignment also affects our vertical balance. Because our bodies are physical
things, gravity's always affecting us, pulling downward. Ideally, when all our muscles and fascia
are the right length, we can stand up quite straight without having to make any effort and without
feeling pain or tightness. We say all our parts are aligned.
In an aligned body, our bones give hard structural support; they support our weight. The
muscles provide the balancing forces that keep the bones in their proper positions. It's like a set of
tent poles held vertical by the balanced tension of the guy ropes. But when the ropes are
improperly set, those on one side go limp while the others must strain, and the pole doesn't stand up
straight.
This kind of misalignment actually happens in most people's bodies, to one degree or
another. As I'll discuss in the section after next, some parts tilt forward while others tilt backward.
Some parts tilt to the right and others tilt to the left. The parts that are tilted aren't going straight
up; they're like the tilted tent pole. And the muscles, which are supposed to be the guy wires,
develop all kinds of strains and tightness, not because you're doing anything wrong, but
because your body parts are stuck in back and forth tilts.
Structural Integration is a method to correct these back and forth tilts and thereby
remove all this tension that's not really helping you do anything you're trying to do. So we're
not just lengthening a few muscles here and there. We're doing a whole body treatment to
correct everything that's been built up. And we "iron-out" the zig-zags and wrinkles. After
people do the process, they find their bodies stand straighter, all by themselves. And the level of
tension is way, way down, on a long term basis.
This alignment process is unique among body therapies. What we do is put our body
"segments" one on top of the other, so their weight goes straight down a center line of
balance, like a set of boxes orderly placed, one on top of the other. We say this balances, or
aligns us, in the field of gravity.
These segments are the areas of our bodies that can move around in between major joints.
Try to picture this. From the bottom up, you have: the legs and feet, the thighs, the pelvis, the
abdomen, the chest, and the neck and head. See, you can move each of these parts of your body
around, separate from the other ones. When there's shortness in the fascia of the segments, we can
still move our joints, but there's often some amount of restriction, and we really can't stand up
straight without some ongoing tension in many different muscles (especially in the back or
shoulders and neck.) So even very flexible athletes and yoga students can still have shortness, even
though their joints move well.
As I said in the first section, these shortnesses begin in childhood. They're long term
conditions that can get worse when routine "bunch-up" is added more and more from your athletics
or daily activities. Even so, a large amount of the condition can be removed by this system. And
when it is, the tent poles become properly vertical, or fairly close to it.
People can feel the benefits right away. The first experiences from the initial sessions
are of great relaxation and lots more flexibility. One of the next experiences is having better
balance and coordination, easier control and greater endurance. Recovery time from exertion
and intense effort gets shorter. Finally, when enough muscle areas are treated, we feel the vertical
alignment in the form of an "uplift." Instead of feeling we have to fight against the constant pull of
gravity, an aligned structure is lifted up by gravity. Not only is posture better, without having to
make effort, but people feel lighter, taller and actually sense that their bodies are rising up all by
themselves.
However, in an imbalanced structure, the muscles of our bodies end up fighting one
another just to keep us upright. And this pulls our segments out of vertical alignment. Then the
fascia around and through the muscles becomes hard and rigid. And we become "formed" in this
shorter, tighter shape. That's when the tension stays even if we try to relax or get a massage.

The cause of this ongoing tightness is that our weight is no longer balanced, and supported
through a set of vertically aligned bones, from the head to the feet. The bones go out on diagonals,
so a lot of the support then has to come by tightening many different muscles. They hold the bones
and segments together in a "somewhat" upright position. This is what creates unnecessary muscle
strain and misaligned joints; it's a primary cause of ongoing shoulder and neck stiffness. This
continuous amount of tension, even when we're not yet active, also creates pain and the chance of
injury. And the shape it gets formed into makes our postures either hyper-tense or droopy.
As time goes on, an imbalanced, non-aligned structure goes even further out of line,
even when you don't do anything. That's because the body will have big "S" or "Z" shapes to it.
The segments go forward and back in zig-zags. As gravity continuously pulls down on the
"wings," we have to use even more muscular effort to hold things up. And that makes the muscles
even tighter.
All of the bunching up from physical activities adds to the problem, even if it
happened a long time ago. So the falls you took as a kid, all your gym class activities, the weight
training and 10-K's you've done recently, and your daily efforts at work, have all contributed to
your increasing tightness.
There is another problem that makes the tightness even worse and prevents most
other methods from restoring a lot of our length. The fascial sheaths around the muscles get
stuck together and to the bones. So when the muscles of your thigh, for instance, are stuck
together, you won't have the dexterity and range of muscular movement you would have if they slid
over each other in proper fashion. Each muscle holds the other ones from moving as far as they're
supposed to. Therefore, to fix the whole shortness problem, Structural Integration
manipulations also separate all these muscle sheaths.
Structural Integration Bodywork is "an anatomically designed" method of creating
length. We treat the fascia all over your body as one big, interconnected piece, which it is. By
proceeding in a particular order, in one muscle group after another, we "reorganize" your
"fascial network" into it's proper and most optimal form. This gives your muscles the full
range and dexterity that their power can use, and it keeps you more in balance with gravity.
WHY YOGA AND STRETCHING EXERCISES RARELY CORRECT

STRUCTURAL IMBALANCE and HOW TO BE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE
IN YOUR STRETCHING.
Stretching definitely helps. But done alone, it rarely aligns structures, and for many
people, doesn't even create much length. There are two general reasons why. One has to do
with the body's condition. The other has to do with the stretching methods
In the body condition, when the fascia's hard, it doesn't stretch very easily, if at all.
Or just the softer areas stretch and the harder spots stay just as short as before. Plus, some tight
areas get what I call interlocked; a number of tight parts are keeping each other from lengthening.
Further, when the fascial sacks around adjacent muscles are stuck to each other, the stretching
doesn't spread them apart; it tries to lengthen a bunch of muscles that can't fully do so.
But I do recommend stretching, and it can be done much easier after these problems
are corrected with the Bodywork. Yet, there are also a number of problems in the way most
people stretch.
First of all, many people stretch only for joint mobility; it's so they feel "warmed up."
This does not create much new fascial length between the joints where a tremendous amount
of shortness remains. This method helps relieve "muscle tightness" but it doesn't improve the

condition of "fascial shortness". They're two different things and I'll explain the difference in the
upcoming section on the difference between this Bodywork and massage.
A second problem is that many people try to stretch long areas all at once. They'll
feel a "give" and think they're done, but they've only gotten some of the softer tissue to give
way. There are also other parts that are being held by other, interconnected muscles located in
another part of the body's "system."
If you modify your technique, a lot more length can be created with stretching than
with this usual methods. Fascia lengthens when we bring blood into the area to soften the tissue.
And you can get the blood and warmth in there by stretching one little section at a time. You just
keep your mind focused inside the area of the muscle tissue you're wanting to lengthen, and you
move along step by step, over a whole body "taffy pull."
A third shortcoming in the way stretching is commonly done, is that lot of yoga, in
particular, tries to create more spinal flexibility, but without doing adequate stretching for the
legs, pelvis and arms. It's physically impossible to get the spine to lengthen fully, and easily,
without lengthening the limbs. They have too many interconnections into the torso muscles.
Some people even get pains in their backs when they try to do a stretch for the spine while their
thighs and buttocks are still very bunched up.
This problem of interconnected shortness causes lots of other difficulties. Many
stretching positions don't allow the fascia in between the joints to lengthen, again because the
emphasis is just on stretching the joints. The positions keep some muscles tight while trying to
lengthen others. That will indeed create stretch at the joints. But that kind of tensing actually
prevents the fascia in the other, interconnected areas from lengthening out. To be most effective,
we must lengthen the body in an interconnected way. And I'll explain a little of this principle
in the next section.
If you do stretch a lot, you can, of course reduce tension and avoid some injury. But all
the athletic trainers I've seen have a lot of bunched-up tissue. And even senior yoga students and
teachers I have seen, have misaligned structures. I’ve even treated six of them. I've found that
most stretching instructors don't know very much, if anything, about Structural Integration
and lengthening fascia. So adding this treatment, and information, can make your stretching
better as well as your physical performance.
After your fascia has been softened with the Bodywork manipulations and you've
been Structurally Integrated, even partially, you'll be able to stretch much better and even
pull yourself back into proper alignment after you bunch-up from daily activities. Firm
massage will also spread more tissue than it did before and move more fluids and waste products
out of the muscles. So they'll do more for you.
In my work I show people ways to lengthen the fascia in all the parts, not just the ones that
give easily. And I teach where to lengthen to get the body aligned, no matter what treatment you
want to use. Then I teach Integrated Movement techniques, which show you how to use your body
in a new way, in your daily activities, to take advantage of the abilities of your improved structure.
You can obtain my Structural Stretching tape and booklet for your own use.
THE UNIQUE BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED STRUCTURE
Earlier in this booklet, I explained how shortness develops in our fascia to cause chronic
tightness and misalignments. And I explained that Structural Integration Bodywork is a process
specifically designed to correct these problems. Now I'll explain what we mean by the term
"integration," and how "integrating" the body's structural parts helps us move around
better while using up less energy, and getting less tired afterward.
Your whole body is organized in myo-fascial "planes," or networks of interconnected
muscles and fascia. These layers are arranged like "body suits," in physical layers, from inside to
out. They're also arranged in "functional" muscle groups that extend through large areas of your

torso and out into your arms and legs, neck and head. When you reach out for instance, your body
lengthens in the torso and legs as well as in your arms.
When the different muscles in each of these "functional" networks are all lengthened,
your whole movement will go further. And when you watch what happens, you see that each
muscle can do more. We say each one is more independent of the others, yet they all work
together with more coordination. This is more than the usual amount of joint looseness. The
muscle fibers between the joints move further and in more ways. And there's a much greater depth
of openness inside the body parts and even more looseness at the joints themselves.
We say the network works in an integrated manner. Your whole body then works
better because each of the parts is working with all the other parts more effectively. And that
happens because the shortness between the joints down through all the muscles has been
eliminated.
This allows an athlete (or anyone else) to perform at a higher level, and have an easier
time doing it. The training has been there. Now, there's more muscle length and better
interconnected muscle operation. Even people in everyday life notice right away that their bodies
are working better. You can feel it as greater, yet smoother power, longer stride, greater reach,
better balance and better agility. Breathing is also deeper and easier, even for the most conditioned
and elite of athletes (as well as cigarette smokers). And there's more of "you" in control of
precisely how you want to move. Your muscle "tone" will get better, too, giving you greater
potential at the same time you are more relaxed. It's like a properly tuned and "humming"
automobile engine.
Elderly people move around as if they were decades younger and everybody,
regardless of age, moves better and easier at work, at home and in school gym class. We all
become much more flexible, and we're both more relaxed and more energized at the same time.
There are additional benefits. When you're integrated and balanced, you'll also waste
less energy. Your "economy of effort" is better; you do more and your energy lasts longer. So
endurance is increased. Here's why.
When you're tight, the fascia in the muscles is short, and the muscles are forced into a
partially contracted position. Adjacent muscles are also glued, or stuck to each other. So, many
muscles are fighting each other with opposing efforts, they’re becoming tighter because
they’re compensating for each other’s shortness. And they're also operating with only part of
their movements.
One of these oppositions is forced upon us just to keep our vertical balance. As I
described a couple sections ago, shortness on one side of the body forces the other side of the body
to contract as well, otherwise we fall over toward the short side.
This balancing function is normal and proper. Regardless of your state of tension or
amount of integration, it's always in operation. The cerebral cortex in your brain and other parts of
your nervous system keep track of the position of your body and issue commands to different
muscles to keep you in balance and prevent you from falling over when you move. To
demonstrate, just raise one arm over your head and feel the muscles adjust in the opposite side,
buttock and leg.
The problem in a misaligned structure is that your muscle compensations are always
going on. The fascia has grown that way.
The most common structural imbalance and automatic compensation is that the fascia
in the front of your legs is too short, causing the muscles in the back of your body to tighten.
When the front of your legs are short, your pelvis is pulled down in front, pulling your abdomen
and ribcage down with it. Your legs will also lean to the front. (Look in the full length mirror and
check it out with a side view.)
To keep from falling forward, the calf muscles clamp your legs to the floor and your back
muscles, buttock muscles and the top of your rear thigh muscles all tighten to pull your torso back

upright. Your side view looks bowed, with either the pelvis or the abdomen sticking forward. And
this "pulling back" compensation creates ongoing tightness all over the body.
You can try feeling it. If you exaggerate the forward lean of your legs and arch backward
some more with your torso, you'll notice you've created more tightness all the way down the back
of your body, from your neck, through the shoulders, back, buttocks and hamstrings, as well as in
your calves. And you'll even notice tightness in your upper arms. You can feel it in other people,
too, just by placing your hand on these different areas and having them lean forward and arch
back.
Pain in the back is very common. In this instance, it'll be a symptom of this leaning
back compensation. But the original cause for the compensation is the short adductor and
quadriceps muscles on the front of the thighs (along with the shortened shin muscles in the lower
legs). There is also tightness in the muscles on the front and sides of the pelvis.
Since almost everyone has this imbalance, I call it the "basic imbalance." And it is, in
fact, one of the most common causes of ongoing lower back pain and stiffness.
In addition, the effort to hold oneself up by tightening the back muscles is self
defeating. To compensate for the front being pulled down and forward, we are forced to pull
down and back. That will, indeed, lift up the chest, abdomen and head and keep us standing
upright. But when we try to lift ourselves up in this manner, we are actually pulling ourselves
down twice as much. (There are no skyhooks.)
And this also makes a corset of our torso muscles. You stand up, but you're tighter all
around; you now have shortness in the back of your body as well as the front.
All this compensating effort requires energy and keeps the whole body staying tight.
Any time muscles are held short on two sides of the body, it ends up that both sides have to
fight the other. In this case, the front leg muscles now have to stay tighter because they're keeping
your body from falling backward into the backward lean you've created. And, of course, the
backward lean has to stay there to balance the forward lean of the legs.
When you're "formed" like this in the shape of your fascia, as so many of us are, the
tightness goes on whether you're standing, sitting or lying down. It's not a matter of being a
tense person or making athletic effort. The shape of your body has grown that way, and it's
doing it just so you can stand up, nothing else.
So, on an ongoing basis, your available fuel supply gets parceled out to support three
different muscular functions. One part goes to the originally shortened muscles. A second part
goes to the compensating muscles that keep you from falling over. And the third part, what's left
over, can go to power your performance. This is a big waste of energy.
When Structural Integration is performed, the two distorted parts are minimized,
your body stands without those leans forward and back, and you have a greater majority of
your energy available for activity instead of background tension.
There are also physiological or metabolic benefits. The Bodywork makes your fascia
softer and the fluid in between the muscle cells gets cleaned out. The "opening" of the muscle
tightness also means the fluid channels stay larger. So we've created bigger channels for
oxygen, nutrient and waste matter flow. This increases what's called cell respiration and
improves the immune cells' activity and the cardiovascular and circulatory functions. Because of
this, everybody feels less tired at the end of the day and can do more during the day.
Since athletics involves high levels of respiration, nourishment and elimination, this
improvement also adds to an athlete's economy of effort, it increases his or her endurance, and it
decreases recovery time after intense activity, sometimes from days to hours, or from weeks to days
The lengthening of the torso muscles also makes the size of everybody's breathing
capacity larger, so you also get to pump more oxygen into your entire body just in the normal
course of breathing. This is good for general health as well as athletic endurance. Further,
breathing with a well loosened torso allows abdominal breathing. That massages the internal

organs, which is good for health, and enables deeper meditation practice. Fuller body breathing
also moves the spine better. That pumps more cerebro-spinal fluid to the brain which makes
thinking better.
HOW STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION IS DIFFERENT FROM MASSAGE, and

HOW THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MUSCULAR TENSION & FASCIAL SHORTNESS.
A massage presses, rubs and strokes the muscles, mostly on the outside of your body,
to improve your blood circulation and lymph drainage, and to make you more relaxed. It
removes lactic acid from tense muscles which gets rid of a lot of achyness. Massages are great
after workouts, when you're sick and even before Bodywork sessions. Some massage practitioners
even do acupressure, reflexology and energy balancing. Massages improve your health and can
make you feel very nurtured. I get them a lot.
But they don't change your structural shape. While massages help your muscles
lengthen and loosen, the muscle fibers can only relax or release into the size of the fascial sacks
they're in. You feel very relaxed because our conscious minds can tell the difference between
tension and release of the muscles. So as much as the fibers can release, we feel better. But we
have no conscious control over the size of our fascia. And we don't realize that it's contracted from
where it used to be. So we aren't aware of a background of unconscious, chronic tension that we
carry around with us.
Often, after a massage, the tension and soreness of the neck, shoulders and back goes
away, only to come back again a few hours or a couple days later. This is because the body
structure is still misaligned with the legs and torso leaning and pulling in opposite directions. And
when the person stands up and moves around after treatment, the same old tightnesses have to
reappear.
Connective tissue manipulation, in a structurally integrated way, removes the
chronic, unconscious tension that keeps muscles short and keeps the whole structure
misaligned. And it also organizes the muscles and bones of the body into a more tensionless
relationship. This means the body actually resists tightening up better than before. Once the
structure is lengthened and aligned your muscles will relax even further when you have a massage,
and get less tense even when you don't have one.
This allows me to explain the difference between treating what I call muscular tension
versus fascial shortness. Muscular tension happens routinely when we're active or when we
have stress. The blood stays in the muscles and/or some of the nerve signals to keep the muscles
tensing are still going on. A massage and other muscular treatments like acupressure,
acupuncture, trigger point therapy and reflexology release these tensions. They turn off the
nerve signals and push the blood out of the muscles. They also push out a lot of toxins and normal
waste products that get created during the activity or stress, and from illness, dietary overload or
inhaling chemical fumes.
But even after the muscles relax, the fascia that's been hard and short still remains
short. And that's where Structural Integration Bodywork plays it's part.
The Bodywork sessions aren't a substitute for the whole body physiological benefits
of massage. So massages are good to get even if you've had a lot of Bodywork. But they
ARE a good substitute for massage when your primary goal is to re-lengthen a lot of built up
tightness and tension. In THIS regard, they do a lot more and last a lot longer.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION IS VERY COMPATIBLE WITH

CHIROPRACTIC, and HELPS CHIROPRACTIC WORK BETTER
A lot of people go to chiropractors. Chiropractic's goal is to restore the proper

alignment of our vertebrae. When we have excess muscular tightness, or a sudden muscle
activity, or even a toxic condition, vertebrae tend to slip out to the side or to the front or back. This
can cause back pain and decrease proper nerve energy to our organs and muscles.
When the muscular tightness that causes the vertebral misalignment is due to
chronically short fascia, the vertebral misalignment is always there, and can be fairly severe.
The chiropractor's job is to put the vertebrae back into alignment, but when the vertebrae
are out because of short fascia, just manipulating the vertebrae themselves rarely, if ever,
creates a permanent fix. This section explains this, and also points out how Structural Integration
Bodywork helps the chiropractor so much.
As I've explained, the back muscles are interconnected with many other muscles of the
body. So chronic back tightness is very often caused by tightness in the legs, pelvis, abdomen,
arms, and even the neck and head. After both the back muscles and these interconnected
muscles are made longer with the Bodywork, the chiropractic adjustments work better. We've
eliminated a lot of the ongoing shortness that pulls the vertebrae out of alignment, and often
prevents chiropractors from putting them back in.
So, after some Structural Integration lengthening, chiropractic adjustments can be made
easier, they stay in longer and there's less or no "side effect" pain.

Side effects? Some people whose backs are always tight get pain after the vertebrae are
put back in by the chiropractor. This is because the length of the fascia in the back muscles isn't
long enough to accommodate the full height of a properly aligned spine. Some of the back muscles
are then pulled too much and that creates pain. Because the Bodywork makes the back muscles
permanently longer, it eliminates this problem.)
Back muscles are routinely held very tight by the shortness all over the body caused
by the "basic imbalance." But they're also held very tight by shortness created in athletic
and other activity. Bunched-up hamstrings and buttock muscles are a common "culprit." So are
bunched-up arm muscles that you don't even notice because your arm joints are still loose.
Bunched up abdominal and chest fascia created by sit ups, crunches and weight lifting is another
very common "culprit." And even tight heads and necks cause vertebrae to be out.
The chiropractors I've worked with, and even the patients who go to other
chiropractors, all notice that adjustments that could not be made even after months of
chiropractic treatment, now go in very easily after the Bodywork. And many people who've
had severe Lordosis and other back distortions find they don't have to see the chiropractor
anywhere near as much.
But even when we're lengthened and loosened, we still pull vertebrae out of alignment with
our activities and dietary indiscretions. And that causes back spasms and pain. When we then get
a chiropractic adjustment we can feel a lot better right away. The same is true for a chiropractor's
"applied kinesiological" treatment. The reason we feel so much better right away is that the
increased length of the fascia, all over the body, allows the chiropractor's manipulations to do a lot
more than they used to. The results of the chiropractic visit are more satisfying for both the patient
and doctor.
HOW TO CORRECT SPECIFIC PROBLEMS USING

"STRUCTURAL KNOWLEDGE"
(WITHOUT HAVING TO DO A COMPLETE BODY ALIGNMENT)
Besides manipulating the fascia to integrate your whole structure, this treatment can
be used to correct specific problems, fairly quickly.
The body actually has a set of interlocks. When we learn the process that integrates
the whole body, we learn that tightness in one set of muscles actually prevents certain other
muscles from releasing, even if we try good stretching and manipulation techniques. So we
get to understand which muscles to lengthen first, which second and which third. If we
unravel the body's fascial shortness in the order it will most easily give way in, we can do a better
job, sooner, with more comfort to the client.
Here is another difference between the Structural Integration procedure and the
methods used by many massage therapists. Structural Integration does not try to "bang
into" muscles to try to "force them to let go." That procedure can help release muscle tightness
from activity and correct the cause of muscle tightness from reflexes, such as digestive toxicity and
food allergies. But it doesn't work to correct fascial shortness.
Instead, we warm up and spread the fascia lengthwise. But in order for the fascia to
have a length into which to spread, we have to make sure the muscles we're working on will
let go. That's why we have to do the spreading in accord with the systematic unlocking.

For example, you can actually think of the back of the body and the spine as a kind of
clothes line with wheels that you can reel out and reel back. The head is at one end and the
buttocks and legs are at the other. If there's significant fascial shortness holding either end tight,
then the back and spine can't release, and you can't move the clothesline. The back will remain
tight even after massage. In fact, a tight head, neck and shoulders even keeps tension in the pelvis
and legs, and tight legs and buttocks keeps
tension in the head and neck. One tight end affects the other as well as the clothesline in between.
With a proper knowledge of structural interconnections, we can use the fascial
manipulations to correct a number of common problems in anywhere from 5-10 minutes to
five or six 2-hour sessions. There's a 4-page attachment to this write-up that explains the
causes of many problems and the procedure to fix them. (If you don't have the attachment,
please feel invited to ask for it.) The explanations don't cover all the inter-lockings that we learn in
the Bodywork system; a lot of that information is supplied in my longer books. But the attachment
explains very well the general approach for fixing these common problems.
Here's a list of what the attachment covers.
1.) Tight Shoulders and Necks, and Stiff Arms

2.) Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tennis Elbow
3.) Back problems
4.) Tight Hamstrings, Tight Calves and Achilles Tendon Problems (and loosening Ankles and Feet
in the process). Plus, improvements for One Leg being Shorter than the Other)
5.) Groin and Hip Joint Pains
6.) Position of the Knee Caps - Especially while Running and Walking
7.) Inability to Breath Deeply
8.) Headaches
9.) Stress, and Long Term Emotional Problems from Abuse and Adult Trauma
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO FEEL RESULTS ? and

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME INTEGRATED AND ALIGNED ?
For almost everyone, a very noticeable amount of tightness and pain diminish in the
first 2-3 hour session. People feel more relaxed, lighter and more flexible. Breathing is
deeper, stress is lower. If enough is done, say about 2-4 hours, even the structure of the torso
gets a little straighter (for many people) and the person notices his or her back is lying flatter on
the table. Many of the benefits of this amount of work last for months and even a few years.
Children get very big changes in less than an hour. And even in quickie-samples of a few minutes,
almost everyone notices improvements that last for many days. The work is cumulative. In 3-5
two hour sessions, many problems go away.
To prevent their coming back and to get the most out of the work, many people get
their whole structure done. Depending on your size and tightness, this takes 10-20 2-hour
sessions. It can be done all at once, in a series of weekly sessions, or in stages of 3-4 sessions
each, all done close together. Some get 4-8 hours the first week right away. Movement and
stretching instruction can be incorporated into a Bodywork session, or it can be scheduled
independently.

It's important to recognize that Structural Integration processing is an investment in

your well being for the rest of your life. And it should not be compared to regular massage or
even chiropractic treatments done for maintenance. Yet its cost is often less for each whole
hour of continuous treatment, than an hour’s worth of chiropractic, and for an MD’s hourly
cost as well.
Even when Structural Integration is applied to correct a pain or tension, it still makes
very long lasting changes for the future. Besides fixing the pain or limitation by correcting
it's cause, the Bodywork is transforming your entire body's state of physical ability. And it
makes great improvements regardless of the age you get the treatments.
Most of the tightness you’ve accumulated since you were a child gets eliminated, and
that tightness can never come back. Your fascia has been made healthier. So your immune
system is also improved. Your structure is organized so you do more and yet accumulate less
tension from now on. And stretching, massages and chiropractic can all do more for you in
each of their sessions.
After a thorough basic series to align you, your body will take 1-2 years to integrate itself.
Ongoing tune-ups, with manipulations on deeper muscles, can serve to guide and deepen this
integration as well as lengthen you back out when you bunch yourself up with activity or even
mental stress. Deep massage and regular stretching will also help you in this regard.
Bodywork sessions to "tune you up" from repeated job or sports activities take less time to
re-lengthen recent bunched-up areas than it took to release the same areas in the first place. And
when you do bunch up in, say, the arms or legs, then re-lengthening only those areas makes the
whole body feel released and integrated again.
Athletes can get 1-2 hour tune-ups before events, even on site. Periodic tune-ups
throughout a season for both athletes and dancers can keep them limber and correct the short
term bunching up from training, touring and performance.
Long term stress relief, including the restoration of deep sleep, can occur with 3-4 2-
hour sessions. Periodic tune-ups for business executives help them maintain and even increase
their productivity at the same time it makes them more relaxed, "more alive," and actually, more
stress resistant.
Taking a hot bath or hot tub, getting a massage, or stretching right before a Bodywork
treatment, helps you get more out of it. If you're having chiropractic, you may get more out of that
if you do it after the Bodywork.
WHERE DID THIS TREATMENT ORIGINATE and

HOW ARE PRACTITIONERS TRAINED ?
The Structural Integration Method of Connective Tissue Manipulation was developed

by Dr. Ida P. Rolf in the 1950's and '60's and colloquially became known as Rolfing. Dr. Rolf
held a PhD in physiology and biochemistry, and drew upon yoga, osteopathy and other practices in
developing her system.
The "Basic" Structural Integration program developed by Dr. Rolf is designed as a
10-step procedure, with advanced follow-up sessions added on. The procedure is designed so
that the lengthening of the muscle groups treated first enables the next muscle groups to
release easier and further Following this procedure, or recipe, teaches the practitioner how body
structures are put together, and at the same time it effectively helps the client in a very efficient
way. It was scientifically developed over a long period of time.
As I mentioned, once we understand the way the structure works, we can tailor the
procedure for each individual's special condition and use the methods to do tune-ups and
specialized local fixes.

In the beginning, Rolfing obtained a reputation for being very painful and traumatic
because strokes were applied too quickly or with too much pressure, and because many body
oriented psychotherapists found it could also release old emotional trauma trapped in the tissues.
Since the mid-1970's more efficient and less painful ways of working have developed out of a
greater knowledge of the Bodywork process and the human structure in general..
My own hands-on method is very unique, and combines a deep massage like push to
loosen muscle tightness with a comfortable horizontal spreading of the fascia. In most cases,
for most people, my clients have said it feels very good.
Other schools developed besides the Rolf Institute and Structural Integration is now taught
in perhaps one or two dozen established Centers and Institutes, in the U.S., Europe and a few other
areas of the world. These schools often teach movement training along with the Bodywork, and
some also integrate body oriented psychological techniques.
The basic core curriculum consists of a couple hundred hours of formal instruction
and hands-on practice, followed by more practice, on one's own, or with guidance from
established practitioners in the field. Other training is added, such as anatomy, physiology,
movement, body, and even business skills. Then, experience with bodies becomes a primary
teacher. And most practitioners do independent studies on their own.
Some medical doctors, chiropractors and nurses have been trained in this special
method. So have a number of massage practitioners. Yet many people come from other
professions, notably engineering and the performing arts. The technical knowledge involved in the
application and the benefits in our physical performance make these two backgrounds quite
relevant for doing good work in this field.
I, myself, offer various kinds of training, from 2-hour introductory classes and
weekend workshops to the full training of all the steps in the process. I also offer one-on-one
tutorials for people who’ve already had the basic training, and I give phone consultations to
massage therapists on ways to better treat their specific clients.
MY OWN WORK and BACKGROUND
I've been a practitioner of Structural Integration since 1982. Before that, I practiced
massage of various forms, both privately and professionally for 15 years. So I've been involved
with this work for over 18 years, with about 2,000 hours formal training in Bodywork and
body-oriented practices, and with 17,000 hours experience. I have a BS in Electrical
Engineering from Syracuse University and graduate studies in business from Rutgers University.
Prior to my Bodywork career, I was an officer and manager in the U.S. Army and worked as a
design engineer and project manager in the communication and aerospace fields for 10 years. I
also directed membership, finance and correspondence activities for non-profit health and personal
development organizations.
I have Master Certification in Postural Integration, a wholistic form of Structural
Integration that combines the Bodywork system with Reichian and Gestalt body
psychotherapy techniques, and with Chinese Medicine Acupressure and Integrated
Movement methods. I also have training in body therapies such as acupressure, massage,
reflexology, kinesiology and even hands-on energy healing using breath energy. I'm trained in
wholistic health, including living food nutrition, herbology, and special exercise methods such as
yoga, Tai Chi, lymphatic improvement, aerobics and light weight lifting.
I also do work in the body-oriented psychological field and in spiritual practices. I'm
trained to do very fast and effective trauma and abuse emotional release therapy, and intuitive
counseling and astrological analysis, especially for major life changes and personal development. I
am an ordained Zen Buddhist Monk with spiritual counseling experience and have been meditating
since 1969.

My sessions in athletic and general physical improvement emphasize the Structural

Integration Bodywork complimented with yoga and my special "structural stretching"
exercises. They also include integrated movement training, guided mind into body relaxation
processes and energy balancing. I explain a lot so my clients understand this process and how to
use other treatments to help themselves better.
My unique hands-on technique not only applies Structural Integration but also acts as a
deep massage and stress release treatment in each session.
Because I know about other systems of the body, I can detect and help correct the causes
of other kinds of structural difficulties, such as repetitive tightening caused by tense movement
habits, psychological or life-style behavioral habits and even food allergies to substances like
wheat.
HOW TO FIND OUT MORE and

SCHEDULE CONSULTATIONS AND TREATMENTS
I am available for sessions, consultations, lectures and training classes, throughout North
America, and even abroad. I offer a number of books, pamphlets and articles on the subject.
See the website.
WHAT OTHER BOOKS AND PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE
To order an annotated catalog list of books, booklets, articles, tapes, products and services,
just contact me at the phone number or address above. I will also tell you on the phone what’s in
each item and recommend what you should order.
See the website for these free articles, see the Free Articles Section linked in the right
column of the home page Website Menu, and the E-books are available for little cost. See the E-
book section of the Website menu for descriptions, table of contents, chapter excerpts of each book.
How-to hands-on DVDs & How-to Structural Stretching DVDs are also available.
See the website as well, the Stretching DVD Video section.
PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK
• How to Make Your Body Work Better and Do More for You - book 150 pgs
• Understanding the Cause of Back Pain, and How to Fix It - book 100 pgs
• How to Make Your Athletic Best Better - book 160 pgs
• Removing Stress & Tension with Structural Integration Bodywork - book 70 pages
• How to Identify and Fix ACCUMULATED SHORTNESS,

a Major Cause of Inefficient Performance & Structural Pain - booklet 20 pgs
• How to Increase Performance with Structural Integration - booklet 12 pgs
• The Physical Benefits of Structural Integration - booklet 22 pgs (THIS IS IT )
• How You Can Benefit From Structural Integration Bodywork - booklet 33 pgs
• Testimonials from Elite Athletes, College Coaches and Trainers, Recreational Athletes, with
Testimonials of Fixing Various Kinds of Back, Neck, Shoulder and Other Pains - over 20
pages
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK

• The Psychological Benefits of Fixing the Physical Conditions alone - article 6 pgs
• The Psychological Benefits of Structural Integration Bodywork,
and Why Psychotherapists should Make Use of It - booklet 20 pgs
• How Structural Integration Creates a Lot of Personal Growth - booklet 10 pgs
• Stress Release, a Body Approach - article 5 pgs
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK COMBINED WITH

REICHIAN AND NETHERTON STYLE RELEASE PROCESSING
• Trauma Release Therapy - article 6 pgs

• Introduction to Release Processing to Correct Past Trauma
and Remove Negative Patterns - booklet 18 pgs
• Building on Established Methods; An Advanced Release Processing System,
How It Works - booklet 29 pgs
• What a Typical Session is Like - article 3 pgs
• Additional articles and booklets in the website menu – bodymind section
• Testimonials on how the treatments have helped in
Psychological and Personal Growth ways - 10-15 pages
LIVING FOODS AND NATURAL HEALTH
• Foods for Structure – article on the website

• Mr Green’s Vitality Program –E-book of booklets, available from the Website

A LIST OF SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

THAT CAN BE CORRECTED VERY EFFECTIVELY
INCLUDING WHAT'S THE CAUSE AND HOW TO FIX IT
1.) Tight Shoulders and Necks, and Stiff Arms: These are easily loosened in a 5-10 minute
tune-up (depending how thorough we want to be). We can spread the tops of the shoulders
outward, come up the sides and back of the neck, and lengthen down the whole width of the back
including on top of the shoulder blades and between the shoulder blades and neck.
It also helps to do the arms and hands for another 30-40 minutes because, while their
undetected shortness doesn't seem to interfere with arm movement nor feel like arm soreness, one
of the first places that arm shortness shows itself is in stiff and sore upper shoulders and neck.
After the arms have been deeply loosened and lengthened from the fingers on up, these two areas
then always lengthen further and easier with direct manipulations and stretching. (The arms then
feel much better, too. They're lighter, longer, more flexible and there's greater hand dexterity.)
To further help the neck and shoulders, it also helps to loosen the tension in the head that
everyone seems to accumulate. That takes another 5-30 minutes, depending on how thorough we
want to be and whether the head's been loosened before. The head is made up of over two dozen
bones and many muscles. Tension in this structure always puts tension on the neck vertebrae and
tightens the entire spine all the way down to the buttocks.
I can do this kind of treatment in a chair. And if the person can also lie down on his (or
her) back, I can do some more helpful loosening by opening the chest. We lengthen from the center
out and "lift up" or "lengthen upwards" everything from the bottom of the ribcage through the neck
and jaw. I can do an even more effective job by also lengthening the abdomen, sides of the waist
and torso, and the front, back and sides of the pelvis.
Doing everything I've described takes about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours. And the good feeling
lasts for weeks and even a few months. This can essentially be the first 2-hour session in a group
of 3 or 4 that allows me to create a deep lengthening and integration that lasts for many months
and, with tune ups, can be maintained for years.
2.) Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tennis Elbow: This is an inflammation of the tendon sheaths
for the muscles located in the forearms that move the fingers and the hands. It's caused by both
lots of repetitive arm activity and/or a very tense emotional condition. The muscles in the upper
arms and even in the shoulders and rest of the torso are usually very tight (and hard), and so are
the muscles in the forearm and even the hands. This tightness can be significantly and fully
corrected with enough Bodywork.
If there has been inflammation that still stays sore even after the flexibility and relaxation
has been greatly restored, then that inflammation needs to be healed with nutritional support,
medicines, physical therapy and so forth. The arm and torso loosening also makes it much easier
for chiropractors to correct the vertebral misalignment in the upper back that often and with an
extended arm. To correct this bunch-up, we have to lengthen the interconnected muscles in the
shoulders and torso as well as all around both the upper and lower arms and in the hands.
3.) Back problems: Low back pain is most commonly caused by tight hamstrings, a tight pelvis
and buttocks, tight adductor muscles and often tight abdomens. Upper back pain is caused by
these tightnesses from a tight chest and from tight arms. This treatment is the only hands-on
manipulation I know that scientifically analyzes and corrects back problems by lengthening the
fascia in other parts of the body as well as the back. If your problem is recent, even just 1-2 hours
can make a noticeable difference. If you've had chronic problems, it takes a number of sessions to
work deeper and more thoroughly. Even disc problems can be greatly helped.
This treatment works much faster and does a more lasting job than traction. Plus, in the
process, your whole body becomes more flexible, more relaxed and more capable.

4.) Tight Hamstrings, Tight Calves and Achilles Tendon Problems (and loosening Ankles and
Feet in the process). Plus, improvements for One Leg being Shorter than the Other): This is a
treatment for the bottom half of the body. And we can do everything from a tune-up to a thorough
transformation.
Leg tightness, and specifically hamstring shortness, is an almost universal problem. It can
be significantly improved in just one 1-2 hour session, and I've helped elite runners and jumpers
with just a 45 minute tune-up. Three to five 2-hour sessions on the legs, and a couple on the torso,
can significantly help even the biggest and tightest of people with chronic leg tightness and pains in
the ankles and knees that other treatments (like massage and acupuncture) couldn't fix.
Besides the fact that hamstrings on the back of the thigh are always bunching up in their
fascia, they're also held tight by shortness in the rest of the leg muscles (including the adductors
and quadriceps in the thigh, the outer thigh and pelvic area and the calves). So hamstrings won't
stretch that much unless you also stretch the rest of the legs a lot and/or get this Bodywork
lengthening. After Bodywork on the legs, stretching is much easier and goes much further.
Some leg tightness also keeps occurring because the lower back vertebrae keep going out.
And that causes the whole muscle network from the back down, to tighten. This is muscle
tightness. We could even call it spasming. But one of the reasons the vertebrae keep going out is
the chronic shortness in the fascia.
So, if we improve the structural "system" of the fascia, we help other treatments like
chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture and massage be more effective in what they do.
And after the legs are lengthened to a deep level, people find they stand taller and
straighter and their legs feel lighter as well as more supportive.
Achilles Tendon problems are related to tight calf muscles to which they attach and to the
tight hamstrings which attach to the other end of the calf muscles. Hamstring shortness keeps calf
muscles from lengthening fully into the ankle and heel. It's like somebody pulling back on the other
end of a rope you're holding on to. ("Going upward" in the body, calf and hamstring tightness
creates the back problems and neck tightness I mentioned.)
A long term build up of fascial shortness in both the calf muscles and hamstrings tightens
the achilles tendon and ankles, and even restricts foot movement. This shortness that doesn't go
away with hydrotherapy and rest is a major cause of Achilles tendon tears; the fascia in the belly of
the muscle is too hard to lengthen, so the tendon tissue is pulled on too much. (This is a prime
example why it's so beneficial to do stretching to lengthen the fascia in between joints, not just at
the joints!
So ankles get much more flexible when we lengthen the whole leg down through the deeper
layers of muscle, and also deep within the foot. And Achilles tendons move so much better.
The feet have more than 20 bones each, which are controlled by muscles in both the foot
and lower leg. We can make the feet much more flexible, and even enable runners to push off with
their toes better.
Fallen arches and flat feet are a symptom of tight muscles in a number of places in a
"plane of fascia:" on the outside of the lower legs, on both the inner and outer sides of the thighs,
on the outside of the pelvis and in the internally located hip flexors. Most people can get some
degree of arch restored when enough Bodywork is done in this network and throughout the legs and
pelvis in general.
Many of us have one leg noticeably shorter than the other. If it's caused by polio, then the
bones are indeed shorter than on the other side. For the rest of us, this difference in length is more
likely caused by short fascia, a more misaligned knee joint and perhaps a slightly bowed lower leg.
The Bodywork can almost always lengthen this leg and often reduces the difference in the heights
between the two.
5.) Groin and Hip Joint Pains: These occur because the muscles in the front of the pelvis and
down through the thighs have been getting short and perhaps even hard and stiff over a long period

of time. This can be caused by lots of athletic running or by bracing the legs very tightly against
movement in a boat or racing auto. Recent pains can sometimes be alleviated in one session,
particularly for people who are athletic, stretch a lot and have healthy, soft fascia. Long term
problems that have become somewhat of a debilitation usually take a number of sessions in order
to get down through the deeper layers of tissue in the entire network.
6.) Position of the Knee Caps - Especially while Running and Walking: Spread your legs
almost shoulder width apart and look down. Are your knee caps and feet in line, that is, do they
both point in the same direction? And do they point forward, or splay out to the side?
Many people have their hip rotator muscles located deep inside the buttocks too short,
making their whole legs twist outward. This puts a strain on the lower back and tightens
everything above it. When people with this distortion try to run with their feet pointed straight
ahead, they're making additional effort that tightens their legs and puts a strain on their hips. This
problem is routinely corrected, or at least significantly, in the course of the Structural Integration
process.
Another situation occurs when the feet are splayed outward from the line of the knee caps.
When someone shaped like this runs with toes pointed forward, they have to twist their knee caps
inward to do it. This can put a strain on the ligaments in the knee as well as the muscles and joints
around the hips. Structural Integration releases this kind of extra added tension and can correct
some degree of the twist, especially if the person also does therapeutic stretching. I also suggest
that people try to run with knee caps pointed forward, instead of toes and see how that feels. It's
always at least somewhat better after Bodywork.
7.) Inability to Breath Deeply: This is routinely corrected during the course of the Structural
Integration series. And a lot of improvement occurs in the very first step of the process. We
literally enlarge the muscles on top of the ribcage, in front, back, on the bottom in the abdomen,
and on the sides, and we loosen the outside and back of the pelvis. The first step also includes
treating the arms which, if done deeply, not only loosens the shoulder, neck and some of the back,
but also loosens the whole inside of the chest quite a lot. In the third step we lengthen deeper into
the whole sides and open and loosen the whole shoulder girdle. In the fifth step we lengthen the
abdominals.
We can combine elements of all three of these steps, plus some work on the neck, head and
back, to enable the breathing to get very deep and full in just a 1-2 hour treatment.
8.) Headaches: Many headaches can be relieved by lengthening the shoulder, back, neck and
head muscles including down into the face and around the eyes. This can be done in a chair. As I
proceed with loosening these areas, I keep checking with the person how far down the pain has
gone from where it first was. I can remove many headaches in 15-20 minutes, and the person gets
much looser and more relaxed, for the long term, at the same time.
Chronic headache conditions often cause a bunch-up in this whole area and I usually
recommend a more thorough treatment to release the whole body. Three or four 2-hour treatments
usually does it.
Migrane headaches do not respond well to surface rubbing and that even aggravates the
person's pain. To correct migraines, we go very deep along the spine, and it helps even further to
do deep acupressure, with the elbows, on each of the acupuncture points in the hollows where the
nerve bundles come out from the vertebrae. This acupressure takes about 15 minutes.
However, sick headaches from bad food or food allergies may still go on, or come back
right after the manipulations. The bad stuff has to get cleaned out of the body. But sometimes,
these body treatments combined with a strong foot reflexology treatment and some additional
acupressure can help the internal organs enough so that the headache and stomach ache go away.

9.) Stress, and Long Term Emotional Problems from Abuse and Adult Trauma: The affects
of stress accumulate in the body as increasingly short fascia, especially in the head, neck, back and
surprisingly, the legs and pelvis. Actually, stress accumulates as shortness all over the body. So a
deep and thorough lengthening helps a tremendous amount. In just a few hours we can clear years
of tension.
Stress shows up especially as a tight head. So a treatment starting on the head and neck,
and including the arms and pelvis, can do a very effective stress release "tune-up" that will last for
weeks, in just 2-3 hours.
A more thorough treatment of two more 2-hour sessions, to include the legs, the sides of
the torso, and deep into the shoulders makes all the manipulations last longer, even for months.
And the experience is, of course, much greater. People find they can do much more, more easily
and creatively, they don't get tired as quickly, and they have a more resilient and positive outlook.
And all this happens with no additional psychological or stress management therapy.
By doing this amount of fascial shortness removal and structural re-organization, even
months of tension from hard work, illness and emotional difficulties gets totally cleared out. This
degree of long term improvement also enables a person to relax very quickly with massage,
stretching, hot water or steam baths and even guided relaxations.
If the stress is aggravated by other psychological issues, say from an abusive childhood or
from a very pressured job or family responsibility, then some more sessions to make the release
more complete and the re-organization more powerful will help. Even in a few weeks time, a series
of sessions will loosen the fixation to negative attitudes and correct long term blockages in one's
most creative and self-regenerating energies. This will also facilitate the correction of the
emotional problem with psychotherapy. And we can do even more to release old negative
experiences with what are called body-oriented emotional release processes.
These treatments are very effective in removing the ongoing effects of both childhood
abuse and adult traumas from circumstances such as serious auto accidents and other injuries and
illness, life threatening natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods and tornados, muggings,
rapes, wartime action, loss of a parent, child or spouse, serious financial losses, and even difficult
marriages and divorces. I have other articles and booklets that explain these methods and benefits
very thoroughly. Please feel invited to ask for them.


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Physical Benefits of Structural Integration

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Institute for Enhanced Performance 1

THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS

THEN, HOW IT DEVELOPS PROBLEMS

By Louis A. Gross BSEE, Certified Postural Integrator, Master Level

Pg 2....What Structural Integration Bodywork is and How it can help you.

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

WHAT STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION BODYWORK IS,

Structural Integration is a personal transformational process that creates significant,

Structural Integration is formally known as the Structural Integration Method of

KNOWING HOW OUR STRUCTURES ARE PUT TOGETHER

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

WHAT GOES WRONG ? HOW OUR FASCIA GETS SHORT and

Structural Integration Bodywork manipulates the fascia in a good way. As I said, it

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

WHY YOGA AND STRETCHING EXERCISES RARELY CORRECT

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

THE UNIQUE BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED STRUCTURE

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

HOW STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION IS DIFFERENT FROM MASSAGE, and

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION IS VERY COMPATIBLE WITH

A lot of people go to chiropractors. Chiropractic's goal is to restore the proper

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

HOW TO CORRECT SPECIFIC PROBLEMS USING

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Here's a list of what the attachment covers.

1.) Tight Shoulders and Necks, and Stiff Arms

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO FEEL RESULTS ? and

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

It's important to recognize that Structural Integration processing is an investment in

WHERE DID THIS TREATMENT ORIGINATE and

The Structural Integration Method of Connective Tissue Manipulation was developed

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

MY OWN WORK and BACKGROUND

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

My sessions in athletic and general physical improvement emphasize the Structural

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE and

WHAT OTHER BOOKS AND PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE

PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK

• How to Identify and Fix ACCUMULATED SHORTNESS,

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS FROM THE BODYWORK COMBINED WITH

• Trauma Release Therapy - article 6 pgs

LIVING FOODS AND NATURAL HEALTH

• Foods for Structure – article on the website

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

A LIST OF SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1990 Louis A. Gross All Rights Reserved

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