FAQs:
What is Rolfing?
Rolfing is a form of deep tissue massage named after Dr. Ida P. Rolf, an American biochemist who referred to her work as “structural integration.” Dr. Rolf designed the system as a way to deeply manipulate and reorganize connective tissue and fascia. Her aim was to relieve patterns of physical misalignment through a series of sessions, each focusing on a different part of the body, using deep pressure and breath work. The ultimate goal along with resetting alignment patterns in the body, is to improve movement and posture, reduce stress and create an overall sense of wellbeing.
Does Rolfing Work?
There has been very little research done on Rolfing and structural integration, and some question its effectiveness. For example, the Australian Government says that “no reliable conclusions can be said about the effectiveness of Rolfing.” However, the research that is out there suggests otherwise. Studies have found that Rolfing can reduce pain, increase range of motion and improve balance, and could also be beneficial in people suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain.
What Happens During a Rolfing Session?
Rolfing sessions involve a deep tissue massage. However, the exact type of massage you’ll receive depends on where you are in the Rolfing ‘recipe’ which is a 10-session program divided into three stages. When you visit a certified Rolfing practitioner, your first three sessions will usually involve superficial tissue massage, followed by four sessions of deep tissue and pelvic massage, and finished off with three sessions of full body massage. Following the completion of the 10 sessions, you’re considered to be properly aligned.
Is Rolfing a Legitimate Form of Body Work?
Rolfing is technically classified as a pseudo-science. The primary focus of Rolfing is the fascia, which some people think is the driving force behind a healthy distribution of Qi which is the concept of life force energy that joins happiness, health, and overall well-being. Not everyone believes in Qi, or in forms of alternative or complementary medicine, so it’s important to look at real, scientific results when it comes to Rolfing.
How is Rolfing Different than Chiropractic?
Chiropractic differs from Rolfing in that it focuses on the bones and skeletal system, especially the spinal column. Chiropractic techniques often involve thrust to alleviate symptoms of pain or tension within the body. In contrast, Rolfers apply sustained pressure and invoke client movement to the connective tissue of the body, as well as the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to release chronic patterns. Chiropractic and Rolfing are complementary.
What is the Difference Between Rolfing and Massage Therapy?
Rolfing at its heart is systemic integration. When someone performs the Rolfing techniques they also operate to achieve structural integration within the body. This holistic image can vary from the approach taken during a bodywork session when the massage therapist focuses on a specific part of the body without realizing how it could influence the whole body’s “structural integration.”
Massage therapy is of course also therapeutic in another sense. Before deciding on a course of treatment, a traditional massage therapist should consider the musculature of the whole body. Nevertheless, massage focuses on relieving stress and offering relief for the client, not on trying to integrate the body’s function together according to a common idea of how the body should operate.
Rolfing requires intense stimulation of the tissue, and in this context, it may look very much like a massage. But, unlike deep tissue massage, Rolfing not only operates on the deep tissue level. A Rolfing practitioner may apply differing pressure levels based on the technique they are using, with different pressure rates being used to target different layers of the body.
What is the Difference Between Rolfing and Myofascial Release?
There are a few similarities but simply put, Rolfing is holistic in that the practitioner will focus on the entire body over ten sessions whereas Myofascial Release (MFR) is a massage technique based on Rolfing SI that addresses the “target area” of pain in an attempt to free restrictions or break adhesions.
How Often Should You Do Rolfing?
About a week to two weeks apart. We recommend no more than 2 weeks intervals in between sessions. Sessions 1-3, 4-7, and 8-10 are like little series within the ten series. If, for some reason, you have to take a longer break between sessions, it is beneficial to do it after sessions three and seven. We strongly recommend that you continue to do your homework during the break.
Can Rolfing Help Scoliosis?
In theory, Rolfing treats scoliosis by improving the muscular structure of the body. ‘Rolfers’ purport to de-rotate the connective tissues that have shortened and tightened around your muscles, thus balancing out the muscles on either side of your spine and pulling everything back into place.
Is Rolfing Safe?
While based on some proven scientific theories, more research is needed to better understand the safety and risks of Rolfing.
A few small studies have shown Rolfing may help with back pain and fibromyalgia. Another study suggests that Rolfing improved walking in a group of children living with cerebral palsy. Those studies were all done with very small groups of participants, though, and the results haven’t been replicated.
The idea of manipulating fascia to improve your movement makes good scientific sense. The fascia gets congested and can lead to pain and tension. If you choose to consider Rolfing, make sure you choose a certified practitioner. People living with pain caused by tightened fascia may also want to consider more well-studied therapies like:
- Acupuncture.
- Heat therapy.
- Massage therapy.
- Yoga.
Does Rolfing Hurt?
The Dr. Ida Rolf Institute claims that a person receiving Rolfing therapy may feel some discomfort because the technique aims to relieve tension deep within the connective tissue. However, the organization notes that Rolfing should not hurt or cause additional pain to those with preexisting pain.
What to Wear During Rolfing?
Women normally wear a two-piece bathing suit, yoga clothes, or workout outfits. Some prefer to wear their underwear, but the bra should not be restrictive. Men wear either gym shorts, swim trunks, or underwear. You can wear whatever you want as long as you’re comfortable, and it doesn’t interfere with the areas I need to work on.
How Much Does Rolfing Cost?
Rolfing costs vary depending on location, but anecdotal evidence suggests that they usually fall within the range of $100–300 per session.
History of Rolfing
Rolfing is named for its founder, Dr. Ida Rolf, an American biochemist who spent her life exploring the healing possibilities held within the human mind and body. Ida obtained her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College in 1916 at the age of 20. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Looking to find solutions to her own health issues as well as those of her loved ones, Rolf went on to spend many years studying and experimenting with different systems of healing and manipulation, including chiropractic medicine, osteopathy, homeopathy, and mind-body disciplines such as yoga, the Alexander Technique and Alfred Korzybski’s theory of general semantics.
As she learned from all of her experience and research, Dr. Rolf discovered that she could achieve incredible changes in posture and structure by manipulating the body’s myofascial system. She eventually named her approach “structural integration” and began teaching her method during the late 1940s and early 1950s in summer courses at the European College of Osteopathy at Maidstone, England. Her earliest formal class in the U.S. was given in 1953 in Los Angeles. During this early period, Rolf also traveled extensively, demonstrating her methods to groups of chiropractors and osteopaths.
Dr. Rolf’s intention was always to bring her method to as many people as possible and to pass on her knowledge to future generations. In order to pass along her work to others and to make the education process accessible, Dr. Rolf developed her method into a series of 10 sessions, which came to be known as the Ten Series. Clients and practitioners dubbed Dr. Rolf’s work “rolfing,” and the name stuck.
Since her death in 1979 at the age of 82, the Rolf Institute® of Structural Integration has continued to share Dr. Rolf’s work by certifying Rolfers™ and Rolf Movement® Practitioners, supporting research, and building upon her inspiration. Today, there are more than 1,950 Rolfers™ and Rolf Movement® Practitioners worldwide.
Rolfing is also used on children, and it is even being offered for horses (“equine rolfing”). When it comes to kids, some parents use rolfing to help manage cerebral palsy (CP), a broad term used to describe a group of chronic “palsies” or disorders that impair control of movement due to damage to the developing brain. CP is one of the most common causes of chronic childhood disability. When combined with traditional therapy, some doctors believe that rolfing can help reduce the need for more invasive treatments of cerebral palsy.
The Theory Behind Rolfing
So, now we understand in a general sense what Rolfing is, what it claims it can do, and how this is supposed to lead to better health. But how exactly is Rolfing supposed to work? What’s the theory behind Rolfing?
At the center of Rolfing is the idea that the myofascial tissues of the body are important to not just our posture and muscular system, but also to the way that the body and mind work together. Modern medicine doesn’t pay all that much attention to the connective tissue, at least not in the sense that Rolf intended. But according to the principles of Rolfing, manipulating the body’s soft tissue is central to our physical health and well-being.
To understand the theory behind Rolfing, it’s important to understand how a Rolfing practitioner looks at the body’s fascia. A massage therapist will tend to look at the body’s fascia as something that can be manipulated so as to reduce pain, improve the range of motion, and relieve tension.
If a massage therapist and a Rolfer were to work on the same client, they may end up performing many of the same techniques. However, the massage therapist is likely to only be thinking about relieving particular aches, pains, and tension in the client’s body. They might just be focused on the fact that the client has back pain, a stiff neck, or a limited range of motion in their shoulder. Meanwhile, the Rolfer will be thinking about the relationship between whatever issue the client is presenting with and the overall structural alignment of the client’s entire body.
To sum up: Rolfing practitioners believe that structural integration is achieved through bodywork techniques which might overlap with some massage techniques, but which are being used in a different way. To understand more about what Rolfing actually looks like in practice, let’s take a look at a typical Rolfing session.
The Rolfing Technique
Rolfing involves a set of sessions known as the Ten-Series. These sessions focus on releasing tension in different areas of the body before moving into the integration phase.
The Ten-Series includes the following steps:
1. Session one: The first session focuses on loosening and rebalancing the top layers of connective tissue in the neck, diaphragm, rib cage, arms, spine, upper legs, and hamstrings.
2. Session two: The second session works on the arms, rib cage, diaphragm, upper legs, hamstrings, spine, and neck, with the goal of providing stability through balancing the foot and lower leg muscles.
3. Session three: In this session, the practitioner aims to understand how a person’s head, shoulder girdle, and hips line up when the person is standing.
4. Session four: This session focuses on the areas between the inside arch of a person’s foot and the bottom of their lower pelvis.
5. Session five: The fifth session aims to balance the surface and deep abdominal muscles with the curve of the back.
6. Session six: This session works on movement in the legs to build support for the pelvis and lower back.
7. Session seven: This session works on the person’s head and neck.
8. Sessions eight and nine: Both of these sessions focus on the integration of movement in various areas of the body to enhance coordination.
9. Session ten: The last session focuses on integration, order, and balance throughout the body.
People Who Will Benefit Most from Rolfing
People from all walks of life who have benefited from Rolfing, including:
1. People are riddled with Chronic Pain and Stress (i.e. from whiplash, car accidents, sports injuries, and repetitive muscle strain from factory and computer occupations).
2. Computer users suffer from hand, arm, neck, and shoulder pain.
3. For people who feel stiff and want to improve their flexibility.
4. For people who are out of balance or feel chronic tension in their body.
5. Athletes, Dancers, Musicians, and other people interested in improved performance.
6. Students and teachers of Yoga, Meditation, and Martial Arts.
7. Women preparing their bodies to better handle the extra weight and strains from pregnancy and labor.
8. Women experiencing post-childbirth low back pain and pelvis pain.
9. Children of all ages, including toddlers. Pre-teenagers gain balance to help them through the emotional time of puberty.
10. People in psychotherapy, by facilitating a deeper connection to their emotional conflicts. People may experience considerable psychological/spiritual growth as the emotional history stored in their bodies is released.
What Rolf Structural Integration Can Treat
Rolfing has been linked to numerous health benefits, and can greatly improve a number of chronic conditions. If you’re looking for a holistic approach to dealing with a chronic condition, Rolfing might be the answer. The following are some of the conditions aided by Rolf Structural Integration:
- Ankle problems
- nkle sprains
- Chronic pains
- Knee pain
- Hip pain
- Asthma
- Back injuries
- Back pain
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Back problems
- Breathing
- Cramping
- Depression
- Digestion
- Eating disorders
- Headaches
- Injuries
- Joint pain
- Joint problems
- Migraines
- Shoulder injuries and conditions
- Neck pain
- Neck problems
- Neck strain
- Plantar Fascitis
- Strains
- Tight muscles
- Tightness
- TMJ Disorders
7 Things to Know about Rolfing If You Have Chronic Pain
With chronic pain, there’s a good chance you struggle to understand why your pain persists. This is a common concern for both the practitioner and the person seeking relief. If the pain caused is a form of serious illness that can be ruled out, the chances are good that Rolfing Structural Integration can play a positive role in the treatment of the condition.
Here are seven things that you should know about Rolfing and chronic pain before deciding to move forward.
1. Rolfing may help chronic pain.
You should know that Rolfing can be an effective non-medical, non-drug method to address chronic neuromuscular pain. The Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine Comprehensive Pain Center has incorporated alternative and complementary therapies, including Rolfing, into their practices. However, there’ve been limited studies on Rolfing’s effectiveness. Two small studies in 2014 and 2015 found that Rolfing can decrease pain levels for people with fibromyalgia and lower back pain, at least in the short term.
2. Rolfing isn’t a quick fix.
It took time to get into chronic pain, it will take some time to recover, so be patient. A good rule of thumb is that for every year of pain, allow yourself one month of weekly sessions. You should notice improvements with every session. It’s also likely that you’re going to need to make ongoing lifestyle changes to assist in maintaining and furthering the changes from Rolfing. This may include ergonomics, footwear, pillows, yoga, nutrition, etc.
3. Rolfing addresses structural (think postural) and functional (think movement) aspects of chronic pain.
Rolfing can be helpful when chronic stiffness, compression from injury or surgery, held postures that inhibit fluid motion, or repetitive motion are keeping your pain levels up.
4. Rolfing should never be painful.
Rolfing is frequently deep and sometimes intense and uncomfortable, but it’s never meant to be painful. Rolfing should never be more uncomfortable than the chronic pain you’re already in.
5. Rolfing may reveal other places of pain.
If you’ve been dealing with chronic pain, chances are that is the area you focus most of your energy on. However, with Rolfing, you’ll discover other places in your body that may be playing a role in your pain. Knowing this information can be helpful in your overall treatment plan.
6. Rolfing may uncover deeply held emotions.
Rock says to be aware that you may have emotions surface, on and off the table, since your tissues hold and release muscle memory. This is frequently part of the healing process, so as strange as it may seem, it’s actually helpful.
7. Rolfing requires a skilled practitioner.
Rolfing, especially for chronic pain, needs to be done by a certified and skilled practitioner. Find a Rolfer that you connect with since it’s a very personal process. And the best part? There’s virtually no risk to trying Rolfing, and there are no side effects.
9 Things You Need to Know about Rolfing
Here are the nine things that you need to know about rolfing:
1. Rolfing® Structural Integration is a physical therapy that helps to improve your posture and treats chronic muscular-skeletal pain conditions, such as lower back pain, sciatica, and stiff and painful shoulders.
2. It’s called Rolfing after its founder, Dr. Ida Rolf, a research biochemist from the Bronx who lived from 1896-1979. We love Ida, but we struggle with the name too, sometimes. Telling people what we do for a living at parties is a world of pain.
3. Rolfing can also help you stand taller, look slimmer and feel younger as you unwind years of stored tension in your body.
4. Rolfing is a whole-body treatment that takes place over ten sessions that were designed by Ida Rolf in the 1970s. In ten sessions we work systematically through the whole body, addressing issues such as breathing, pelvic floor support, and length and lift in mid-section.
5. Rolfing works on your connective tissue or fascia. Rolfers believe that it’s fascia that keeps our body molded into our usual posture, and it explains why trying to correct your posture (‘sit up straight!’) using muscular effort alone tends to be a short-lived enterprise.
6. We also believe that how you walk, stand and sit has an impact on your health over the long term. These patterns of movement are often learned at a very early age and bear the imprint of our personal, familial, and cultural histories.
7. Rolfers also look at the effect of gravity on the body. The compressive effect of the gravitational field is our constant companion through life and shapes the way we learn to move as babies. But many of us act as though we’re losing the battle to hold our heads high. Rolfing can help you end the war and learn to make friends with gravity.
8. Rolfers use a medical model of the body: no chi, no prana. But many Rolfers are also yoga teachers and healers from other backgrounds because they value Rolfing’s compassionate, creative, whole-body approach.
9. Similarly, many Rolfers have a background in dance or exercise science, because they recognize the impact that better alignment, improved support, and greater flexibility have on improving performance in fitness activities such as running, cycling, weight-training, yoga, and golf.
Benefits of Rolfing
Here are some of the benefits of rolfing:
1. Improved Posture
By freeing restrictions in the ligaments, tendons, and muscles, Rolfing frees your body to assume a more upright posture with less effort and strain. This allows a more relaxed stance than the traditional "stand up straight" posture many of us experience as children. Improvements in posture translate into greater ease in sitting, standing, walking, and many other activities.
2. Muscular and Skeletal Pain Relief
In many cases, bringing the body into a more natural alignment will reduce or alleviate chronic pain issues. Many clients who were dependent on massage or chiropractic on a weekly basis were able to greatly reduce their need after receiving a Ten-Series.
3. Enhanced Athletic Performance
When the body is in better alignment, it expends less energy holding itself upright. This freed-up energy can then be used in other areas of your life, athletic or otherwise.
4. Coordination and Flexibility
Rolfing works with muscle insertion points, helping to reset the stretch reflex and allowing the body to go deeper into stretches. Additionally, Rolf Movement works with perception and coordination to re-pattern existing movement habits and introduce more efficient movement possibilities.
5. Alternative to Surgery
While we tend to accept surgery as a necessary risk, it is still an event that our bodies take as traumatic. Rolfing can be helpful as an alternative to some structural issues, such as back pain or bunions, and in some certain cases even has a better track record than surgery. In cases where surgery is necessary, Rolfing before and after can help the body to better integrate the changes as well as minimize scar tissue and help regain normal function.
6. Avoid Repetitive Use Injuries
Repetitive use injuries like Carpal Tunnel come about from a lack of adaptability in our movements. Doing an activity the exact same way over and over makes us more prone to injury than if we do it a bit differently every time, using different muscles in different ways and not placing excessive strain on any one muscle or joint. Rolfing can help free up patterns and allow adaptability back into the system.
7. Improve Scoliosis
While Rolfing is not a complete cure for Scoliosis, it does have a very good record both for improving upon and helping to maintain function for scoliotic patients. The image above is an extreme example of a teenager taken through a 10 series, but clients of all ages can expect to see improvement both in structure and quality of life.
8. Reduce Headaches
Rolfing can often be effective in helping to reduce or eliminate headaches. Often, headaches are either caused or influenced by imbalances in the head and neck, pressures on nerves, or tensions in the back, neck, and shoulders. Almost every Rolfing session will do some work with the head and neck to improve these imbalances.
9. Fix Foot Issues
Modern life takes a big toll on our feet. Between shoes that are often more fashionable than function and hardwood or concrete surfaces that we walk on much of the time, your feet take a beating. This leads to feet that are often less flexible than they should be and prone to a number of issues like bunions, plantar fasciitis, and various arch issues. Rolfing can both help to restore lost function and help you avoid the knife where often surgical options for the feet are ineffective in the long-term.
10. Pre and Post Natal Care
While deep work is not advisable during pregnancy, the gentler side of Rolfing can be very helpful to help provide comfort during pregnancy. As the body undergoes strong and rapid shifts during pregnancy, Rolfing can help to integrate the change, lowering discomfort. Rolfing is also used occasionally near delivery time to loosen hip and pelvic floor muscles either to ease delivery or induce. And after delivery, Rolfing can be a very effective tool in helping the new mother's body get back to normal.
What to Expect After First Time Rolfing
A Rolfing session is not a massage, but like a massage, you will be relaxed afterward. Clients often report sleeping deeply the night after the first session and feeling relaxed and tired for a few days.
There is usually no soreness after a session. When there is a soreness, it isn’t the type you get from an injury but is more like how you would feel after a good stretch or workout. I recommend that you do not work out later in the day after receiving a session. The next day should be fine to exercise.
After years of Rolfing, I find I can usually get at least two or three standard sessions worth of change in any given session. And your body can keep changing after the session. Clients frequently report that they feel things shifting and letting go days after a session.
What to Look for in a Rolfer
If you are interested in Rolfing therapy to help you alleviate pain, restore flexibility and motion, or improve athletic performance, you should know what to look for in a Rolfing practitioner. Education and experience are key things to look for in a Rolfer, as well as the availability of services. Before you choose someone to provide Rolfing, residents should take the time to do a little bit of homework. Comfort with your practitioner can be important to achieving good results, so a meeting before your first session can help you determine if you want to work with them.
What exactly should you be looking for when it comes to choosing a structural integration therapist? For starters, education is critical. If you are new to Rolfing, but think that you might require more advanced services based on your condition, it will be important for you to find someone who is a Certified Advanced Rolfer. If they don’t specifically say that they are trained and certified as an Advanced Rolfer, it’s more likely than not that they have more basic training. Certification from the Rolf Institute is critical when choosing a practitioner. Created and established by the founder of Rolfing, the Institute provides proper training in Rolf methods that are critical to structural integration.
Another thing you will want to look at is the type and number of therapeutic interventions available. In addition to traditional ten-session Rolfing therapy, you might want a practitioner who can offer advanced Rolfing as well as other modalities and procedures designed to help strengthen core muscles, improve posture through enhanced awareness of the body, or utilize manual therapy to fix muscular problems. The best structural integration practitioners will always start with a consultation or postural and movement analysis before recommending or performing any treatment, and this is certainly something that you want to be certain will be provided to you.
Lastly, take the time to look at testimonials. You want to know what other clients have to say about the Rolfing techniques used by the person you are considering and the impact that they have had on their lives. You also want to be certain that you are choosing someone who understands your needs and will be caring and compassionate. Taking the time to meet with them one-on-one for an initial consultation can help you determine if you are comfortable working with them toward your goals.
Sources:
The content herein is provided for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Medical information changes constantly, and therefore the content on this website should not be assumed to be current, complete or exhaustive. Always seek the advice of your doctor before starting or changing treatment. If you think you may have a medical emergency, please call your doctor or 9-1-1 (in the United States) immediately.
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