The Philosophy Behind KQ
KQ Bodywork is the name I’ve given to my ever evolving effort to restoring pain free motion to my clients and building their brain-body connection through physical touch and guided movement.
Bodywork is the art of using touch to reduce pain, increase mobility, or otherwise enhance bodily function.
KQ represents one’s bodily intelligence: their ability to feel and move.
In my practice I incorporate techniques, viewpoints, and strategies from multiple branches of bodywork and after years of offering a menu of specialized treatment options I decided to simplify. To get the best results, each treatment session is a two way interaction. The direction the treatment goes depends on what my client tells me and how they respond to their treatments. Everyone’s nervous system reacts differently and by consistently communicating about what is helping and what isn’t, I can alter the methods of input I’m giving their nervous system to get the ideal output.
Say goodbye to the confusing menu.
Bring a pair of loose fitting shorts to change into, and a tank top or sports bra for ladies. Together we can work through the process of figuring out what is causing your issues and how to address them with touch and movement based treatments.
The Benefits of a Broad Approach
The main benefit to offering a broad approach, with a flexible framework, and a wide array of treatment techniques is being able to adjust my approach to accommodate a wide variety of people, meet them where they are, and shorten the time it would naturally take for them to reach their goals.
Generally, my strategy is to reduce pain with passive adjustments, increase my clients’ self awareness of how they’re currently using their body and explore alternative ways they can use their body with interactive techniques, and alter their patterns of movement with active techniques.
People naturally progress through this process at their own pace.
Bodywork: An Art and Science
The term “bodywork” or manual therapy refers to the broad spectrum of interventions in which therapists use their hands, or tools, to affect change in the bodies of their clients.
Chiropractic, Massage, Osteopathy, Cranio-sacral therapy, Physical therapy, Neuromuscular therapy, and Structural Integration are all branches of the same discipline: manual therapy.
By now dozens, if not hundreds, of methods, techniques, and ideologies have arisen from various professions regarding how to diagnose and treat their patients.
Some are so similar they can hardly be differentiated whereas others differ so greatly in their view and approach to the human body that they can hardly be recognized as being within the same field of medicine. Some are backed by hard science, some by clinical experience.
Despite the complexity and confusion that comes with having so many differing strategies all have the same goal:
To better the lives of their patients.
To ease the confusion and provide some basic insight into how each clinician works, keep in mind every technique can be classified into one of three categories:
Passive
The practitioner does something to their client while the client does nothing.
Massage is a passive form of therapy and it is likely more well known than any other form of bodywork.
Active
The client does something while the practitioner does nothing, except provide verbal direction when necessary.
Very commonly used in physical therapy offices, these methods can be likened to highly sophisticated personal training that is tailored to the patient.
Interactive, or Active-Assisted
There is a combination of the practitioner and client doing something simultaneously.
For example, most myofascial release methods consist of clients moving while practitioners apply traction (stretching) to a specific area to mobilize it.
Passive techniques work well for initially calming the nervous system and reducing pain.
Interactive techniques are excellent for restoring range of motion and teaching people how each part of their body is functioning in relation to the others.
Active techniques, or in other words, specific movement sequences are crucial for reinforcing the brain body connection made earlier in the treatment sessions and altering the person’s subconscious movement patterns.