In 2005, with the help of my very persuasive good friend, I enrolled in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at one of the Gracie Barra schools in San Diego.
Unbeknownst to me this single event would mark the beginning of a very difficult journey in my health and well-being.
The school I attended had many different studios and one night I had the opportunity to train at a school in Oceanside.
At the school, there were many from the local Marine base at Camp Pendleton.
During a one to one session training I sparred with a Marine, who was far better trained than I was in Jiu Jitsu. As we proceeded to spar on the mat, he got me in an arm bar submission on my right arm. Unfortunately, I did not tap in time, and instead endured the hold far longer than I should have.
The result, I ended up pulling my right clavicle bone.
Since that fateful day, I have not been able to do pull ups, without causing a tightness and eventually stiffening and soreness on my right side where the clavicle meets the shoulder.
I tried numerous modalities of therapy from chiropractic, to traditional sports therapy, myocardial release, exercise kinesiology, to exercise physiology used to heal the muscles and structural alignment, to yoga, Pilates, and massage.
None of them really truly gave me back the mobility and structural alignment that I was so desperately needing.
I wanted my old body back. Pre Jiu Jitsu.
It wasn’t until last year in April 2014 that I began my road to recovery.
I was at a good friend’s house in Las Vegas, when the conversation came up about my wish to do pull ups again. Up to that point, I had a secret admiration for those that had a normal clavicle.
When I showed my friend my injury. he told me, “Oh that’s no big deal, you can fix that, have you looked into Rolfing?”
The mere fact that my good friend, a health and fitness expert, had confidence in my own full recovery and that I had a form of physical therapy that I had never tried before, was enough for me to look into it.
I Googled, “Las Vegas Rolfing” and voila there appeared a site Love Your Posture at the top of the search. I called and made an appointment with Corey Buck. It was the best thing I ever did.
Within the first session, I was already feeling great, and after three more sessions I felt and could see noticeable differences in my clavicle bone. It was no longer protruding as before.
I knew I would fully regain my ability to do something as simple as a pull up.
Corey told me that, I had some scar tissue, and that all we needed to do was release it.
Well lo and behold I am back and fully recovered
I thought I would interview Corey and ask him some poignant questions about Rolfing and the work he does.
Here is the brief interview.
Could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you got into Rolfing, how have you personally benefited from it, I remember you shared with me that you had an injury, could you elaborate on that?
I had Sciatica really bad for many years I was lucky that Rolfing cured me of that problem and led me to becoming a practitioner hoping to help people like I was helped.
In one sentence could you describe what Rolfing is?
Rolfing is a 10 session series teaching embodiment and shifting awareness.
What do you think are some of the most common misconceptions when it comes to Rolfing (Structural Integration)? Could you share some stereotypes around Rolfing that are not true?
There are many who think that it’s just a painful treatment but it’s really about shifting awareness.
How does Rolfing differ from other forms of therapy? What does it Rolfing offer that many traditional forms of therapy such as chiropractic, myofascial release or physical therapy?
Rolfing offers education about the myofascial integration of the body and carries over into life, i am not sure other modalities get into life applications.
Compared to other more traditional forms of therapy, Rolfing isn’t quite as popular like chiropractic or even Myofascial release? When I search on those respective terms they are in the tens of millions whereas “Rolfing” is in the hundreds of thousands.
Rolfing popularity isn’t as high as other therapies, I think the misconceptions about costs and the amount of sessions put it into a low percentage.
I realize that Rolfing is not a magic bullet, obviously, for me you helped me tremendously, to overcome and get back to training 100%, yet how should one prepare themselves if they are truly interested in incorporating and actually using Rolfing to say, for example, heal an injury?
Rolfing brings a balance and grace to the body leaving an injury an opportunity to reintegrate into balance.
With respect to this interview and the subject matter, what question, should I have asked you that I didn’t and what is the answer?
Fantastic interview thank you Bronson.. Cheers and I hope to visit you soon. Happy New Year
