Rolfer™ Karen Price was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle recently, in an intelligent article on a research project by Stanford University School of Medicine looking into whether Rolfing® Structural Integration can help children with cerebral palsy (CP). According to the article, CP is "the most common physical disability among children in the United States," and the Rolfing SI "is producing early and promising improvements in such children" by significantly improving their motor skills. Other treatment for CP ranges from physical and occupational therapy to botox injections or other medications and surgery, so the prospect of Rolfing sessions helping these kids is fantastic.
As a Rolfer, I'd say the article's discussion of our work is pretty accurate, discussing the role of fascia in "holding together the body's structure and supporting its posture." Importantly - and something the media often misses - the article distinguishes Rolfing SI from massage, and notes that the children do not experience it as being painful. (There's some great photos of one of the kids being worked on accompanying the article).
The preliminary study is complete with results published in the April in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (abstract here). The researchers are currenlty recruiting more children for a further study.
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