Ortho-Bionomy

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophies.

— Friedrich Nietzche

Ortho-Bionomy® is an incredibly effective, yet gentle way to work with :

structural alignment
relieving acute and chronic pain and tension patterns
relieving restrictions from injuries and surgeries

Ortho-Bionomy® has its roots in Osteopathy and is based on the body’s own inherent ability to correct and heal. Through gentle, yet very precise, positioning, neurological reflexes are accessed that cause the body to self-correct. Tension patterns are disrupted and released and the structure of the body can re-organize. The body can find more balance and most often pain is relieved and movement is restored.

Benefits of Ortho-Bionomy®

helps to break the pain cycle
can relieve pain and discomfort
helps with recovery from injuries, accidents, and surgeries
can reduce muscle tension, optimize structural alignment and increase the range of motion
helps to improve circulation and promotes relaxation

My own experience of the power of Ortho-Bionomy®:

I found my way to this work through the profound effect it had on my own body. I have been dealing with chronic low back pain since my son was born over 10 years ago. During that time I had phases where I was not able to stand up and was almost non-functional for several weeks at a time. I have also had phases of minor pain but need to always be careful about which activities I was able to do. Then, about 1 1/2 years ago, I received my first session of Ortho-Bionomy. After that one session, I was pain-free for the first time in years. It literally felt like a miracle to me.

I have received lots and lots of bodywork of different kinds in my almost 20 years as a bodyworker. I had never before received any work that made that much difference in one session in terms of physical pain. I did not completely stay pain-free; my pain level still goes up and down. Since that session, though, it has not even come close to the level of pain I experienced on a regular basis before. And when my back does flare up a bit, it tends to resolve much, much faster. I continue to receive sessions and other major physical issues in my body have shifted. Because of the extent of change, I have experienced in myself and the lasting effect of it I have immense trust in this work.

More about how Ortho-Bionomy® works:

The term Ortho-Bionomy can be translated as:” The correct application of the laws of life”.

The originator of Ortho-Bionomy, Arthur Pauls, DO, talked about self-corrective reflexes in the body. That means that the body has an innate ability to heal and correct itself. Just like our skin knows how to heal a wound and our bones know how to grow back together, our whole body knows how to organize its structure and find balance through the nervous system.

Sometimes, though, the body’s ability to stay in balance is compromised by stress, injuries, accidents, surgeries, improper posture, emotional experience or just overload. When the body is out of balance it adapts as best as it can, but in the process might develop patterns of stress that add to the imbalance. Ortho-Bionomy works to re-educate dysfunctional patterns and restore balance and normal functioning.

As an Osteopath, Arthur Pauls understood that the natural range of motion in a joint requires balance in the opposing muscles that move that joint. Muscles on one side of the joint lengthen, while muscles on the other side shorten. Sometimes, after an injury, one muscle group becomes over-shortened and cannot respond to the internal signals from the nervous system trying to achieve balance. Then the opposing muscles remain chronically overstretched and this imbalance becomes a habitual pattern. Range of motion and comfort is compromised.

Often, in an attempt to avoid pain, the body contracts even further and includes surrounding muscles to prevent movement, so the holding is reinforced. Immobilization may solve the pain problem at the moment, but it also sets up compensatory patterns and holding patterns that become more and more limiting.

Arthur Pauls realized that if you remind the body of what it is doing – if you slightly overstretch the overstretched muscle and slightly shorten the constricted muscle, then the body gets to recognize what it’s doing and the habit of the patterns gets disrupted and often the body will move toward self-correction.

Part of the self-recognition comes from the muscle signals of being stretched and shortened and part comes from the proprioceptors in the nervous system. Proprioceptive nerves inform the body about its position and regulate positioning and movement. In this way, Ortho-Bionomy can affect profound change by helping the nervous system re-organize and affect the physical structure of the body.

Symptoms that can be addressed include:

low back pain/neck pain/upper back pain
joint pain and restricted motion
scoliosis
sciatica
whiplash and head injuries
rotator cuff injuries
TMJ
Rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
broken bones
sports injuries
tennis elbow/tendonitis
sprained ankles and wrists
foot pain/plantar fasciitis/bunions
carpal tunnel syndrome
thoracic outlet syndrome
frozen shoulder
issues after surgeries/scar tissue/restricted movement

What does an Ortho-Bionomy® session look like?

If I focus on only Ortho-Bionomy, you do not need to remove any clothes other than for comfort. You will mostly be lying on a bodywork table and I use gentle positioning and movement of your body to work with specific symptoms. We might also practice some movements sitting or standing and I might give you exercises to do at home.

Boulder workout: Ortho-Bionomy

Aimee Heckel / Writer
Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer
Ines Manteuffel works with Matt Goodhart during an Ortho-Bionomy session at Renewal Healing Arts. Ortho-Bionomy is a gentle, non-invasive, osteopathically-based form of body therapy for chronic stress, injuries, and pains or problems associated with postural and structural imbalances.
Read More

For more information on Ortho-Bionomy® here are links to some articles and a video:

View video of Gary Lee Williams with Carol Alt

A Wholesome You, Ortho-Bionomy self-care article by Rosa Rodruige

The Development of Ortho-Bionomy by Louann Overmeyer

Dancing in the Stillpoint

Massage Magazine Article by Luanne Overmyer (2008)

Yoga Journal Article (2004)

Ortho-Bionomy® is a registered trademark of the Society of Ortho-Bionomy International, Inc, and is used with permission.