How Might Bowen Work? Two Theories

There is so much we don´t know about how the human body works: how is it that the immune system doesn´t see a fertilized egg as an alien intruder which needs to be killed off, but allows it to develop for 9 months? Why do we yawn? Why do we dream or sleep so much? (Giraffes sleep less than 4 hours a day and wild elephants only 2) Why do we blush? We have theories, but we don´t know the answers to any of these questions with any degree of certainty.
 
Likewise, when we get down to detail, we don´t know how many medical interventions work. We also don´t really know how Bowen works. Here are two of the best current theories we have.

The Structural Theory: Bowen Influences Myofascial Tensegrity

The first theory about how Bowen works is to do with the terrifyingly named “(myo)fascial tensegrity”.

Fascia is your connective tissue, which wraps everything from the outer layer of bone (the periosteum), the organs, muscles (the “myo” part of myofascia), blood vessels, nerves, spinal cord and is most readily accessible as part of the skin (superficial fascia). Tensegrity structures get the tensional integrity of their structure from the cables that join the solid parts, rather than a “wall” structure where one brick is layed on top of another.

When applied to bodies we talk about “bio tensegrity” and the idea is that, like a tent, it is the relationship of tension in different parts of the structure which holds it together. The theory would be (in simple terms) that by altering tension in one area of the fascia we can change the tensegrity relationships and therefore create relief from pain and better posture.

Fascia is incredibly strong and tough and in Bowen we only touch the body for a very short time and in a very gentle way. How can the minimal work that Bowen uses make any difference to the fascia?

Certainly not in a crudely mechanical sense, both because there is simply nowhere near enough pressure on the fascia (not enough weight and not enough time) to create any change, and because in tensegrity another part has to take up the slack when one part is released, and a purely mechanical understanding of Bowen offers no explanation of how that would work.

​Understanding Bowen as a structural therapy is helpful and probably true, but it´s not enough.

The Information Theory: Bowen Influences the Nervous System

​We need a supplementary theory, and we have one: Bowen hacks into the information technology of our body (the nervous system) and gets the body to restore “factory settings”. If Bowen accesses the nervous system, specifically the interaction between the central and autonomic nervous systems, that could explain how so little work can change things – the changes don´t happen from the Bowen, but as a result of the body´s reaction to the Bowen.

If the body reboots its understanding of its relationship to the outside world (exteroception) and its own internal landscape (proprioception) this would account too for changes in the overall tensegrity – it is not a mechanical “release”, but the nervous system instructing your muscles to behave differently (would explain how such soft moves can make such a big change).

There are other things which may suggest that the nervous system is involved: it is quite normal to get responses in parts of the body that have not been directly worked on and the changes in the body often take 3-4 days to start to register in the body. A nervous system involvement would also explain why the “no other treatments” rule is there: any other input within a week or so of the Bowen would muddy the signal that the nervous system was responding to.

The structure of a suspension bridge holds together through tensegrity

Theory Should Not Get in the Way of Practice

It is helpful to have some sort of story about what is happening as a result of a treatment. Both these theories make sense, and both have a good chance of being (at least partially) correct.

Of course they are not the only perspectives on what is going on: a number of the bowen techniques work directly to encourage lymphatic movement, and most of the standard locations where we make moves are on acupuncture points and meridians, so it might also be possible to explain what´s happening on the basis of Chinese medical theory.

Most people come to Bowen (often as a last resort) as they are in pain and want the pain to stop. Ultimately, regardless of all the theory, if you don´t try Bowen it won´t work for you. ​