When traditional medicine fails, many people turn to holistic therapy for help. REBECCA GILBERT took her dodgy knee to a York therapist to try out an Australian treatment called the Bowen Technique

IN the 1970s, the Australian government discovered a medical phenomenon in their midst. During an audit of practitioners of complimentary medicine, they stumbled on Tom Bowen, an industrial chemist with little formal medical training, who was treating up to 13,000 people a year and getting incredible results.

Using a form of massage consisting of gentle but precise movements on the skin, Tom Bowen was treating everything from sports injuries, stress and back pain to respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome or ME.

In 1974, Oswald Rentsch and his wife Elaine began studying his methods and, after his death, started teaching the technique, which they still do all over the world despite now being in their Seventies.

Acupuncturist and herbalist Michael Burgess, who lives in York, practices the Bowen Technique at The Healing Clinic Fulford Cross, York, with some impressive results of his own.

Michael said: "The technique is like acupuncture because it moves stuck energy. It goes across muscles, and the body's soft tissue, and it's a very, very gentle touch.

"What Tom Bowen said is that it moves stuck energy. What research has suggested is that it has a connection with the brain and allows the body to start healing itself.

"It doesn't work quickly for everyone, it depends on the acuteness of the complaint and how long it's been there."

I went to see if Michael could relieve a persistent knee problem which I have suffered from since unwisely launching into a rigorous jogging regime three years ago in an attempt to get fit quick.

Since the knee complaint started, I have also developed lower back pain and the first thing Michael did was take a case history and suggest that the back pain was probably a result of my body repositioning itself to accommodate the knee injury.

The treatment can be done on skin or through light clothing and involves short precise movements which get right to the root of the problem. The therapist leaves the room for two minutes after each set of movements to allow the body to absorb it.

During my treatment, Michael took the skin flack and rolled it over the muscle until I felt a satisfying kind of clunk which is actually caused by the muscle slipping under the fingers.

The movements sound extreme but they are not uncomfortable and leave you with a tingling feeling radiating from the spot which has just been worked on, as if energy is indeed being released and circulation improved.

The idea is to treat the whole body, not just the problem area, as holistic therapy treats people, not conditions.

And, although the problems have not disappeared completely, my back certainly feels less restricted and my knee more stable.

Among Michael's many success stories is that of Irene Wilson, 60, post mistress at Elvington Post Office, who was diagnosed with ME ten years ago. She said: "It started with me aching all the time. I had all sorts of tests and then a doctor came up with ME. It got to the stage where I couldn't read, I couldn't write or remember anything.

"I was absolutely drained, I couldn't be bothered with anybody or anything. I spent three months in bed."

After receiving some benefits from Chinese herbs, Irene turned to Michael Burgess who recommended the Bowen Technique and she hasn't looked back.

"I used to go once a week, then it got to once every two or three weeks and now I'm down to once every six weeks," she said.

"I feel as if I'm back to my old self and it's been a long time since I've had a relapse."

Marjorie Siddall, of Scalby, near Scarborough, suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (pins and needles, numbness and pain in the wrists caused by pressure on the nerve as it passes through the wrist). This complaint is usually treated by surgery to release the nerve, but the Bowen Technique relieved the pain in Marjorie's hands and wrists after just one treatment. She said: "I was a bit sceptical at first but I got to the point where I would try anything. So far I haven't needed to go back."

Judith Spencer, 58, of Wistow, was suffering disabling pains in her leg following a car accident. She said: "The pain took me completely off my feet. It only happened for a few minutes and just went away again but it came progressively more often and in the end I couldn't even drive.

"I swim and fell walk and jog and do various other things despite the fact I'm in my late 50s and it was reaching the stage where I was being forced to curtail my activities.

"I went to see Michael Burgess on about ten occasions over a period of three months and gradually the pain lessened. That was two years ago and since I saw him the pain has completely resolved and I'm back to all my usual activities."

Michael Burgess works from The Healing Clinic, Fulford Cross, York. You can contact him on Tel: 01904 421032.