If you’ve ever had a sore back, neck or knee, you may have visited allied health specialists like a chiropractor, physiotherapist or osteopath to help manage the pain or get a treatment plan. So how are these health specialists different to Spinal Flow Technique practitioners?
Spinal Flow Technique practitioners assess the 7 gateways of the spine to diagnose spinal blockages and then make contact on the 33 access points to allow the body to heal. The technique is also known for relieving symptoms such as sore necks, backs and knees along with digestive issues, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
Allied health specialists like osteos, chiros and physios have university-level qualifications and may be registered with a board and licensed to practice. Spinal Flow Technique practitioners must also be certified by Dr Carli Axford, and are registered and governed by the Spinal Flow Association.
Spinal Flow Technique practitioners are not required to study for four or more years at university, though all four healing modalities – osteo, chiro, physio and Spinal Flow – may work on the soft tissue, spine or musculoskeletal system.
Each of these four healing practices has its own philosophy and approach to healing the body, with Spinal Flow Technique focussed on harnessing the body’s innate intelligence to heal itself.
Osteopathy and how it’s different from Spinal Flow Technique
Also known as osteopathic medicine, the name derives from Ancient Greek, meaning “bone” and “sensitive to” or “responding to”. Osteopathy is an alternative approach that looks at the health of the whole body, rather than the injured or problematic area.
In a treatment session, an osteopath may take a history of their client, asking questions and doing postural assessments about how the body functions as a whole unit, including the skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves, circulatory system, connective tissue, and internal organs.
Ultimately, osteos take a hands-on approach to healing and may also, provide exercise ideas, education and lifestyle advice. They can also focus on stretching and joint mobility manipulation.
Spinal Flow Technique practitioners may see multiple clients in one healing session and will use the 7 gateways of the spine to conduct assessments of where spinal blockages are held in the body.
Physiotherapy and how it’s different from Spinal Flow Technique
Physiotherapists tend to target the tissues involved in the affected or painful parts of the body. Physiotherapy focuses on movement and function, often after injury or surgery and may use exercises, joint manipulation and other methods to improve mobility and flexibility.
While physiotherapists may also do massage, their manual hands-on application can be quite minimal. Depending on the physiotherapist, they may also use tools like taping, acupuncture, hydrotherapy or exercise plans to allay pain and restore mobility.
Spinal Flow Technique focuses on what’s already working in the body rather than trying to treat pain, aiming to spark healing at a deeper and more fundamental level.
Chiropractic and how it’s different from Spinal Flow Technique
Chiropractors tend to focus on releasing subluxations of the spine. Similar to Spinal Flow Technique, they believe that human health stems from the spine – a healthy spine, equals a healthy life.
Chiropractors may use their hands or other tools to manipulate the spine and improve motion and overall physical function. Some chiros use other methods to improve spinal motion and overall physical function.
What Spinal Flow Technique and chiropractic have in common is its focus on the spine to address problems in the body, helping manage a range of issues and symptoms, including fibromyalgia, pain in the back, neck, head, knee, hips and ankles as well as digestive and stress, depression and anxiety.
Healing with Spinal Flow Technique
Spinal Flow Technique is a healing modality rooted in chiropractic science and developed by Dr Carli Axford to incorporate what she has seen work to help people’s bodies heal their symptoms.
What sets Spinal Flow Technique apart from osteopathy, physiotherapy and chiropractic is its ability to restore a person’s body back to wellbeing and the positive areas that already exist within the body. Instead of ‘treating’ or ‘fixing’ issues, Spinal Flow Technique uses the 7 gateways of the spine and the 33 access points to send a message to our master controller – the spine and nervous system – to release spinal blockages.
“Spinal Flow Technique combines philosophy, science and touch,” says Dr Carli Axford. “And for me, it’s so motivating that my certified practitioners are helping others move on from their suffering by helping people with a healing modality that works on such a deep level.”
She says that Spinal Flow Technique teaches that pain is a signal sending a message through the body – usually about stress. Certified Spinal Flow Technique practitioners communicate with their clients about how long that stress has been stored in the body and may talk them through releasing it. Ultimately though, in Spinal Flow Technique, the body heals itself.
