Patient Instructions: What to do after your Bowen Therapy Treatment

For a full 5 days after a Bowen treatment, your body will continue to shift as it incorporates the messages of the ‘moves’. Following these guidelines will assure that you receive the greatest benefit possible from your session.

On the day of the treatment:

  • Do not sit too long. Get up every 30 minutes and walk around a little. This does not apply to naps, we encourage them.
  • Drink plenty of water and if you are drinking lots of water, the getting up and walking around a little will take care of itself as you make your way to the bathroom!
  • Go for a walk, even if you can fit in only a brief one.
  • Remember that if you are having a series of Bowen treatments, ideally a week apart and ideally at least 3 treatments, that Bowen Therapy does not work with any other hands-on treatments.
  • No chiropractor, no physiotherapy, no massage therapy. Even the jets from a hot tub directed at your muscles will stop the Bowen work.
  • It is best not to exercise strenuously that day, not even with any Bowen exercises that may have been prescribed. Begin those exercises tomorrow.

For the rest of the week following treatment:

  • Avoid extreme heat or cold, such as really hot or cold showers (the regular temperature of your daily shower is OK), really hot baths, ice packs or heating pads during the 5 days following your Bowen Therapy treatment as they can override the work of the treatment.
  • Balance your weight onto both feet at the same time when you rise from a sitting position.
  • Get into your car with ‘butt first, then foot, foot’. Get out of your car by swinging both legs out together, supporting yourself with the door and standing as evenly on both feet as possible.
  • Should you have a flare-up of symptoms, it is ideal to walk, do the prescribed exercises and drink more water.

Follow the 3 W’s – Walk, Water and Wait:

  1. Walk at least 10 minutes each day.
  2. Water: drink at least 8-10 glasses per day.
  3. Wait at least a week before you have any type of body therapy (any form of bodywork, even a backrub, can short circuit the healing process and bring you back to square one).