The Onsen Technique is an Advanced Musculoskeletal Therapy that consists of muscle energy technique, contract-relax stretching, transverse friction massage, and length-strength balancing. It addresses the structural aspects of pain.

Here’s what Rich Phaigh, the originator of Onsen Therapy, said:

“In my early years as a massage therapist I concentrated my studies on different varieties of deep tissue work coupled with Polarity and Swedish techniques. They combined to give me clinical results which I felt, at the time, were extremely effective.

“From time to time, however, I would encounter tissues which would not release with the techniques I was using. Something was missing. Was the tissues I was attempting to release really tight? They felt tight and seemed to loosen with my efforts, but the changes were often temporary. Why? Because I didn’t understand the role structural stress and deviation play in pain production.

“When structural stress is the source of pain, the ONLY way to alleviate the pain is to correct the structure. Often pain shows up far away from its cause and that is why structural analysis is vital. If structure is not corrected and put in balance, every other method of treatment is simply palliative.”

Rich’s experience paralleled what Laurence Layne, the owner of Healing Waters Clinic, experienced. Deep Tissue work and other soft tissue manipulative techniques were effective, but there were always patients who had elusive pain. Thanks to Onsen Therapy, and other techniques we use that evaluate body structure, most of those elusive pain patients get well.

We use Onsen Therapy when the “obvious” reasons that someone is in pain do not respond to the “obvious” treatments with Neuromuscular Therapy and Myofascial Release. We call it “creative problem solving,” because it allows us to examine and correct postural imbalances that most practitioners don’t even know exist.

Onsen Therapy, along with Posturology, and Myofascial Postural Evaluation, form the core of the Postural Analysis and Balancing Program we offer here at Healing Waters Clinic.