‘I was so ill I felt as though I was 90’

Jul 16 2008 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The aftermath of a chest infection left Linda Wild feeling tired and in pain for months, until she heard about an alternative treatment. Today Linda, who was initially sceptical, says her life is back to normal and it’s all thanks to something called Bowen therapy. HILARIE STELFOX reports

FORMER Kirklees councillor Linda Wild picked up a serious chest infection when flying home from a holiday in Spain last year.

Although she was so ill she had to stay in hospital for two weeks she expected to make a full recovery.

“I was as fit as I could be when I went to Spain. We were on a walking holiday. But on the way home everyone was coughing and sniffing and I remember saying that we’d be lucky if we escaped with pneumonia,” said Linda.

In fact, despite treatment with antibiotics, the chest infection that she developed led to her being bed-bound for six months.

“It was the most horrendous time of my life. I was told I had late onset asthma as well. I became sensitised to the antibiotics and had an allergic reaction. I was on lots and lots of drugs, steroids and inhalers, the lot. I thought I was never going to be well,” she added.

Linda, who works in hospital administration, began to suffer other symptoms. “I started getting terrible pains in my shoulders and neck. My friend told me about somebody who taught Pilates and I thought that might help.

“But when I began I was so out of condition that I felt like I was 90. I was exhausted all the time.

“The Pilates instructor advised me to see a Bowen therapist in Huddersfield called Bill Crean, but I’d never had much to do with complementary medicine,” said Linda, who is in her fifties, “and I wasn’t sure.”

Bill told Linda that the muscles in her neck had shortened and were tight and suggested a course of treatment. In the end Linda thought she had nothing to lose.

Bowen therapy is a form of gentle, deep manipulation. “After the first session I felt an improvement. Bill started working on my neck and then worked on each part of my body. The muscles in my diaphragm were affected and I felt like I was choking.

“I had tendonitis in my shoulders because I had been sleeping upright for months and my legs felt like two tree trunks, heavy and stiff,” said Linda, who lives in Edgerton.

“Within about three weeks of starting Bowen therapy I didn’t have that choking feeling any more and I went back to work in October last year.”

Linda was off work for a total of nine months, but believes that without the therapy she may not have recovered. “I had to try not to get too depressed but I was in such a state that I didn’t know what to do.

“If it hadn’t been for Bill I would still be in a mess,” she says. “I think he is a healer. My recovery was almost miraculous. I now lead a completely normal life.”

Linda is convinced that she picked up the original infection on the flight home because airlines recycle a certain percentage of cabin air. Since recovering she has researched the problem and bought an air purifier to wear on flights.

She added: “There are a number of problems, not just with the recycled air but with contamination from the coolants in the air conditioning and filters that are used. Within the medical profession there is scepticism and I don’t think people realise how dangerous it is.”

Although she has flown since her illness Linda says she is now seriously considering travelling to Spain by car in the future.

Bill Crean practices from the Lydon Clinic at Slaithwaite and first trained in Bowen therapy in 1994. He studied with Oswald Rentsch, who was the only student of Australian Tom Bowen, who devised the treatment system back in the 1950s.

Bill, a former social worker who had studied physiology, conducted a study with patients from a GP surgery in Slaithwaite in 1999 and patients from his own practice. He says Bowen therapy helped as many as 90% of those with chronic pain problems.

“People with long-standing injuries that are not responding to treatment have an awful lot going on in their bodies. As a Bowen therapist I will check out the whole body, not just the area that is painful. You have to look at what is going on from head to toe,” said Bill.

Bowen therapy uses a precise sequence of movements on specific points on muscles and connective tissue. The theory behind it is that the movements activate the body’s natural healing processes and retain energy in the area where it is needed.

Tom Bowen was a medical student whose training was interrupted by the Second World War. His techniques are widely known in his native Australia, where he treated thousands of patients. By the time of his death in 1982 he enjoyed a reputation as a healer.

The therapy is non-invasive, safe and can be performed with the client fully clothed. It is used by sports people, dancers and musicians suffering from professional injuries and chronic problems, as well as by people with aches and pains relating to many different conditions.

Bowen therapy is becoming more popular here. There are now at least half a dozen practitioners in the Huddersfield and Calderdale areas.

For more information call 0844 888 2856 or visit The Bowen Association on www.bowen-technique.co.uk Expect to pay about £35 for a treatment.