The positional release phenomenon and the effects of Counterstrain manipulation: Reflections and implications

Abstract

This discussion of the manipulative method developed by Lawrence Jones explores explanations for the changes in tenderness of characteristic points with position, and consequent effects on somatic dysfunction, in particular restless legs syndrome. Attempts are made to deduce underlying mechanisms of these observations using both established neurophysiology and hypothetical concepts of pain modulation by proprioceptive inputs to the spinal cord. Integral to these propositions would be an association of somatic dysfunction with faults in proprioception by calibration errors of position sense in specific ranges of motion – a distortion of the central body schema.

Keywords:

• Counterstrain
• Somatic dysfunction
• Restless legs syndrome
• Proprioceptive error
• Body schema

Acknowledgements

The author recognizes the enormous debt healthcare owes to the talent and dedication of Lawrence Jones, which his friend Douglas Longden continued, teaching gratis a cadre of practitioners at the London College of Osteopathic Medicine over many years.