Spinal Tensegrity for Optimal Health With Carinna Cooper

After 25 years as a Chartered Physiotherapist with the HCPC (formerly HPC), following voluntary deregistration on ethical grounds, Carinna changed to be a Structural Balance and Functional Movement Specialist to more accurately reflect her scope of practice which utilises aspects of physiotherapy, osteopathy, fascial work, and functional movement  which combine to provide more than standard physiotherapy allows. She has previous experience as a physiotherapist in the NHS, sports (premiership football academy, netball trials, rugby), Pilates studios (Sydney, Australia), lower limb biomechanics, pressure mapping and in-shoe orthoses prescription (at The Foot Function Centre), specialist training in jaw joint problems, and internal examination of the pelvic floor, as well skills in complex neurological management and rehabilitation.

 

I experienced debilitating lower back pain within the first year of working as a physiotherapist and discovered that physios in “outpatients”, seen as the hospital’s experts in treating musculoskeletal problems, had little to offer in terms of helping me to understand the problem and restore healthy function. A decades-long journey of fascinating discoveries led me to understand Structural Integration, the conceptual framework at the core of my current practice.  In addition to osteopathic techniques to align the pelvis and spine, and tissue release work everywhere in the body, I guide people in tuning into their body. Self treatment using fascial release, movement, and breathing strategies, and utilising isolated mobilisations to the joints of the spine and ribs, can return the body towards optimal alignment, comfort and versatility of movement.

 

Knowing that much pain and suffering, not addressed by conventional healthcare, can be eliminated within minutes, or prevented entirely, by understanding some simple concepts well known to the manual therapy world, has ignited a passion to spread this potential for empowerment to independently restore health. 

 

– Understanding that spine is not a “column” but stacked segments, and the stability of the spine requires each of the segments to be free to move and to be supported correctly, when in static positions and through movement

 

– The body as a biotensegrity structure; anatomy trains as a conceptual framework to observe and describe postural compensations

 

– The deep front line, the “core” line, is a complex volumetric fascial continuation that encompasses the organs and is key to fascial integrity and maintaining axial length

 

– Spinal stability when stacked on the pelvis as its foundation in sitting, and on the feet and lower limbs as its foundation in standing and walking

 

– The A.R.T. to assessing yourself for Structural Balance