Welcome to Ouroboros Therapeutic Arts, where our mission is to help you live pain-free! To explain what we do, we first have to teach you a little bit more about your body and yourself.  In a nutshell, we are a massage therapy practice that specializes in the John F. Barnes’ Myofascial Release Approach, which accesses the body’s connective tissue – the fascial system – to address the root cause of pain, restrictions, range of motion issues, and a whole host of other symptoms and diagnoses.  But what is the fascial system?  How do we address your individual issues?  And how can Myofascial Release help you live a pain-free life?

    

The fascial system is made up of two main components: the fascia, which are the connective tissue fibers made up of collagen and elastin, and the ground substance, which is the body’s natural lubrication and has a gel-like quality.  The fascial system surrounds, permeates, and connects everything in the body to everything else down to the cellular level. Great visualizations for this system are a spiderweb, mesh netting, or the individual fibers that make up the entirety of a cotton ball; we are, in fact, completely made of fascial fibers, with complete connectivity and continuity throughout the body.  This entire system not only helps us live and move with ease, but it also acts as our shock absorption. In that regard, think of the fascial system like oobleck: a non-Newtonian fluid often made in science class with water and cornstarch that stays fluid when approached and interacted with gently but solidifies when approached aggressively.  Like oobleck, the ground substance of our fascial system will solidify when we experience trauma of some kind, but unlike oobleck, it does not reliquify immediately after the traumatic experience and can stay solidified for years.  In fact, solidification in the fascial system can create up to 2,000 lbs. of pressure per square inch.  That’s like a fully grown Clydesdale standing on your chest, and those restrictions can often be the actual source of your pain problems.

    

While doctors, surgery, and medication do have their place, one of the complaints we often hear from our clients is that they’ve been treated like just another number, symptom, or diagnosis by their medical professionals and that they aren’t receiving the help they need to address the actual root cause of their pain.  In this way, modern medicine has forgotten to look at each patient as an individual.  With Myofascial Release, you are treated as an individual with your own life history of joys and sorrows, highs and lows, accidents, traumas, and experiences.  Everyone has lived their own unique life and responds to and interacts with the world in their own way, and as such, your compensation and bracing patterns are going to be unique to you. When you come in for a Myofascial Release session, you are treated as an individual.  This is not a one-size-fits-all type of treatment, and as such, everyone responds to treatment a little bit differently.

As therapists, we start our initial session with an in-depth intake evaluation in which we go over your health history, your accidents/injuries/traumas, the goals you have for coming to see us, and a postural analysis that can show us your restriction patterns and tells us about how your body is compensating.  From there, we find the restrictions by gently sinking into the fascial system until your body tells us when and where to stop, and we follow the release of these restrictions as they begin to melt and open up.  As your fascial system begins to open and the solidified ground substance begins to reliquify, it is very possible that you may experience sensations in areas that are not directly being treated; this is a completely normal and natural part of the process, and your body’s way of telling us where we need to go next.  As therapists, we tune into what your body needs at the moment, regardless of what labels have been put on your symptoms.  In this way, John Barnes Myofascial Release is truly a holistic bodywork art form.

Kristina N. Murray, LMT, owner and head therapist of Ouroboros Therapeutic Arts, is one of WNY’s only John Barnes-trained Myofascial Release therapists, and it is her mission and the mission of her private practice to help the community live pain-free.  If you have been dealing with acute or chronic pain; have been shuffled around from medical professional to medical professional with no success in reducing your pain; if you’re experiencing women’s health issues; if you are recovering from an accident, injury, or trauma; or if you’re simply curious about how Myofascial Release can help you live a more open life, we welcome you to book a session with us and would be honored to have you on our table.  Myofascial Release is for everyone, and everyone – regardless of age, gender, pain level, or lifestyle – can benefit from receiving this amazing and unique style of bodywork.  Visit us online at www.ouroborostherapeuticarts.com, on Facebook or Instagram @OuroborosTherapeuticArts, and book your appointment today.  You have everything to gain, and the only thing you have to lose is pain.