What is Core Alignment Therapy (CAT)?
Core Alignment Therapy focuses on the optimal alignment of what makes our bodies work.

Our bodies do not just work because our arm stretches out and our knees bend.

At the core of our bodies are a number of ligaments which support our most vital organs.

Once a distortion exists within these central ligaments due to an acute injury or more long-term and chronic setbacks, there is automatically an altered set of movements which is carried-out by our arm, for example, when we stretch them out; or to our knees, when we bend them.

And so, while I have studied, and witnessed that conventional therapies work with the external functioning of the arms, shoulders and knees, for example; my Core Alignment Therapy takes a “Big Picture” approach, of how ALL OF THIS twists, and works and strains to support the more central and essential functioning of our heart, lungs, and digestive processes.

The treatment of Core Alignment Therapy centrally works because many times, the source of pain we are experiencing is a distortion in our posture, skeletal alignment, or arrangement of vital organs. 

Try Core Alignment Therapy at Bradbury Massage and experience  natural long-lasting pain relief.

Learn Even More…

Each moment our body uses select numbers
of it’s trillions of cells to maintain our life.
Sometimes we can plan it out, and say, “I want to do this, and only THIS!” Most times, however, we do not have the luxury of being able to streamline, and isolate our efforts. And so, while we are active in performing a task, our bodies are strengthening and weakening ten other processes in a way that
is not necessarily the most beneficial to us. 

Using CAT (Core Alignment Therapy), I am able to improve the ability for separate parts of the body to perceive and react independently. This is particularly useful for chronic conditions, where areas are simply “stuck” doing one thing or another. Using CAT, internal feedback is enhanced, and
areas which were “fixed” in tension, are able to relax, allowing for a greater overall equilibrium. 

The Viscera, including: the liver, kidneys, and other organs, are at the very core of our bodies, and so must perform their essential functions in a very narrow space relative to one another. Our bodies’ therefore, will support these central and most essential Visceral components, at the expense of other problems which may develop within our external frame and joints. 

To be able to treat and release this soft-tissue lattice-work at the core is therefore a vital tool for manual therapy. Frequently, it is the missing link in providing relief from the “boxing” effects of chronic pain. 

Using CAT with Visceral Manipulation to unweight the neck and head: 

Visceral Manipulation, in simplest form, works to release tensions within the organs and their ligaments as they are positioned at the inside, and core of the body. Logically, the middle part of the body, described above, has a direct and frequently dramatic relationship with the rest of our frame.  

For different reasons, for example: stress, sickness, chronic or short-term injury, organs, such as the lungs, or stomach etc., become challenged…or, as we are saying here, “Boxed In,” and made to function differently. As this happens, our lungs expand and contract unevenly, and the muscular dome (the respiratory diaphragm) which sits under our lungs, pulls on
one side of our ribs more than the other.  

Likewise, the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), is a muscle which is positioned on top of the rib cage, at the junction of the collar bone, and the sternum, and which extends up to the back of our head. When the right SCM contracts, we turn to the left; and when our left SCM contracts, we turn to the right; when both contract, we bend the head forward. 

Due to this muscular connection listed above, we can understand therefore, and perhaps even visualize the challenges which link the internal organs and the rib cage and neck. Tension and pulling in one or several of the viscera, such as the stomach, or one of the lungs, will cause the body to distort. It is these distortions which I put back into functional and more ideal alignment. 

Ahoy! The mystery and application of Visceral Manipulation, indeed, has just now been presented. Using the techniques of Jean-Pierre Barral’s Visceral Manipulation, which relax and normalize the tensions and positioning of the internal organs with a studied expertise, the skeletal structures of the ribs, hips, shoulder blades and spinal column etc., are allowed to return to their natural anatomical positioning; and likewise, also, the neck is made to be without influence from the lower areas. 

Treatment for neck pain as caused by distortions and tensions in the viscera is thus explained! 

Using CAT with Visceral Manipulation
 to improve breathing: 

Breathing is a function that a healthy person takes for granted. When we are running, we are happy to breathe with more effort, and when we are sleeping, we give praise that we can breathe without a thought.  

SO MANY MOVING PARTS in our body must be free and move without hinderance: Our NECK AND THROAT need to be open, so that air flows in and out freely; the RIBS of our chest must expand and contract without restriction; the muscular DOME OF THE DIAPHRAGM, lining the top of the abdomen and at the underside of the lungs, needs to be able to flatten as we breathe in, and relax and arch upward as we breathe out; and our ABDOMINAL MUSCLES should be trained, and supple enough to allow protrusion of the belly as we inhale, and to flex inward as we exhalation. 

Sitting at a computer or performing repetitive tasks such as cleaning teeth or cutting hair also force distortions to occur within the ribcage and abdominal cavity. Uneven tensions in the ligaments which attach to our abdominal organs result from this, and now altered (external) body positioning becomes mandatory, to support the continued functioning of our vital internal organs.

Periods of chronic coughing, or sneezing cause distortions within the body frame. The liver and stomach are considered “paired
organs”, like the kidneys, and sit, directly under the lungs at the right and left of the respiratory diaphragm. There are a number of ligaments which suspend these vital organs, and which keep them in their optimal position. Once a distortion exists within these ligaments, the practice of Visceral Manipulation is used to relieve
the organs with tension, and restore normal body movement. 

The sympathetic and parasympathetic aspects of our nervous
system must appropriately allow for stimulation and relaxation of these tissues. 

EXPLANATION: Through the nervous system, the body will “fight” and/or adjust whatever part is necessary to allow for the optimal functioning of these MOST VITAL PARTS OF THE BODY. For example, as we “twist” to reach for the tape under the chair, our hips flex, our spine distorts, and our ribs expand and contract like an accordion, in order that the “outside frame” notjeopardize all the “inside parts.”

The body will ALWAYS favor, and cater to the preservation of visceral functions as a necessity that basic life can go on.