Restore. Relieve. Rejuvenate.
We work with people who want to experience balance, ease, and awareness in their bodies.
People often ask who we work with, why they come in, and what the first visit is like. Below, we share answers to all of that and much more.
Structural Integration Helps People Move and Feel Better.
- have nagging, painful and chronic injuries.
- want to improve their posture.
- need to release deep, long-held tensions
- wish to maximize their athletic performance and maintain physical activity as they get older.
- want to counter the physical stresses and positions of their daily work.
- seek a licensed, certified therapist that uses a highly personalized approach.
- want to feel better!
Working Together — What to Expect
First visits include a conversation to review the relevant history leading up to your current situation and an opportunity to get answers to your questions. It’s a chance for us to develop rapport, discuss your goals and establish a plan to improve your body’s natural wellness.
Your input and feedback is invaluable to our work together.
I will ask you what you know about your body in terms of your patterns, posture, and pain, as well as what doctors you have seen and what they have told you, any history of illness, injury, etc.
Uncovering Your Body Blueprint
The first part of the process is for me to see how you stand, how you walk, and what postures are most comfortable to you.
Mapping your body’s major structures and joints: including ankles, knees, pelvis, spine, shoulders, and neck – leads to a map of how your body is currently organized. This organization is frequently “distorted” by work habits, sitting habits and other characteristics of your life — when stationary and in motion. This map can reveal imbalances and opportunities to remedy them.
Some Common Body Imbalances
An imbalance in the way your arms hang that is often associated with low back pain. A dominant can exert a strong pull through the entire side body into the lower back. As the pain becomes sharp extreme tightness in the upper back and a lifting of the shoulders up and away from the area of pain often occurs.
Legs that are positioned in a way that reduces support of the pelvis. This can lead to a variety of problems in the hips, low-back, neck and even the jaw. This can be the result of an old or recent injury to the foot, ankle, or knee, or a problem with the feet that you were born with. The lack of grounding from your foundation can be highly detrimental to your ability to exercise pain-free, as well as recover. Often leads to multiple joint pain, and a greater sensitivity to the impact of stress.
Work-related habits and chronic or serious injury to joints, muscle or tissue. There are an infinite number of possibilities and combinations of compressed, rotated, and imbalanced joints, muscle strains, scar tissue problems, and bad habits of standing, sitting and walking. Whether learned, aggravated by work requirements or embedded in your structure – these issues can be changed, anywhere from a little to a lot.
Our bodies were designed for motion and physical stability.
Move Forward in Balance.
Clients come in saying “this hurts when I run, or climb, or pick up my children, play baseball, or just all the time and I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to make it better anymore.” We will work to get you active again! And figure out why and where your body is stuck so that you have tools to prevent this situation moving forward.
Some find themselves saying things like: “I am a mess; my posture, my shoulder, my back, and my knees, and I haven’t even told you about the thing that brought me here.” We will start right away and begin working to get more openness and balance into your body and get the pain, stress, and strain out.
Brian Stern
Owner / Practitioner
Brian’s own personal experience led him to study and practice the restorative abilities of Structural Integration with two of the world’s most respected teachers. In 2008, he founded “The Structural Wellness Center of Philadelphia” to help people improve motion, reduce stress, alleviate pain, promote healing and optimize the performance of their bodies. Every person we work with is unique. The Center’s solutions and treatments are tailored to each individual’s circumstances, history and goals. It’s a rewarding and restorative journey — whether you’re trying to keep active and pain-free, combating physical stress, recuperating from injury or using Structural Integration for personal physical maintenance.
Contact Us / Book a Session
Email Address
briantherolfer@gmail.com
Studio / Office Address
1500 Walnut St, Unit 1305
Philadelphia, PA 19102