|
 | | ||||||||
Footloose with Bruce Steinberg Saving the Olympic dream
John Bauer skis at West Yellowstone, Montana, last November 2007. John Bauer. Most cross-country ski fans, when they hear that name, know exactly who he is. If you happen to be one of the few who do not, you can find out easily enough by plugging "Olympics" and "John Bauer" in your Internet search engine. There his name abounds. You'll learn that Bauer was a five-time member of the World Championship Nordic Ski Team and a three-time Olympian (in 1992, 1998 and 2002). Before any of that, he was voted the most valuable skier at his high school in Anoka, Minnesota, he was inducted into the Minn-esota State High School League's Hall of Fame and a winner of the Junior Olympics for Nordic skiing. Bauer was only the second Nordic skier to sweep all four events at the national championships. And, in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, he put forth one of the most acclaimed efforts ever by a U.S. Nordic Olympian with his fifth-place classic leg in the 4x10 relay. (The U.S. team finished fifth overall, an astounding accomplishment in its own right.) On the Telemark trails in northwestern Wisconsin, you can ski a fabulous loop that bears his name. Yet John Bauer is alive and well and only 38. But now that his glory days of world-class Nordic skiing have ended, what is he doing? Living in Hayward, Wisconsin, since 2005 (after living in Duluth the previous 11 years) with his nurse anesthetist wife, Susan, and their 4-year-old daughter, Anneliese. Bauer says his first priority is his family. Ranked second is Rolfing. My son giggled when he first heard this word. He said it sounded like something close to "ralphing." Such a word is required vocabulary for every comedian enrolled in kindergarten. Bauer expects this. But there's nothing funny about how Rolfing saved his skiing career. It is also what this soft-spoken Olympian-turned-family man wishes to give back to the community as a mainstay of his profession. Career threatening injury Bauer first made the U.S. Olympic ski team in 1991. In 1994, trouble started dogging him. An overuse injury - a nagging, painful, soft tissue injury in his knee - would not go away despite rest and traditional medical and training methods. The injury prevented any real world-class training and threatened to end his career. A skier John met at a race heard about his situation and told him he had experienced the same thing - until he went through a 10-point Rolfing session. By the second session, this skier explained, the pain was gone. Amused by the name and a bit doubtful, he was still in need of relief. So Bauer scheduled an appointment three days later with Wayne and Sandy Henningsgaard in Stillwater, Minnesota. John was amazed that after the second procedure, the year-long pain in his knee was gone, never to return. Simply put, if not for Rolfing, much of what the Nordic skiing world now celebrates Bauer for would have never happened. Rolfing's nuts and bolts Now the two questions Bauer is most interested in answering are 1) when would a person need Rolfing, and 2) what does Rolfing involve? He explained the body's primary muscles will lock up, tighten or overdevelop as a result of injury, overuse, bad habits or other poor behaviors. When that happens, the body begins to rely on secondary muscles to compensate. The consequences include slouched shoulders, a sagging posture and sometimes an odd walking gait or an unusual positioning of the feet. Over time, this odd posture and gait become the norm and the body adapts to this as a habit - a bad habit. The problems this presents for athletes are considerable, Bauer says. For example, when running hills, the primary muscles, the quads, are overused and become tight. The runner's body then compensates by using and overusing the hamstrings. This results in a compromised movement that is out of whack, yet the body adapts to this compromised movement. As a result, hill running takes more energy to accomplish, causes early fatigue, uses incorrect body positioning and can easily result in an injury.
The culprit, Bauer explains, involves a tissue called fascia. Fascia is a connective tissue that holds our muscles, skeletal system and nerves in place against the force of gravity. On the other hand, fascia adapts over time to poor postures and gaits caused by bad habits. While massage therapy, yoga and stretching have their benefits, it is the Rolfing that goes after the fascia so that good posture and gait can be recovered. From benefactor to practitioner Bauer's father taught social studies, geography and German. His mother, a substitute teacher, taught French. His brother, Bruce, is a math teacher. Bauer himself earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in German and history, and could very well teach as has been a family tradition. But he became so impressed with the results of Rolfing that he became a certified Rolfing practitioner. He went through three two-month certification training sessions even as he trained for the Olympics. "Human tissue is soft," Bauer says, comparing its characteristics to plastic. "With the first aspect of Rolfing, I apply pressure to the fascia that is out of position. This brings hydration to the tissue that has become tight or inflamed because of low fluids or poor circulation. The body is pumping in histamines as an anti-inflammatory response, and the tissue gives you pain because it's in need of rest, or the fascia tissue has become shortened or tightened. Through manual pressure, circulation is restored." "The second part of Rolfing," Bauer continues, "involves derotating the tissue. Fascia exists in three different layers, and in our muscle it's bundled up like a multiwire cable, and involves every other tissue in our bodies. If the fascia is tight or compromised, it's not functioning or moving as it should. You become stiff and sore and the mineral and ion exchange that is necessary to make muscles work becomes imbalanced. The muscles are not working well because they're not healthy and there's a lot of adhesion or friction." Bauer calls this condition "tensegrity" and compares it to a tent held up by poles and strings. "Most people make the mistake of thinking the poles correctly support the tent, like the bones in our bodies. But when you think about it carefully, it's really the strings that make for a well-raised tent. This requires the strings between the poles to be in balance by having equal length and tension or force. When the strings are not balanced, the tent shows it, similar to our postures and out-of-balance fascia. Neither the tent nor our bodies can withstand the forces of gravity so well when they are out of balance. It's all a matter of looking at the problem correctly." The third aspect of Rolfing works to integrate the newly restored fascia to help achieve a return to a balanced posture, normal gait, and an overall increase in energy efficiency and use. "When the fascia is supple, aligned and in balance, the body can do more work more efficiently. However,
the process required to get the fascia back to where it needs to be after years of adapting to bad habits and posture takes a lot of force. This is where Rolfing's historic but no longer true reputation of great pain comes in." Dealing with doubters Rolfing's roots Dr. Ida P. Rolf, who died in 1979 at the age of 83, holds a doctorate in biochemistry in 1920 and developed the approach to physical therapy that would later bear her name. Rolfing practitioners claim the process positively impacts posture and body structure and reduces stress and creates more energy efficiency. Techniques range from the aggressive to the mild. The 10-point series is broken into three
stages. The first three Rolfing sessions traditionally involve loosening and balancing the fascia near the surface of the body. The next four sessions deal more with fascia located within the core of the body. The remaining three sessions deal with integration of fascia to achieve efficient and natural movement. Detailed information on Rolfing can be found at www.rolf.org. - Bruce Steinberg Bauer explains that in the early years of Rolfing, a lot was unknown. Now with certified training and decades of development, Rolfing can still involve an aggressive approach with Rolfers applying pressure with both their hands and elbows. But Rolfing is not nearly as bad an experience as people once imagined. "After all," Bauer says, â"I weigh 140 pounds. How much pressure could I apply in the first place?" He adds, "A few doubters are out there, but mostly people are unaware of what Rolfing is all about. When they become aware, they realize how empowering Rolfing can be - nothing so mystical but more because each person becomes self-aware of the things they can do to easily help maintain a good posture and a good feeling. When asked about the response to Rolfing from the mainstream medical community (in which his wife works), Bauer responds by recalling that in Duluth, dentists were some of his most regular clientele. All it took was one or two Rolfing sessions with one or two dentists, and the traditional medical community came to his office door. It's only been a few years since his family moved to Hayward. Most of Bauer's clients are now average-citizen racers and he hopes to reach out to more people from diverse situations. "Like with skiing, I have a great passion for Rolfing, especially when I consider what it did for me. I absolutely want to give this to others, so others can benefit the way I did," Bauer says. "I have a quiet voice and perhaps that makes me less than the best salesman, but I'm not going to push Rolfing on people. I have confidence the results will speak for themselves." Bruce Steinberg is a lawyer and novelist who lives in St. Charles, Illinois, with his wife and their young son. He can be reached at brucesteinberg6@aol.com | |||||||||
Back to the top Waupaca Publishing: 717 Tenth Street * P.O. Box 152 * Waupaca, WI 54981 © 1999-2008 Site last updated 07/01/08 Designed by PBW | |||||||||
|
