Ida Rolf, Arthritis, and Me

Most clients are unaware that much of their pain comes from undiagnosed arthritis. Others, come to me with diagnosed arthritis, and I find none.

I have been sputtering my frustration for some time when clients come to me and say their doctor could not find anything specifically wrong and then diagnosed them with arthritis. After brief palpation of the client's tissues I often feel the inflammation the client is complaining about and I can tell that it is about restrictions in the soft tissue. An arthritis diagnosis, from a physician unskilled in palpation, is unfair to the patient who now assumes they have a condition for life.

​I do make an effort to reign in my opinions by suggesting to the client, "Well, we will know for sure before this session is over. If you no longer have pain in that joint by the time we are finished working, then it was not really arthritis."

They usually leave my office without their pain.

How I initially "knew" this about these clients, I do not know. Some things in life just come from a gut feeling and this arthritis thing was one.

I felt very alone in my opinion, until I was reading a first edition of Ida Rolf's book on The Integration of Human Structures. Here is what Ida Rolf says:

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"Unnumbered casual, hasty diagnoses of 'arthritis' reflect nothing more serious than a shortened or displaced muscle or ligament resulting from a recent or not-so-recent traumatic episode. 

All that hurts is not necessarily arthritis.

It may be pseudoarthritis, a disorder in the tendons and ligaments. 

Appropriate muscular organization can give the pseudoarthritic movement and render him pain-free."

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Until I borrowed Ida Rolf's book about "Rolfing", my idea of Rolfers was woefully ignorant, having only a general idea that they made you go through a series of sessions and they did a lot of poking into your abdomen. My only experience of a Rolfer, was one who refused to “Rolf” my abdomen because he intuited (rightly) that I was too sensitive for that work. Ida Rolf and Rolfing have just not been a part of my life, so it was a genuine surprise to read her thoughts on pseudoarthritis.

In my opinion, Ida Rolf is the mother of original knowledge about connective tissue and its role in health. I have been obsessed with the subject, much to the annoyance of others, since my general introduction to it in school when I sensed, instantly, that it was a powerful way to access the body’s natural healing potential. Although Ida Rolf speaks more commonly of muscles, tendons and ligaments when she explained pseudoarthritis, she is really referring to the connective tissue within these known elements.

Science is just starting to learn about this connective tissue she was so obsessed about - so Ida Rolf was way ahead of her time and I hope one day is recognized for it in the medical community.

If your doctor gave you a general diagnosis of arthritis, of which there are over 100 different kinds, might I suggest you talk to a connective tissue specialist before succumbing to the belief that you are stuck with this for life? No sense living with pain if you do not have to.

Original writing: January 7, 2010
Updated: July 3, 2011
Updated: November, 2015