Alignment Therapy with Ann Evans.

An extremely gentle method of chiropractic/ joint adjustment and muscle release.

Ann was educated at convent schools, trained as a teacher and became a nun working in Tanzania, teaching and nursing. After 9 years, she left the convent and worked with War on Want and Intercare. In 1977, she married the artist Kenneth Butler Evans, a painter and cartoonist. They had two daughters and worked together in schools and colleges with Ken’s paintings and Ann’s poetry; they also worked as healers. In 1987, Ken died and Ann set up Ken Evans Prints, cards and books of Ken’s paintings.

She trained as a chiropractor with Hugh Corley who had trained with John McTimoney. She also trained in massage, sports injury and hypertonics (muscle release).

Ann explains:

When I was working with horses at the age of 17, one of them trod on my right foot.

The bruise went and I thought no more about it. Over the years I became aware of pain in the bunion of that foot. When I was 31, I went to see a specialist who said I should have the bunion removed and that this would settle the problem. In fact the pain was worse after the operation so he suggested another operation for a trapped nerve between the 2^nd and 3^rd toes. After the operation there was no relief from the pain and a special shoe was made to try to relieve it; it did not. He then suggested that it might help if I were to have another operation cutting off the end of the 2^nd toe! At this point, I felt that we were moving into an area of experimentation and I declined the offer.

Some years later, I was on a Healing Course run by Bruce Macmanaway in Fife and I showed him my painful foot. He dowsed with a pendulum and said that the bones in the foot needed lifting up. He pushed them from underneath and dowsed again to check that they were then in their correct positions. "There you are," he said, and to my amazement and relief, the pain had vanished! I had lived with that pain for years.

His treatment was so quick and seemed so simple, it was difficult to believe. It also meant that neither operation would have been necessary had I known someone who knew how recognise which bones needed adjusting and also knew how to make those adjustments. "This," I thought, "I want to know!"

I started with several courses with Bruce MacManaway in the early 80’s. He was a healer and also taught reflexology, massage and dowsing which I learnt and then practised. I also developed the ability to look into the past in order to help people with present problems. There were times, however, when I knew I wanted to study anatomy and physiology more thoroughly so that I could adjust the joints of people who were obviously in need of this when they came for help.

Then my elder daughter Jessie started getting headaches and I took her to a McTimoney Chiropractor who worked on the bones in her neck; after only one session her headaches disappeared. I realised that this was more precisely what I wanted to learn.

From 1989-90 I studied with Hugh Corley, a chiropractor who had studied with John McTimoney and had invented his own method of adjustments. For some years this was taught at the McTimoney/Corley School of Chiropractic in Oxford. The College of McTimoney Chiropractic is also in Oxford. Both methods are a gentle method of chiropractic and very effective; they use a flick to adjust the joints. They both assess the positions of the bones by looking at them and they generally concentrate on the spine.

Chiropractors find that people come to them when they are in pain and feel they need adjustments. Few people realise that a regular check up can aid health : when the body is correctly aligned, the nervous and other systems of the body work more efficiently and this helps towards better general health.

My chiropractic training did not cover muscles and I felt that working with bones alone might not always be sufficient to relieve pain; I also felt that if the muscles are not helped to relax, they may cause the bones to return to the painful positions.

During 1991-3, I studied with Stewart Mitchell at the School of Complementary Health in Exeter doing Massage (ITEC), Sports Injury and Hypertonics (muscle release).

Since then I have been practising as a body therapist using chiropractic principles and muscle release methods combined , and have devised a really gentle and effective way that helps people out of pain as quickly as possible and does not disturb too much of the rest of the body at the same time. This method frequently leads on to other areas of healing. I do not use a flick as I find this unnecessary.

I use gentle pressure in the correct direction; once the person understands what needs to happen, we work together and they breathe out at the same time as I apply the gentle pressure. There are no rough movements and none without the person knowing what is happening. I let my hands ‘ask’ the person’s bones if they would like to move; if they are ready to move, they do.

I work on all bones of the body and assess the ones needing adjustments with the person’s sensitivity to what needs to be done as much as by looking. We work together to find the most comfortable position for each bone in each joint; they can move in many directions and when the person feels extra sensitivity to a light touch this generally indicates if an adjustment will help. People soon learn to instruct me which ones need moving and sometimes in which direction. Sometimes people can do the adjustments themselves.

People come to work with me after an accident, for back, shoulder and neck pain, for sciatica, for headaches, repetitive strain injury, aching limbs, poor balance and jaw problems as well as blocked sinuses; arms, hands, elbows, knees and feet can also be relieved of their aches and pains.

The atmosphere is relaxed and the person clothed. There is constant conferring between us and the person sits up much of the time. Suggestions are discussed as to how to prevent a repeat of the same ailment and sometimes a partner can learn how to check if adjustments are needed again. There are no sudden movements and the work is done in as friendly and informal an atmosphere as possible.

Because I think it is important that people understand what is happening, I spend time explaining the adjustments to them while showing them a model of a skeleton or spine.

I spend a lot of time explaining the body to people and many express an interest in learning more about the therapy so that they can help members of their family and friends. I have found that it is often easily taught and so now have courses and workshops for anyone who wants to learn. No particular previous experience is necessary for the basic understanding. We obviously study anatomy and physiology on the courses, acquiring a special knowledge of joints, muscles and tendons, as well as the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Other elements of healing are not ignored; I think that the physical is as good a place to begin as any!

People who come for help will already have been seen by their doctor and have either been referred by them or told that they should rest and take pain-killers if they need to. This works for many people but may take a few weeks. Alignment therapy can reduce this time to a few days or even hours and can help people who are not relieved by rest and pain-killers. The other helpful factor is that the shorter the time that a joint is mis-aligned, the more quickly will the pain disappear; it is also less likely to recur as the ligaments remain flexible and less strained.

Many people are told that it is "wear and tear" or that they have some arthritis. This implies that nothing much can be done. In fact, re-aligning the joints can relieve the pain in them as well as help them to repair so that early stages of arthritis seem to disappear. It is my belief that arthritis may sometimes be caused by having mis-aligned joints in the first place: because the person is in pain, they move that joint less and so less synovial fluid is created in the joint; arthritis is therefore more likely to occur in that joint. (It would be helpful if more research could be done on this.)

Adjustments are not usually difficult to make and we adjust our joints continually without knowing we are doing it. Normally, the muscles and ligaments keep the joints in the most comfortable positions and these can be regarded as the correct positions. This is what the body wants and it then feels right. As soon as we have a jolt which puts a joint out of alignment too far for the muscles and ligaments to return it to the correct place, those muscles will become tight and painful. The autonomic brain, which operates the systems of the body, is warning us that something is amiss and it wants us to stop using that joint until it is put right again. After a few days, the muscle itself becomes less flexible and this adds to the pain. By this time, both joint and muscle are begging for attention! Unfortunately, many of us ignore this plea or we take painkillers. What we need to do is to put the bones in the joint back where they want to be.

The notes that follow will suggest how to do this but, you may ask, what will prevent the joint returning to the painful position?

Firstly, the body wants to be right and out of pain. As soon as it is returned to the correct position, the autonomic brain will tend to relax the muscles and the pain will gradually go. If it is done at once, it may take only minutes. The longer the joint is left, the longer the pain usually takes to disappear. However, the acute pain will normally go at once.

N.B. These notes are mainly for students who are following the courses.

Sometimes simply knowing what needs to happen is sufficient to allow the body to make the adjustment itself. With the suggestions that follow, this should be taken into account. Many tensions and pains can disappear as soon as we realise that they are not permanent, or that they can be relieved. If we have the idea that nothing can be done, we seem to settle for this in our minds and this means that relief is less likely.

All adjustments are made when you have made sure that the person is clear about what is happening and is happy for the adjustment to be tried gently. Working together is essential. Eventually people can say: I would like to move this bone to this position with your help. They can help themselves in this co-operative method by breathing out as the adjustment is made by the two of you . Usually the bones will move easily, particularly on the last half of the out-breath or when the out-breath has finished. After an adjustment, it helps if you put your hand over the place to soothe the muscles and warm them or if the person does this themselves. This enables the body to relax into the comfortable position; it also helps the person to feel relaxed and to assess better if that is exactly what they want.