The Little-Known Physical Therapy Method That Can Stop Injuries In Their Tracks, Fix Fascia & Amplify Your Recovery & Performance: Counterstrain With Tim Hodges.

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Timothy Hodges
Body, Performance, Podcast, Podcast-new, Recovery, Recovery & Sleep

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When I interviewed Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis in the episode “Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis & Ben Greenfield Reveal New Anti-Aging Biohacks & Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine You’ve Never Heard Of Before.“, we discussed a special form of injury and recovery physical therapy called “Counterstrain,” which was also featured in Tony's book Lifeforce and is a cutting-edge manual therapy technique that provides relief from pain and dysfunction.

I was so interested in this protocol that I had one of the leaders in the Counterstrain movement – Tim Hodges – fly to my house to do a treatment on me. It was like nothing I've ever experienced, so I hosted Tim on this podcast to delve into exactly what Counterstrain is, who it's for, and what it does exactly.

Tim Hodges has worked in the field of physical rehabilitation since 1996. He is involved in the ongoing development of the Counterstrain technique and the creation of training programs renowned for producing highly-skilled Counterstrain Practitioners. In 2003, Tim started his private practice, now called Counterstrain Portland. A Teaching Assistant since 2003 and Facial Counterstrain Instructor for the Jones Institute since 2014, he is one of a select few certified to teach the modern version of Counterstrain.

Tim has helped Brian Tuckey develop many of the Counterstrain techniques used today. He continues to apply his expertise in the field through private treatment at Counterstrain Portland, the mentoring of Healthcare Practitioners at the Counterstrain Academy, and by teaching large-scale continuing education seminars for health care providers. Tim created counterstrain.com, the Counterstrain brand, and along with Brian Tuckey, developed 3D Counterstrain.

During our discussion, you'll discover:

-What is Counterstrain, and how was it developed?…07:03

  • Originally known as “Strain Counterstrain” or the Jones Technique
  • Story about Jones’ sleepless client and how after treatment had the best sleep of his life
  • Specific tender point locations on the body indicate what position needs to be performed
  • A blend of osteopath and chiropractic medicine; shared origins

-Definition of tender points…10:35

  • Trigger points are related to the myofascial structure  
  • Tender points can come from a visceral structure, peritoneum, vascular or arterial, nerves, and bone
  • Retrograde inflammation; multiple inputs to a singular location 
  • Methods/ways of removal

Difference between fascial Counterstrain and trigger points…13:13

  • Identifying the problem by looking at the tender point as a messenger from the central nervous system 
  • Difference between an ART practitioner 
  • Sensory mechanism failure points
  • Posture change and weak spots

-What is a cranial scan and identifying the areas needing treatment…17:09

  • Everything in the body is connected
  • A cranial scan identifies the problematic parts of the body
  • Identify what part of the head is stuck
  • Map out the crania based on bone, ligaments and spinal cord, lymphatics, visceral tissues, myofascia, nerves
  • Identify sympathetic or somatic nerves, the dural membranes, including the vascular tissues of the brain, etc. 

-How lymphatic drainage occurs…20:49

-Lymphatic drainage massage in conjunction with Counterstrain…24:05

  • Massage therapy and certain chiropractic techniques help
  • There's a synergistic effect between multiple types of manual therapies
  • Decompression has to happen first
  • The scan checks the local tender point to see if that region has been cleared

-Surprising applications of Counterstrain…25:42

  • Effective at treating the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, has a profound impact on:
    • PTSD
    • Anxiety and depression
    • Cardiovascular problems
    • Central nervous system 
    • Regulate blood flow into the organs 
    • Digestive disorders, constipation, irritable bowel disease
    • The heart, like tachycardia
    • Lungs, difficulty breathing
  • A calmer organ system = a calmer state within the body
  • Strain Counterstrain: Current Concepts And Clinical Evidence

-HRV data during treatment from a quantification standpoint…31:03 

-Logistics on what it's like to receive treatment…35:56

  • Counterstrain Practitioners
  • People typically just call to schedule an appointment
  • Sessions vary from 30 minutes to 1-2 hours, could be three-hour sessions for out-of-state patients
  • Process involves:
    • Patient history
    • Identifying the primary problem
    • Diagnostic phase
  • Identify areas of greatest restriction
  • Looking at 5,000 different body locations and thousands of diagnostic locations

-Could this be used to enhance the performance of healthy individuals?…41:48

-How to connect with Tim…49:30

-And much more…

-Upcoming Events:

Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.

Resources from this episode:

– Tim Hodges:

Brian Tuckey

– Podcasts:

– Other Resources:

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Do you have questions, thoughts, or feedback for Tim Hodges or me? Leave your comments below, and one of us will reply!

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5 thoughts on “The Little-Known Physical Therapy Method That Can Stop Injuries In Their Tracks, Fix Fascia & Amplify Your Recovery & Performance: Counterstrain With Tim Hodges.

  1. Hello Aly, thanks for listening to the episode. If you visit our website, you will find many articles on the more common applications of Counterstrain. We treat each of the 12 cranial nerves, their nuclei in the brain stem and the regions that they go to in the body. We also assess and treat where they project in the brain (often 3rd, 4th or 5th order neurons and we assess their blood supply and drainage via vascular treatment. This approach does help with migraine headaches through treatment of the trigeminal nerve, the upper 3 cervical segments and their nerve roots and the many dural membranes of the cranium.

  2. Kathleen says:

    Thank you Ben for this episode. My husband is a recently retired MD and refuses surgery for his severe osteoarthritic hip and now knee pain which prevents him from walking or standing. The only pain free place is sitting. He has tried chiropractic myofascial work (stecco program) but it’s long, painful and very expensive w the practitioner finally telling him he just needs to go get surgery. After this episode I looked up practitioners in the coeur dalene / Spokane area and found You Turn Physical Therapy w Alex Pegotelis, PT, who is highly trained in the Counterstrain technique. He was amazing w my husband and actually got him some relief of hip pain in his first treatment! We’ve tried everything and nothing has touched the pain. We are very grateful to learn about this fascinating technique and grateful for someone so talented in our area. Thanks again!

  3. Aly says:

    Very interesting technique. I am curious if this could work to help relieve pressure on cranial nerves that lead to migraines. Any thoughts on that?

  4. Nick Belville says:

    If you liked counterstrain may want to look into Fascial Manipulation. It’s a comprehensive examination and release of the fascial chain/system. Developed out of Italy by Luigi Stecco (physical therapist) and popularized in the world by his children (Carla and Antonio) who are medical doctors. The expert in the United States is Dr. Warren Hammer (chiropractor) who trained directly under this family and has taught numerous students in the United States.

    1. Ben Greenfield says:

      thanks for the suggestion Nick

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