Madeline McBride
I’m a retired professional civil engineer with a B.Sc. (Queens) and M.A.Sc. (Waterloo). For fourteen years I suffered from chronic back pain due to a misaligned pelvis that caused scoliosis. In my teens I fell a lot when downhill skiing, but a slip and fall on ice in my 40s was the last straw. An X-ray identified the problem, but years of conventional treatment could not restore pelvic alignment.
A few months before I retired from the Canadian federal government in 2012, a friend convinced me to try Bowen Therapy. The immediate relief from muscle pain was so impressive that I dropped other therapies and studied to become a Certified Bowenwork Practitioner (CBP) through the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia.
I’m an Instructor
In 2022, after 10 years as a Bowen therapist, I became a licensed North American instructor of Hormonal Release the Bowen Way (HRBW). The advanced two-day workshop trains certified Bowen therapists in new nerve stimulation procedures to address fertility issues, endometriosis, PMS, menopause symptoms, incontinence/bedwetting and more. View the list of my upcoming HRBW workshops on this web page.
In 2024 I began teaching my Iliopsoas Damage Workshop to any type of manual therapist and my Trauma Release Workshop to anyone, with more of my own workshops in the pipeline.
In 2025 I will begin teaching Ron Phelan’s Module 1-Assessment and Module 4-TMD workshops in North America. For details, see PASC Seminars. As well, I will be scheduling 1.5 hour Zoom Q & A coaching sessions for students I’ve trained.
Contact me to subscribe to my quarterly newsletter listing upcoming workshops in Canada and the U.S.
No One Touched My Head – a Case-Series Study
At a conference for the brain-injured, I was deeply affected by attendees who had exhausted all that the medical system could offer. They were living highly medicated lives of quiet desperation and chronic pain. Could Bowen Therapy help them?
In 2016 I recruited six adults with long term post-concussion syndrome to take part in a case-series research study. I discovered that all six had skeletal alignment issues. That is, their spines were rotated in torsion, or they had scoliosis due to a pelvis knocked out of alignment in a fall, and/or they had a functional leg length discrepancy. These issues had not resolved despite extensive bodywork therapies such as physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage, etc.
Overall, results were impressive. Participant B, at 31, was the youngest. Her pelvic alignment issue resolved with only eight sessions of Bowen Therapy, and she had over a 70 percent reduction in her SCAT3 symptoms. She got her life back. The other participants experienced less but still significant reductions in their post-concussion symptoms, two to four years after their concussions.
Click on the links to read the published results of No One Touched My Head: Bowen Therapy for Adults with Long Term Post-Concussion Syndrome Abstract Full Paper.
My Advanced Training
Thanks to my 2016 study, I realized I needed assessment skills and training in other effective manual techniques in order to improve therapeutic outcomes for long term skeletal alignment and muscle issues. I proceeded to take advanced training available to Bowen Therapy practitioners and other bodyworkers, and to learn about treatment for symptoms of brain injuries. See the list of advanced workshops below.
The body is a system.
When problem-solving, engineers are trained to consider an entire system, rather than just the location of the problem. That’s why I pursued a unique and effective combination of training to address brain and body trauma.
Thanks to my background as a civil engineer, I am structurally-oriented. I resolve tension, compression, and torsion affecting the musculoskeletal structure (including the jaw) and restore alignment. I am a Canadian biomechanics expert in resolving pelvic (ilium) rotations causing back pain, sciatica, scoliosis, bulging discs, and leg length discrepancy. I discovered how to effectively release scar tissue from C-sections and other surgeries that, over the long term, may create tissue tension that pulls bones out of alignment and generates back pain.
I learned about Spinal Concussion Syndrome, wherein severe concussion symptoms such as headaches, tinnitus, dizziness/ vertigo, and pain may actually stem from excessive muscle tension. I lightly and quickly release tight muscles caused by whiplash or falls, and thus relieve the pressure compressing skull bones and cranial & cervical nerves. I address eye muscle tension, thus improving vision therapy outcomes. I developed and teach advanced Bowen therapists, massage therapists and other bodyworkers an effective multi-step process to align the occiput/C1, jaw and sphenoid bone in that order.
Visceral organs and connective tissue can be compromised by impact force traveling through the body, hence I have begun to take the series of Barral Institute workshops.
I have also learned from a genius across the ocean, André Dückers of the Netherlands. His Energetic Structural Balancing (ESB) training addresses connectivity between the central nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. André teaches a somatic-emotional trauma release technique that I combined with the training of James Foo to create my simple, effective and fast trauma release technique that I teach in person in North America.
I studied (and teach) nerve stimulation for hormone balancing, and developed an interest in helping couples conceive (Bowen for Fertility). In my clinic, I discovered how structurally aligning the occiput and sphenoid bones may improve fertility issues related to pituitary gland dysfunction. Read my blog post.
Most of all, I continue to learn from clients who allow me to share their healing journey.
Memberships
Certified Bowenwork Practitioner since 2013
Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia www.bowtech.com
Canadian Bowenwork/Bowtech Group www.cbbg.ca
International Association of Healthcare Practitioners www.iahp.com
Concussion Advisory Group, U of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Brain and Mind Research Institute
Training
BOWEN THERAPY
Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia Modules 1-12 (SP2)
Postural Assessment – Sean Wolf
Chronic Conditions – Alexia Monroe
Tensegrity Medicine I & II – Northwest School of Structural Therapy www.kellyclancy.com
Art of Bodywork – Alastair McLoughlin ArtofBodywork Training
Importance of Symmetry – Graham Pennington www.bowenseminars.com.au
Hormonal Release the Bowen Way – Ron Phelan www.hormonalreleasethebowenway.com
Innovations in Concussion Recovery, Learn it Live webinar (Dec 10, 2017) – Jenna Howe https://www.learnitlive.com/class/11528/Bowen-Therapy-Innovations-in-Concussion-Recovery
COLLEGE OF APPLIED MYOSKELETAL THERAPY (AMT)
John Garfield, instructor
5 workshops: Pelvis & Lumbar Spine, Lower Extremities, Upper Torso, Neck, Clinical Gems
UPLEDGER CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY
Upledger Institute International www.upledger.com
CranioSacral Therapy CS1& CS2
CranioSacral Therapy for Cranial Nerves 1 (CSCN1)
Unwinding Meridians (UMAC 1)
PRACTITIONER ASSESSMENT SKILLS COURSES (PASC)
Ron Phelan, instructor
Modules 3,4,5,6 (Assessment and TMD therapy)
Neuromeningeal Manipulation (NM1): an Integrative Approach to Trauma & Whiplash – Annabel Mackenzie, instructor
Listening Techniques (LT1): an Integrative Approach to Evaluation – Annabel Mackenzie
Visceral Manipulation: Abdomen 1 (VM1) – Annabel Mackenzie
Energetic Structural Balance, Module 1 Extended – André Dückers, instructor
OTHER
DermoNeuroModulation (for nerve pain) – Louise Tremblay www.dermoneuromodulation.com
Clinical Assessment/Anatomy of Palpation – Frank DiMaio
First Aid/Level C CPR/AED – St. John Ambulance recertification February 2023