Rolfing

* In your April 17 editorial on the false memory syndrome now infecting the psychotherapeutic community, you mentioned “unlicensed therapists practicing unconventional methods like screaming and Rolfing.” This erroneous implication as to the nature of the Rolf technique of structural integration will deter readers who could benefit from this alternative approach to physical therapy. The purpose of Rolfing is to assist the client in organizing his body for greatest ease and efficiency by means of myofasical stretching and sensorimotor re-education.

Twenty-five years ago Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D., introduced these techniques that are now widely used by conventional physical therapists. Rolfing acquired notoriety in the late ‘60s because of the occasional intensity of the deep-tissue intervention and because some clients reported emotional responses associated with the release of structural tension. About a thousand practitioners worldwide are certified by the Rolf Institute of Boulder, Colo. Rolfing is not and has never purported to be a form of psychotherapy.

MARY BOND, Certified Rolfer

Los Angeles