Endorsements from Health Professionals, Athletes, Celebrities, etc.
reprinted from Rolf.org
Athletes
2014 - Golden Tate, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver, commented, "I feel like I benefitted from it after just having one session. . . . I still feel fresh. I don't feel like it's late in the season, and you know, due to working with Russell and getting Rolfing done, along with eating healthy, along with coach Carroll and our practice habits, I feel like I'm always fresh." after working with Certified Rolfer Russell Stolzoff.
2013 - MLB Pirates player, Sean Casey, remarked "I had to be helped up onto the table by my wife. He worked on me for three hours the first time, and after that, I didn't have any pain." and "“I tell them [family anfd friends] to let [a Rolfer] work on them one time and it will change their lives." (source: TribLIVE.com, 4/10/13)
2012 - Mark Howe, Hall of Fame hockey player, talked about how his father, legendary hockey player, Gordie Howe, benefited from work received from his own Certified Advanced Rolfer, Robert Toporek, "I just see him move so much easier now. He’s bending easier, and now he can sit down, lean over, and get his socks off and do whatever he has to do." He also commented on his own results: "Right from the very first session, things got progressively better. He improved my flexibility by 8–10 inches and it lasted 4–5 days. We had been working for 2–3 months to get me more flexible. One hour with Robert had increased my flexibility by 50 percent. It’s the first time I’ve been able to stand erect since I hurt my back."
2012 – Five Time Olympic High Jumper, Amy Acuff, stated that her experience with Rolfing Structural Integration contributed to her success. "Rolfing is an opportunity for discovery and it is so meaningful to me in what I am trying to achieve with my jumping, that I feel grateful that I have the chance to get the therapy." "The insights I gain from the Rolfing work help me picture where I might be able to extract a little more power and length in the act of high jumping. I notice that I feel more stable and long throughout my body after the sessions."
Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers coach says, “I’m the kind of person that likes to physically challenge myself. I think (Rolfing) is a valuable resource…for keeping myself together.”
Sean Casey, Detroit Tigers All Star Baseball Player says Rolfing helped him resolve an injury. He would not have been able to play the 2006 World Series without the help of his Rolfer, Michael Waller.
Michelle Kwan and Elvis Stojko, 1998 Olympic Silver Medalists, have found they have a competitive advantage by working with a team of specialists that included Helen James, Physical Therapist, and Certified Advanced Rolfer. Elvis Stojko introduced Helen James, Certified Advanced Rolfer to Michelle Kwan in July during the Campbell Soup Tour of World Figure Skating Champions. Stojko, who has benefited from James' physical therapy and Rolfing expertise says, "Rolfing helped me to find my center of balance for competition; it puts my body in place." Working with Olympic and world champion figure skaters is nothing new for James. She says, "It's key for figure skaters like Michelle and Elvis, to find an exact balanced position in space. Balance and integration are the primary goals of the Rolfing process. Athletes find they have fewer injuries and recover more quickly through Rolfing work," says James. "They feel lighter and have more energy because they're not working as hard. They perform and complete their jumps with more ease."
Three U.S. Athletes trained at the Rolf Institute® in June 1998: John Bauer, a 1992 & 1998 Olympian Nordic Skier; Grant Ernhardt, a US Biathlon team member; and Gary Colliander, a Minnesota Biathlete. Their stories are highlighted in a press release entitled, "The Ski-Rolfing® Connection Is Stronger Than Just Skiers Getting Rolfing Bodywork." These athletes say that a career in bodywork fits an athlete's lifestyle & furthers their training. It can offer them the flexibility to both train and work in a profitable and independent career. More recently, Wendy Wagner, 2002 U.S. Olympic Nordic Ski team, has also received Rolfing SI.
Bob Tewksbury, pitcher for the Minnesota Twins says, "I have received many benefits from Rolfing. In 1991, my massage therapist recommended it as a way to get a deeper level of work. Although the benefits of muscle work come and go depending on when and how regularly I get Rolfing work, I have noticed long lasting benefits with regard to my breathing, my posture and my body awareness. I have used Rolfing mainly in two areas, for my lower and upper back to help with flexibility and stiffness and to enhance my performance. I plan to use it again."
The Phoenix Suns were the first major NBA Basketball team to have a Certified Advanced Rolfer on hand, Jeffrey Maitland. "Phoenix Suns guard, Danny Ainge, who has received Rolfing for years, recommended the therapy to (Charles) Barkley. Other Suns, Mark West and A.C. Green, also have been Rolfed...with satisfactory results," reported the Arizona Republic, May 1994.
Sarah Will, 1998 US Paralympic Gold Medal Skier, a member of the US Disabled Ski Team is a paraplegic athlete that credits her five gold metals to Rolfing. Will's said that "Rolfing gives you a competitive edge as an athlete." and “Rolfing increased my performance time 100%.”
Sharon Sander, ranked #2 on the US Pentathlon team, who's preparing to compete in the first women's Olympics pentathlon, says, "I recommend Rolfing for any athlete who has ever had trouble with injuries or doesn't feel like they are reaching their potential."
Joe Greene, two-time U.S.A. Olympic bronze medal long jumper says, "Rolfing works. It really makes a huge difference. I've been in track and field a long time and wish I had known about it sooner. My stomach tenses and my hips tighten when I jump. The Rolfing bodywork helped me to breathe and I felt taller."
Craig Swan, former N.Y. Mets pitcher, says, "Bodywork can extend athletic careers," says Swan, whose career ended from an sports injury. "I truly believe if I had been Rolfed in the early part of my career, I would still be pitching."Swan’s recovery from a pitching injury inspired him to become a Certified Rolfer and help others.
Joe Greene, 1996 U.S. Olympic Bronze Medal winner of the long jump, says “Rolfing has made a huge difference.”
Other athletes include:
Charles Barkley, former basketball star
Chris Carter, ex-Minnesota Viking football star
Qadry Ismail, Baltimore Ravens football star
Mario Lemieux, hockey legend
Bob Tewksbury, ex-pitcher for the Minnesota Twins
Ivan Lendl, former tennis champion
Bret Saberhagen, former Kansas City Royals Pitcher
Tom Seaver, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher # Jeff Linder, competitive cyclist
Iginia Boccalandro, 2002 and ‘98 Venezuelan Olympic luge team and Certified Rolfer
Ben Hindle, 2002 Canadian Olympic bobsleigh team
Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler, 2x Canadian Olympic bronze medal pairs figure skaters
Brian Orser, Olympic Silver Medallist and World Champion figure skater
Lance Deal, 2000 U.S. Olympic hammer thrower, 96 Olympic Silver Medal
Erin Aldrich, 2000 U.S .Olympic high jumper and 2x All-American
Kristen Ulmer, former World Champion Extreme skier
John Egan, world renowned Extreme skier
Mickey Egan, Rumanian Olympic Skier
Grant Ernhardt, a U.S. Biathlon team member, 2002 Olympic hopeful
Health Professionals
Larry Dossey, M.D., best-selling author: "There is one major reason to take Rolfing® seriously: it works. Not only can it dramatically change people's bodies, it can transform their lives as well. Rolfing is powerful stuff."
Jim Montgomery, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in Dallas, Texas, often refers his clients to Rolfing. "I send a variety of my clients to a Certified Advanced Rolfer, Nicholas French. People with shoulder and elbow problems, with scar tissue resulting from injury or surgery, chronic hamstring problems, low back and cervical spine problems. People that have had chronic problems that have not been helped by anything else. All those people can be helped with Rolfing."
Karlis Ullis, MD, (team physician for 1992 summer Olympics), Sports Medicine and Anti-Aging Medical Group in Santa Monica, CA: "Athletes always need help with chronic injuries, muscular strains and overuse. The Olympic athletes wouldn't have as many injuries if they had appropriate soft tissue therapy. Rolfing is valuable for athletes in high level competition to address the build up of scar tissue and disarrangement of myofascial tissue that occurs from training, competition and injury." Dr. Ullis has provided medical expertise to athletes at five Olympic games, including Lillehammer, Albertville, and Barcelona, in the fields of figure skating, cross country skiing, bobsleigh, biathlon, track and field and other sports.
Certified Advanced Rolfer and MD, Dr. Bret Nye, speaks about alternative/complementary medicine, a cost effective, alternative to surgery and drugs - "Demand for the services of health practitioners like Rolfers is growing as evidenced by the Nov. 98 JAMA estimate of $21.2 billion being spent for alternative medicine in 97. Integrative health care, is a new trend, that combines Western and complementary medicines to offer the best technological advances in health care. Health insurance companies are increasingly becoming interested in therapies like Rolfing not only as potential cost effective alternatives or complements to traditional modalities, but as opportunities to provide coverage for services that will distinguish them in an increasingly competitive market place of providers."
Celebrities
Leon Fleisher, virtuoso concert pianist: "When a crippling hand injury ended his performing career, Peabody pianist, Leon Fleisher went down a different musical road. Thirty years later, he's turned up an unexpected corner (when he met Certified Advanced Rolfer, Tessy Brunghardt)...The (Rolfing) results were remarkable." John Hopkins magazine, 1995.
Levar Burton - "The Rolfer works on fascia which is the thin sheath of white tissue that covers the musculature. By manipulating the fascia you manipulate the musculature, and in turn the skeletal structure, so you bring alignment to the body... It can be very healing, cleansing and balancing for the body." Oprah - July 7, 1996
Sean Young, who has starred in the movies “Bladerunner”, “No Way Out”, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, “Wall Street”, “Fatal Instinct”, “Once Upon a Crime”, and a few dozen others receives Rolfing”®” from Certified Rolfer Bob Brill.
Movie star Sean Young, who has starred in the movies "Bladerunner", "No Way Out", "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "Wall Street", "Fatal Instinct", "Once Upon a Crime", and a few dozen others received Rolfing from Certified Rolfer Bob Brill.
Willie Nelson, songwriter: "My wife recommended (Rolfing) highly", says Willie Nelson, "...The first of ten sessions fixed (my back pain)," reported the New York Times, on Feb. 23, 1995.
Sam Keen, best-selling writer, is a former Psychology Today editor and co-producer of award winning PBS documentary "Faces Of The Enemy". "Bodywork has allowed me at age 65 to live as vigorously as I want to, in an embodied way. Nine months ago I started studying flying trapeze work, and I couldn’t have done it without Rolfing." Whole Life Times, Aug.’94. When Sam Keen spoke of Dr. Ida Rolf as a true pioneer in his early Psychology Today 1970’s a rticle, Rolfing bodywork gained international attention. Now thirty years later, Keen benefits by making Rolfing a part of his own health care regimen, to stay aligned, fit and flexible for his flying trapeze work. Sam Keen’s books include: Inward Bound; Fire In the Belly: On Being A Man; and the Passionate Life.
Other celebrities include:
Courtney Love, actress/singer
Denis Leary, actor/comedian
Diane Ladd, actress
Georgia O’Keefe, artist
Miro, modern artist
Fritz Perl, psychotherapist
Mary Elizabeth Mastontonio, Broadway/movie actress
Maria Benitez, Flamenco Dancer
Steve Turre, jazz trombonist
Other Endorsements
2013 - "Rolfing" was mentioned by commentator Alex Flanagan in reference to the work Minnesota Viking, Adrian Peterson, received from Certified Advanced Rolfers, Wayne and Sandy Henningsgaard.
Alex Flanagan: Hey guys, so much talk about Adrian Peterson of course coming off the big year last year and coming off the knee injury. He really hasn’t been feeling himself he told us coming into tonight’s game until really this week. A lot of people not aware that he’s been struggling with a hamstring injury. He told me yesterday that he has been as tight as he has ever been in the hamstring so far in his career, really. [He has] turned to Rolfing, which he did a 3.5 hour session this week. And guys it certainly solved the problem. You can see it tonight.
Brad Nessler: Painful! I said, “How many times did you say ‘Ouch!’ over the 3.5 hours?” He said, “Never. But I did grimace a few times.” And he’s close to another first down.
2013 - Neuropsychologist and author Rick Hanson, Ph.D, described his Rolfing Ten Series as "one of the strangest and most meaningful experiences of my life." (source: Huffingtonpost.com, 5/11/2013)
2012 - Philadephia Orchestra violaist, C.J. Chang, tried Rolfing work, as suggested by a collegue, to help relieve pain. After the fifth or sixth treatment, Chang says, he felt his "whole hand just freeing" and was able to resume his career. (source: US News & World Report, 9/5/12)
2010 - Minnesota Viking, Adrian Peterson, tweeted about his Rolfing session: "Hello twitter world! I'm at my rolfing session right now! And its wonderful for the body, but its PAINFUL!" (11/5/2010)
Jonothan Stalls, who walked across the United States to support Kiva, received a session from Rolfer, Michael Waller. Said Stalls, "I can’t even begin to explain how ‘fresh’ and ‘renewed’ I feel…My shoulders, neck, and posture feel truly ‘free’ from many years of tension and the sudden ‘intense’ weight added from my new portable home!"
A 50 yr old scientist, and medical consultant for healthcare manufacturers, Jim Wright had planned to live with his shoulder, neck and back problems until his wife suggested Rolfing. The problems were allieviated and he sees his Rolfer once a year for a tune up.
Mary Elizabeth Nordstrom, President, Moore Vocal Arts, says, "I am over 60 years old and have advanced scoliosis which the Rolfing treatments have definitely begun to help. One of my friends who had not seen me for awhile remarked on my better posture without my telling her why.