Olav Skille
Tonsberg, Norway
PAIN REDUCTION BY SOUND MASSAGE
Tove Lill got rid of back problems and stiff muscles
Tove Lill Nilsen (34) had troubles with back and muscle pains and was at last so ill that she barely managed to get out of bed. Then she got the chance to try a new Norwegian therapy method based on low frequency sound waves. "The sound massage has removed my pains", she says.
Tove Lill Nilsen from Tønsberg, Norway, has found an effective therapy for her back pains. When shoulders and neck are stiff and hurting, she lies on a mattress which is attached to an amplifier which emits low frequency sound waves. When she lies on the mattress, she feels how the sound vibrations are spreading in her body. The therapy, which is called Multivib makes her pains and stiffness disappear.
"The effect is almost immediate", she explains.
Tove Lill feels that she is relaxing, and that wellness is spreading all over her body.
"It is a strange feeling. In one way it can be compared with the feeling you have when you are at a rock concert and stand in front of gigantic loudspeakers. The difference is that we do not hear the sound. I just feel how the sound waves are creating resonances in my body", she tells us.
Tove Lill is well acquaintanced with alternative therapies. She herself is aromatherapist, zone-therapist and kinesiologist, and is helping patients with different health troubles at a spa-centre in Horten. She often has long hours of work with tough stress on shoulders, back and neck when she is performing manual therapy, and a couple of years ago the symptoms started to emerge. She was constantly feeling pain and stiffness, especially if she has been working too much, or if she had been spending too much time in bed in the morning. She was often so stiff that she barely could bend. After a long day at work the pains were gnawing in muscles and joints.
"I found this ominous, and at last I tried to find help. For a couple of years I regularly was treated with acupuncture and massage, and I felt that it helped somewhat. But the muscles still were hard and stiff, and I had troubles with muscle-knots in my back and shoulders", she says.
Massage with sound waves
Tove Lill lives alone with her cat as her only roommate. Her leisure hours are used for exercise in order to keep in shape. But even vigorous training did not bring any help for her discomfort.
Last year there was an ad in which they asked for test persons wanting to test out a new therapy concept, Multivib, which was said to be effective for stress-related diseases and muscular over-use problems. Tove Lill volunteered.
"The method is sound massage based on low frequency pulsating sound that stimulates blood circulation and has an effect in the level of stress hormones in our body. The sound waves can both give massage to surface tissue and to deeper tissue levels in the body. The have an effect on the muscles", Tove Lill explains, and continues.
"Because I am doing alternative therapy myself, I believe in methods that are not dependant on medicines. Body discomfort often comes from daily overloads and tensions. I was explained that vibroacoustic therapy makes the body listens to signals from the body which is asking for harmony, and that the sound waves are creating reactions in our body and puts it back into balance. The theory appealed to me, and I wanted to try it in practise".
Keeps the pains at bay
As Tove Lill showed up at the clinic in September (2006), her back was so stiff that she found it difficult to move. If she dropped something on the floor, she had to go down on all four in order to pick it up. She also felt stressed because she recently had lost her father. The grief was having both physical and mental effect on her.
"Already after the first session I felt that something was happening in my body, and after three sessions the pains were considerably reduced. It became easier to move and stiffness was reduced. I continued taking two therapy sessions per week, and after two months my back was almost totally well", Tove Lill tells us.
Now she takes a session now and then in order for maintenance therapy.
"After 20 minutes on the bed-pad I feel that the sound massage is doing wonders for my body. Sound massage is definitely the solution for my problems", Tove Lill Nilsen explains.
Norwegian invention
Multivib is developed by the Norwegian vibroacoustic scientist Olav Skille.
"The method is very simple. The body receives massage from low frequency sound waves, which are being felt as vibrations. The massage is muscle relaxing and analgesic, it stimulated blood circulation, regulates blood pressure, it calms the person and has an anxiolytic effect. The method also has effect on COPD, cystic fibrosis and asthma. Intestinal problems, cerebral palsy, menstrual dysfunctions and fibromyalgia can also be addressed by this therapy", he explains.
This therapy is now available in around 10 (now 35) clinics nation wide (in Norway), and one therapy session costs 250 - 350 NOK.
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This article was translated by Olav from the May, 2007 issue of Hjemmet Magazine.
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