Our experienced practitioners work with a variety of healing modalities to guide you to a healthier body and a centered mind.
Fascial Counterstrain (FCS) is a gentle, precise manual therapy that helps the body do what it already knows how to do: restore normal function.
This work is grounded in a simple idea—people don’t need to be “fixed” or forced into healing. They need the right information, the right input, and a respectful environment that allows the nervous system to let go of protection. Fascial Counterstrain provides exactly that.
Rather than chasing symptoms or imposing change, FCS listens carefully to the body. Using refined assessment and palpation skills, we identify where the nervous system is holding protective tension and respond directly to those signals. There is no guessing. The body tells us where to begin.
Fascial Counterstrain is an advanced evolution of traditional Strain and Counterstrain, expanded to evaluate and treat not just muscles, but also fascia, nerves, blood vessels, and visceral tissues. This whole-system approach reflects current research showing that pain, limitation, and many chronic symptoms are driven less by damage and more by unresolved protective responses within the nervous system and connective tissue.
As each layer of protection is gently released—the proverbial “outer layer of the onion”—the body often reveals the next most relevant area to address. Over time, this allows deeper patterns to resolve naturally and function to return.
Your nervous system is designed to protect you. It constantly scans for potential threat—physical, chemical, emotional, or environmental—and responds by increasing tension, altering movement, and changing circulation when it believes something is unsafe.
In the short term, this is intelligent and necessary. But when the nervous system does not receive a clear signal that the threat has passed, protection can persist long after the original stressor is gone. Injury, repetitive strain, illness, surgery, inflammation, emotional stress, or trauma can all leave the nervous system in a prolonged state of guarding.
Over time, this ongoing protection interferes with normal function. Tissues become restricted, movement becomes inefficient, and symptoms appear—not because the body is broken, but because it is still trying to keep you safe.
This is dysfunction.
Dysfunction doesn’t always match what imaging or lab tests show. Many people are told “everything looks normal,” yet their symptoms persist. Dysfunction may present as:
A helpful analogy is wearing jeans that are two sizes too small. There is nothing wrong with your legs—but movement is restricted because of compression. In a similar way, protective fascia can compress the structures it surrounds.
For example, blood vessels are wrapped in connective tissue. When this tissue is held in a protective state, circulation can be mechanically restricted. Muscles recruited to protect that area may change their tone or function, affecting posture, movement, and comfort. What can appear to be disease or structural damage is often a functional problem driven by the nervous system’s ongoing protective response.
Simply put:
Dysfunction is when the body is not functioning normally—even though the tissues themselves may be intact.
Fascial Counterstrain works by communicating directly with the nervous system in a language it understands: ease and safety.
Using very gentle positioning and sustained holds, tissues are placed into positions that reduce protective signaling. When the nervous system perceives safety, it can release its guarding response.
As this happens:
This work is pain-free and non-forceful. Nothing is pushed or stretched. Instead, the body is given the opportunity to reset itself and resume normal, efficient function.
Emerging research on Fascial Counterstrain supports its ability to influence nervous system regulation, fascial tension, and interstitial inflammation—key contributors to chronic pain and persistent symptoms.
Peer-reviewed clinical research has demonstrated that Fascial Counterstrain can significantly reduce somatic symptoms and nervous system hyperarousal without adverse effects. These findings align with modern pain science, which recognizes that many chronic conditions are driven by protective neural responses rather than ongoing tissue damage.
This research reinforces what is seen clinically every day: when the nervous system is given the right signal, the body knows how to restore balance.
A Fascial Counterstrain session is calm, gentle, and highly individualized. Many people are surprised by how subtle—and effective—the work feels.
Assessment
Your session begins with observation and gentle palpation to identify reflexive tender points. These points are not injuries; they are indicators of protective nervous system activity.
Position of Ease
You will be comfortably positioned on a treatment table while the practitioner gently moves parts of your body into positions that feel easier and more supported. There is no cracking, stretching, or forceful manipulation.
Sustained Holds
Each position is held briefly—often under 90 seconds—allowing the nervous system to recalibrate and release protection.
Common Experiences
People often report:
Some notice changes right away; others feel shifts later in the day as their system continues to integrate.
Fascial Counterstrain is appropriate for people across a wide range of ages, activity levels, and health backgrounds, including those experiencing:
Because this approach respects the body’s intelligence and works with—not against—the nervous system, it is both gentle and powerful.
Fascial Counterstrain is not about healing something broken. It is about removing the barriers that prevent the body from functioning the way it was designed to.
By listening carefully, following the data, and responding precisely, we help the nervous system move out of protection and back into normal, efficient function—so patients can reclaim comfort, resilience, and confidence in what their bodies are capable of.
A therapeutic technique originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that involves inserting very thin, sterile needles into specific, strategic points on the body. It is used to balance the flow of energy (Qi) along meridians, alleviate pain, treat chronic conditions like headaches, and improve overall health.
Other treatments may incorporate a combination of acupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese herbal medicine, tui na, cupping, gua sha, and lifestyle/nutritional counseling to remove obstructions and stagnations that prevent the body from functioning at it’s optimal level.
Therapeutic and Thai massage treat specific conditions, injuries, or chronic pain using targeted manipulation of soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments) to reduce pain, improve mobility, and promote rehabilitation.
Shiatsu and Reiki are traditional Japanese bodywork therapies that use rhythmic, manual pressure and/or hands lightly on or just above a clothed person, improve energy flow, alleviate tension, and promote holistic healing. They aim to channel energy (Qi) to reduce stress, promote relaxation, and encourage emotional or physical healing.
I've been seeing Ben for 7 years and in that time, I've struggled with several overuse injuries/pain from long distance running and triathlons. Whether it's hip pain, hamstring pain, knee pain, Achilles/heel pain, shoulder pain, Ben has addressed it all. His ability to pinpoint pain and release it (usually with 1 or 2 visits) is beyond compare.
He takes time to educate me during each session which helps me understand the root cause so I can watch for re-injury. His dedication to his own education and growth keeps him on top of new techniques to try which makes each visit unique and tailored to what I need. Even after 7 years, I leave each visit with insight about my body and another recommendation to try at home. I can't imagine being able to continue to train the amount I do without Ben as a part of my recovery process.
Ben is an amazing healer! With his expertise in a multitude of healing approaches, he is able to use his experience and healing gift to help you recover from many complicated ailments that other practitioners fail at. He is one of the most dedicated, caring and compassionate people I know and I highly recommend Ben for a partner on your healing team.
I'm a marketing professional and a cycling enthusiast. Ben has worked with me on low back and neck pain and I always come away from our sessions with relaxed muscles and reduced pain. He's also helped me work through some issues related to stress and excessive antibiotic use. He has an extremely calming demeanor and has a special touch when working on my trouble spots. His knowledge of the human body and how all its systems work together is truly amazing.
