His personal experience with Bowen Therapy began in 1999 when he fractured his spine. Having continuous aches, numbness and referral pains shooting down his left leg, Christian sought treatment from various therapists. Although helpful for brief periods, his relief only became permanent when he met his first Bowen Therapist. He then sought certification as a Bowen Therapy practitioner for people, in order to further develop the Therapy to heal animals. Becoming a qualified Therapist in 2000 with Fascial Kinetics, Christian has since studied many other therapies that are based on similar principles. In 2001 Christian was invited to present a paper at the Bowen Therapy Federation of Australia’s annual conference in Coolangatta. His expertise was with small animals and although his practice at the time was based on canines, he continues to work successfully on a variety of species both native and domestic, including horses, dogs, cats, koalas, snakes, birds, possums, and even fairy penguins. In 2006 Christian’s attention was drawn to the thoroughbred industry. After writing a letter of interest to all the thoroughbred trainers on the Mornington Peninsula, he was welcomed to Saloon Park where he began working with Horses. His work began with minor injuries but he soon became interested in treating horses to avoid injury and improve performance where possible. Saloon Park has become a great resource and due to the generosity of Ken Keys Racing Christian has worked closely with most of the stable including the preparation of Blue Collar Jack for the 2007 Cranbourne Cup, after his win the previous year. Thoroughbred performance has become an exciting part of Christian’s profession. He considers racehorses to be athletes and much like AFL players, they need to be physically maintained if they are expected to perform at their best. From preparation to race recovery to being spelled, the whole campaign benefits from maintaining each horse as an athlete. Bowen Therapy is a connective tissue therapy which works by re-establishing or maintaining healthy fluid flow throughout the body and lymphatic system (by way of facial manipulation). It is minimalist in appearance but has great results in healing injuries as well as maintaining the health of the whole animal. Christian has successfully treated many ailments, including injuries where surgery is either too risky or inappropriate, ongoing stiffness or pain- especially in older animals, and nervous referrals or general muscle soreness to name a few.
