Structural Integration

Rolfing is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. It is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe". It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's "energy field" can benefit when aligned with the Earth's gravitation field. Practitioners combine superficial and deep manual therapy with movement prompts. The process is sometimes painful.

The principles of Rolfing contradict established medical knowledge and there is no good evidence Rolfing is effective for the treatment of any health condition. It is recognized as a pseudoscience and has been characterized as quackery. It is not known whether Rolfing is safe or cost-effective.

Rolfing is based on Ida Rolf's proposition that "a human is basically an energy field operating in the greater energy of the earth". Rolf described the body as organized around an axis perpendicular to the earth, parallel to the pull of gravity, and believed the function of the body was optimal when it was organized in that way. She saw the body as continually in a struggle with gravity; in her view, gravity tends to shorten fascia, leading to disorder of the body's arrangement around its axis and creating imbalance, inefficiency in movement, and pain. Rolfers aim to lengthen the fascia in order to restore the body's arrangement around its axis and facilitate improved movement. Rolf also discussed this in terms of "energy" and said:

"Rolfers make a life study of relating bodies and their fields to the earth and its gravity field, and we so organize the body that the gravity field can reinforce the body's energy field. This is our primary concept."

On its website as of August 2016, the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration described Rolfing as "a form of bodywork that reorganizes the connective tissues, called fascia, that permeate the entire body."

The manipulation is sometimes referred to as a type of bodywork, or as a type of massage. Some osteopaths were influenced by Rolf, and some of her students became teachers of massage, including one of the founders of myofascial release.

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