In my practice and personal life I get asked the question, "how is Rolfing different than massage"? It is easy to lump any sort of manual therapy dealing with manipulating muscle and connective tissue into the category of massage. A lot of other disciplines manipulate muscle tissue- physical therapy, osteopathic, chiropractic too, but these practitioners are not labeled as massage therapists. A chiropractor might address the muscles involved before or after a spinal adjustment, but that does not turn the session into a massage. It is true that deep tissue massage and myofascial release all have techniques in common with Rolfing, as these practices were created by osteopaths and Rolfers, but it has been my opinion for some time that the biggest problem with the term Deep Tissue Massage is that it contains the word massage in it. Unlike massage, Rolfing is not defined by its techniques. There characteristics that put Rolfing into a completely different category.
Rolfing is Holistic
It is easy to think of any health practice that does not involve pharmaceuticals as holistic, but Rolfing is different than other western forms of health and maintenance in that it has the view that everything in a person exists in relation to the whole and must be considered in relationship to the whole. If you have a tight or sore back, you are likely to go to a massage therapist and ask them to work on your back. As a Rolfer I will consider the strain patterns that affect your back and may do little to no back work with you at first. Another example is the knees. I rarely work on people's knees to address knee pain, but rather feet, ankles and hips, with the idea that if the knees are tracking straight they may stop hurting and be able to heal naturally.
The holistic viewpoint that Rolfing holds is the reason Rolfing is commonly done as a series. During this series strain patterns are addressed, and new strain patterns arise to be dealt with as we try to find better alignment, so one should not expect to always feel better after a Rolfing session, as they would expect after a massage. Fortunately most people will notice a difference after each session and continue on with the process, because stopping a Rolfing series before completion can leave things out of wack, and is not recommended. Ida Rolf herself said that a Rolfing 10 series is not 10 Rolfing sessions but rather 1 session split up into 10 parts.
Rolfing is Health Care, not Service Industry
It is unfortunate that nearly any form of massage will be thought of by most people as service industry work, and therefore the massage therapist is considered a servant who's job it is to please people. This is perhaps understandable in pampering massage modalities like Swedish massage, but the logic is questionable with deep tissue and myofascial release. Even if the massage practice is directed as a health and wellness session, people still think that they should come in and order the massage therapist around by telling them what to work on, which would be ridiculous with a doctor, chiropractor, or a physical therapist. A doctor will decide the course of treatment, which the patient can accept or refuse, but they don't get to tell the doctor what sort of medicine to give them, and likewise I don't go to an acupuncturist and tell them where to stick the needles.
So why do people feel they can go to a deep tissue massage therapist and micromanage the session? It is a fact that most massage therapists themselves mix up pampering practices like Swedish massage with deep tissue and myofascial release, to the point where there are very few practitioners who practice any massage without pampering practices woven in, and a service industry attitude that the customer is always right thus supporting the believe that the massage therapist is there to serve them.
This is not so with Rolfing, because we are dealing with a process of strain patterns in light of a vision of the whole individual, the client needs to be aware of the fact that they probably do not understand how it works. I try to explain things as I go along, but the reality of the situation is that the process is not overt and can not be easily understood. So just because an individual comes in with a sore shoulder, it does not mean that the best course of action is to spend the session rubbing the client's sore shoulder. Rolfing is alternative health care, not service industry work, so that is why most of us do not accept tips. Just as it is a doctor or a nurse's job to do their best without a tip looming over them like a carrot on a stick, it is the Rolfer's job to do their best without a bribe hanging over them. It is unfortunate that many massage therapists are barely scraping by, and often depend on tips to help make a living, but that further causes people to classify them as service industry.
Rolfing is Transformative
Rolfers don't really address symptoms, they address the individual. The symptoms may or may not resolve themselves during the course of the series. The idea is to optimize posture and movement, and encourage a greater sense of embodiment, through addressing restrictions in the soft tissue and through breaking habits by exploring new ways of moving, standing, and sitting. For some people this can be truly transformative, even life changing. For others, at least it should be helpful. The results of a Rolfing series depends not only on the Rolfer and how they choose to conduct a series, but also on where the client currently at in their life. If they are in a space where great change can take place, the results may be greater.
Over the course of a person's life they may go through quite a few Rolfing series, and some may have greater results than others. It may not be because of the Rolfer and their approach, it may be where the individual is in their life at the moment. Hopefully a series will result in good changes, but one should expect some growing pains along the way. The changes that are set into motion in a series should continue long after a series has been completed, and the client adjusts and re-orders themselves. It is said that a client will be more integrated a year after they are done with the 10 series than the day after they are done. This is because Rolfing is not a massage modality, it is a process of transformation.