Clinical somatics

Clinical Somatics, also known as Clinical Somatic Education or Prime Somatics, is a method of movement education used for relief of various musculoskeletal disorders, such as chronic low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other joint and muscle pain conditions and injuries. The method was largely developed by Thomas Hanna during the 1980's, as described in his 1987 book Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health, and has more recently been continued by Somatic Systems Institute. Clinical Somatics claims to treat musculoskeletal disfunction differently than by conventional methods: First, that it corrects the tension and resting tonus of muscles rather than by strengthening or stretching muscle or other tissue; and, second, that it improves muscle function in this fashion by changing the state of the central nervous system rather than by working directly on the muscles.
Theory
Thomas Hanna observed the phenomenon of "Sensory-Motor Amnesia" ("SMA"), whereby the portions of the brain responsible for involuntary or automatic movement take some or total control of movements that were originally under the person's voluntary, conscious control. The process of developing SMA is the same process of learning any skill, or "habituation": Rehearsal, or repeated execution of the movement pattern, gradually makes that slow deliberate movement easy to do without conscious thought. Hanna described the condition of SMA as one where the movement pattern had become so automatic, the voluntary part of the brain (primarily, portions of the brain's cerebral cortex) has effectively "forgotten" to turn the movement pattern off, and so it would persist indefinitely. A habituated persistent movement pattern could be particular posture (maintained by muscles held tight) or a set of tight muscles in the neck or shoulder, for example. In turn, Hanna argued that is was these patterns of muscular tension that causes many musculoskeletal problems otherwise blamed on weakness, aging, or joint and tissue damage.
The rehearsal of movement patterns that causes SMA could happen for a number of reasons - chronic repetition as in repetitive stress disorders; chronic misuse as in use of a bad office chair; or chronic triggering of particular, common stress reflexes that he identifies in his book Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health.
Practice
Prime Somatics uses a series of hands-on techniques which move muscles and parts of the body slowly, but ostensibly do so to make changes to the sensory motor tracts of the brain, much like classic biofeedback methods may work with skin temperature or blood pressure readings but only do so to change how the brain controls those bodily functions.
Prime Somatics also teaches self-guided movement exercises that individuals can do themselves. These movements use gravity and other techniques in lieu of a hands-on practitioner to replicate some of the benefits of the hands-on methods of re-educating the sensory motor nervous system.
The Field of Somatics
The Clinical Somatics method is a specialty field within the larger field of Somatics, developed by Thomas Hanna and first articulated in his 1969 book Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking. The field of Somatics is both academic and clinical, and studies the ways in which human beings are not bodies or bodies plus minds, but instead "Somas", Hanna's term for fully integrated organisms which can't functionally be reduced to bodies versus minds, and in fact can only be understood and fully explained when examined as one integrated process of all the bodily systems interacting synergistically. Since then, this field's ideas and ideals has seemingly been embraced by a number of other fields, including bodywork, psychology, and coaching, many of which have adopted use of the term within their vernacular (to varying degrees of accuracy).
The field of Clinical Somatics is a practical application of the core elements of Somatics theory and philosophy as defined by Hanna. Hanna's developments within the field of Clinical Somatics were based on his articulations and explorations of Somatics principles, and seem to act as "proof of concept" for the field, as well as an example of the field's principles.
History of Accreditation
After Hanna's death, confusion developed as to application of his techniques and training of practitioners. The term Prime Somatics was developed to differentiate between fully trained clinical practitioners and other bodyworkers whose credentials or qualifications could not otherwise be verified.
Naming Conventions, Confusion, and Issues
The term "Somatic Education" is used by Hanna and practitioner to indicate the nature of the process underlying the effect of their methods; "Somatics" in this context might be considered a "nickname" for the process. The term Somatics is used interchangeably with Somatic Education within the field of Somatics. However, the term Somatics is also used more broadly to describe the larger field of Somatics (which includes the specialty of Clinical Somatics), which includes not just educational interventions such as Clinical Somatics, but also philosophical theory, biological study, and other academic and non-therapeutically oriented disciplines.
As evidenced by a review of historical content of and other sources on and off the internet, there is a history of confusion about the naming of Somatics, as well as the applicability of the name Somatics. One example is the misconception that Clinical Somatics or Clinical Somatic Education described Somatic psychotherapy, presumably because psychologists use the adjective "clinical" in some of their nomenclature, to describe clinical psychotherapy, for example, or a clinical psychologist (one who works with patients in a therapeutic process) versus a research psychologist (who might work in a laboratory or academic setting instead). However, the adjective clinical modifying psychology does not automatically modify the term Somatics to mean Somatic psychology.
The term Somatics has been misused in a variety of contexts, some in the same way as just described. In other cases it is applied to fields which don't claim or demonstrate to have any common lineage with or properties of the field of Somatics that Hanna described or the method of Clinical Somatics.
As described previously, the term Prime Somatics was developed to distinguish use of Clinical Somatic Education methods from other modalities such as bodywork, psychological counseling, coaching, or energy work.

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