PITTSBURGH -- Structural integration is getting more attention as a way to help relieve pain for people who lead sedentary lifestyles and straighten them out.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin said it focuses not on the muscle or the bone, but the stuff that surrounds it -- kind of like the husk around the corn.

"Let's say, for example, I am sitting at my desk for two years. This is my shape. I have to turn like this just to look, and I hurt everywhere and no one can tell me why," David Lesondak said. "So this is how we do back work in the world of structural integration."

Lesondak is a board-certified structural integrator at the UPMC Center for Integrative Medicine. He looks at a person's entire shape and finds out where the fascia fibers are too short and tight.

"Fascia is collagen-based connective tissue. It wraps every muscle, every organ, every bone, every nerve. It is what gives the body its shape and its structure," Lesondak said.

Rich Turner is a satisfied patient.

"I had always heard that it would loosen up your muscles and straighten you out, and it does," Turner said. He added that it is "absolutely worth the price" of $100 per session, which is not covered by insurance.

Why is structural integration any different than physical therapy or chiropractic treatment, which is paid for by insurance?

"Physical therapy is great for acute things, great for very specific problems," Lesondak said. "Chiropractic moves the bones around. I am interested in the rubber bands between the bones."

Structural integration has been called deeper than deep-tissue massage. Wiggin understood after Lesondak worked her upper leg and quickly made it feel looser.

"That is odd," Wiggin said. "It doesn't feel like a massage at all. Strange."

Structural integration can also be effective for the pain of so-called "BlackBerry thumb," Lesondak said.

There is homework that involves stretches. The therapy can last 10 to 12 times over three to six months.

"Each session is specifically designed to your particular shape, your particular issues, and what the goals are," Lesondak said.

Does it hurt? Not really. Lesondak said he limits pain to a five or a six on a scale of one to 10, and he likes to back off if he gets to an eight.

Physical therapists will tell you that they have been doing myofascial release for some time. But Wiggin said one therapist told her that this is a tool in achieving the ultimate goal of mobility and strength, and a chiropractor said that it is a complementary therapy.

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