The Mézières method

Edited by Doctor Ilio Iannone

The Mézières seat

Since each treatment is individual, it is difficult to code a session, whose development will be an adjustment and a set of responses deriving from the examination of the subject and his behavior during the postural phases; moreover, the term of method applies little to this work: Françoise Mézières herself contested it (she preferred to speak of a set of keys), yet it is possible to extrapolate the guidelines of a treatment and specify them.

Each session is a succession of personalized postures intended for rigorous and prolonged tensioning of the muscle groups considered responsible for lordosis, internal rotations, and blocking of the chest during inspiration.
These postures are practiced on a mat or a suitable device (adjustable table for the position of the lower limbs and extendable armrests, Bobath-type shelf, podium) starting with the starting positions which are: supine decubitus (most often square legs), standing against a vertical plane. Some variations are frequent: standing without support, in anterior flexion, in frontal support, in split, in lateral decubitus. The rhythm of the sessions is generally weekly, it is rarely more frequent, sometimes it is bimonthly.
The duration of the sessions, extremely variable, depends on a multiplicity of factors but should not be less than the time necessary for the detailed examination of the subject, the implementation of the different postures and the indispensable rest phases; thus some sessions can last a " hour and a half.
The number of sessions should never be less than 20 if not 30, but beyond the number of sessions it is the duration of the treatment that must be taken into account.

Purpose of the treatment Mézières

A Mézières treatment will have different purposes, it will be:

(a) Therapeutic: it is the patient who comes to consult the therapist when the pain arises, the therapeutic purpose is clear

(b) Maintenance: very often a few spaced sessions are enough to maintain and consolidate the results already obtained previously, thus preventing relapses
(c) Preventive: Act before foreseeable symptoms arise. Sometimes, a few sessions done at the right time are enough to avoid the appearance of problems.

Indications and contraindications

INDICATIONS: All indications of physiotherapy related to painful problems of orthopedic, traumatic, muscular, rheumatic, neurological or neuralgic origin ... The imbalances of the neurovegetative functions - such as certain cardiac, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, gynecological disorders .. .
Absolute CONTRAINDICATIONS: the first 3 months of pregnancy: risk of spontaneous abortion deriving from abdominal hyperpressure and the powerful effects on pelvic statics and perineum produced by postures. Acute infectious and inflammatory states. Tumor syndromes. Degenerative diseases of the muscle. Psychotic states.
CONTRAINDICATIONS relative: These are the limits linked to the lack of motivation and therefore of participation of the subject.

Transient reactions due to sessions

They generally last 48 hours and are of two types:

mechanical: soreness, cramps, reappearance of old pains, appearance of pains unknown to the subject (which refer to an a priori antalgic reflex);
autonomic: cold, hunger, thirst, sleep, laughter, tears, cough, tremor, dizziness.

All these reactions are a good sign and express the release of muscular and psychic tensions with reflected consequences on the autonomic nervous system, and therefore also on the circulatory system. These reflex effects are the same as those produced by reflex massage of the connective tissue (segmental therapy).