Homeostasis, Allostasis, and Adaptive Capacity
by Ruth Werner
As a pathology educator, I am often called on to describe situations in which bodywork must be adjusted to be safe for a client who has some kind of health-related limitation. I describe a person's ability to receive massage therapy or bodywork safely as "adaptive capacity." This term makes sense to me, but others may find it less clear, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain what I mean.
Way back when I was in massage sch