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Dental Work and Neck Pain
Today I had a new client. When I first saw her, I knew that I wanted to work on her neck, head, and upper back.
I asked her what she would like to have worked on and she told me she was having pain on the inside of her right leg each time she brought her knee up, and pain in her right SI. Okay, I thought, maybe next time.
Then, suddenly, she says, “but, I think we should work on neck and jaw because I have had a lot of dental work done.” I smiled. What I noticed when I first looked at her was that she had forward head syndrome. Her head was moved forward of her shoulders, with her chin jutted slightly upward. Additionally, her upper back had an accentuated kyphotic curve and her shoulders were superior and rounded. As I worked on her, she began to tell me that she always had neck pain, that she was prone to sinus infections, and that she became dizzy when moving toward neck extension.
Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique allowed me to cover a lot of area quickly and in depth. I worked her upper back, her neck, and her head. When treating forward head syndrome, many therapists work the thoracic spine and the cervical spine, but leave the head out. The position of the head, and specifically the alignment and mobility of the occiput is crucial.
When my new client came down the stairs, I noticed immediately that her posture was straighter, not perfectly straight, but noticeably straighter. She rescheduled, hoping to have her hip flexors worked on next time.
You can learn more about Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique at one of our workshops.
