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SMRT Head & Neck Pain
SMRT Head & Neck Pain
Recently, I had a 2-hour session with a regular client. She had recently took a vacation in Mexico. The place they stayed had very hard beds and pillows. Her complaint was an all over headache and neck pain. She was very tight through her neck and head. But the first thing I noticed was that her shoulders were twisted. Her right shoulder was anterior and her left shoulder was posterior. I pushed on her shoulders, moving them anterior and posterior, then superior and inferior. The ROM was highly limited in both shoulders and I could see that the restriction on the right side went down through the elbow.
Restoring ROM
I spent 90 minutes using SMRT to mobilize her head and neck. Her cervical vertebrae were better, but did not have full ROM. I shifted to her shoulder, chest, and axilla. She was incredibly sore, making direct touch difficult. One of the joys of SMRT is that direct touch is not necessary.
With one hand I moved the coracoid process into a position. With the other hand I positioned the lateral digitation of pectoralis minor. Ten seconds into holding these positions, her shoulder began to fall toward the table and her forearm relaxed.I held for a bit longer. When I re-palpated, her tenderness had substantially decreased, there was movement in pectoralis minor, and space between subscapularis and serratus anterior that had not existed before. I spent a few more minutes on her shoulder and arm before rechecking the ROM in her cervical vertebrae and finding that the shoulder had been the last piece of the puzzle. Her neck moved freely. She reported no pain after the session. Excellent!!
Join Dawn in Tucson, AZ where she will be teaching SMRT: Head & Neck on February 9, 2018. Register by January 9, 2018 and receive a 10% early registration discount! Register HERE.
