When a patient presents with a head issue like migraines, the root of the problem may not be in the head or the adjacent neck and shoulder tissues but in a distinct full-body twist of the fascial web.
A young woman presented with migraines, difficulty in focusing and concentrating, and neck and shoulder pain. She has had sports injuries, a whiplash car accident at 23, and a concussion at eight when her head hit a cement floor.
On the evaluation visit, she had a zero-second brain cycle, some whiplash, and a pelvic twist. It initially appeared that her neck and shoulder tissues were pulling on her cranium, causing the headaches.
When I started therapy, she had a severe neck twist and whiplash pulling into her head, with her brain cycle opening to 90 seconds. One might further confirm that strain was the root cause of her migraines.
On the second visit, an upper body twist came into play that was straining her head and neck where her brain cycle opened to 120 seconds. On the third visit, the trunk twist opened more as the brain cycle reached 150 seconds.
At the beginning of the fourth visit, she said she was developing a headache that week that would have normally lasted for days. But when she took some analgesic medicine, it went away quickly for the first time.
She also said the pain was moving down into her mid-back. In my mental assessment, her body was in the middle of correction as she was peeling her traumatic onion.
In therapy, her trunk went into a deep twist, pulling into her head and neck. The fascial web was slowly unravelling a huge twist in its own space and time. I would expect the lower body may also come into play in future visits.
When a patient presents with a head issue, the provider needs to think of the big picture—the entire fascial web may be the root of the problem. By just listening to the patient’s fascial story, a therapist with Gillespie Approach Training can provide authentic healing.
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