The ramifications of a cord wrap can affect anyone's quality of life.
A forty-year-old woman presented with chronic neck pain. She snored at night and constantly cleared her throat. As a teen, she had teeth extracted before braces and had her tonsils and adenoids removed.
As a child, she had respiratory issues as a mouth breather. She also had difficulty swallowing and speaking. At birth, the cord was wrapped, and she was blue.
Clinically, she surprisingly had a nice brain cycle of 50 seconds but with the expected neck and throat fascial strain. I discovered an interesting finding in the evaluation. When I checked each leg for strain, neither was talking. When she held her hand over her throat to mimic the cord wrap, each leg was straining hard.
She said that her legs had felt tight her entire life. She could never walk as fast as everyone else. No medical professional could ever explain that phenomenon.
In my newborn assessment, the cord wrap can adversely affect the entire fascial web, not just the throat and neck area.
That concept is critical in therapy. A provider may just work the neck and throat to “correct" that isolated area. In reality, the infant needs full-body treatment.
In addition, the classic red ring around the throat appeared. The fascia had held the memory of that trauma for 40 years.
At the end of the visit, her legs felt funny, and she was walking differently. I expect her to do well as her body clears the strain patterns.
What happens during those first 40 weeks can greatly affect the quality of life. I stress that newborns must be checked at birth and treated if needed to prevent a lifetime of possible suffering.
