A skeptical 27-year-old woman presented with low back pain on her right side shooting down into her right ankle. She always felt unsteady on that foot and ankle. She also had bilateral TMJ problems and wore maxillary and mandibular appliances at night.
Her birth was difficult. Because she was positioned sunny-side up with other risk factors, the doctor performed an emergency cesarean section.
She has had no other outstanding traumas in her life. On the examination, she had a zero-second brain cycle with a tight fascial web.
I started therapy listening to her right ankle. Many times when I encounter a patient with a one-sided low-back problem, the foot and ankle on that side can be the root of the problem.
That ankle went into a deep twisting strain. When it started to release, she surprisingly mentioned that her neck also started to release. I explained to her that her full-body fascial web was responding since it connects every cell of the body in space and time.
When I shifted to her hip, I felt that it had released a little, too, from the ankle work. During the session, her whole lower right side opened, and she said that everything felt “different.”
She was also holding a distinct neck whiplash strain that was pulling into her jaw joints. The back and neck fascia can sometimes strain the TMJs—not something I learned in periodontal school.
Looking at the whole body picture, I theorize the fascial strain from her right ankle was pulling through her pelvis and trunk into her jaws. I hope that my colleagues in dentistry open to that concept someday. Her dental appliances were just managing the jaw problem.
The ideal solution would have been the work at birth to prevent these issues. Providers with Gillespie Approach Training are an important piece of the newborn’s health and well-being puzzle.
