“I have had neck pain forever.”
A young woman presented nine years ago with severe neck pain. Her history included a hip brace as a baby with shoes and a bar, orthodontic braces with four permanent teeth extracted, four wisdom teeth removed, and tonsils out at 18.
She had a zero-second brain cycle, a twisted pelvis and neck, and was also an archer. She had multiple strains compromising her health.
After ten hours of therapy over the course of a year, she felt prepared for motherhood. Just last year she gave birth, and her fussy daughter needed five visits to become a happy baby.
During one of the visits, I found that mom had some moderate pelvic floor strain pulling into her neck. I did one visit of therapy and asked her to let me know if she needed more work.
A year later, she had severe low-back and neck pain requiring more therapy. I found an intense fascial strain running from her pelvic floor into her neck. I expect to work with her over a series of visits to clear this problem.
A few lessons can be learned. She was probably predisposed from birth trauma. The hip brace and bar with shoes meant a structural problem was medically Band-Aided, leaving untreated fascial strain to later spread throughout her body.
Secondly, this area may be structurally “weak" and possibly reoccur after future births. Finally, just because her neck was in pain does not mean that it was the source of the pain.
Our infant research told us that most upper-body conditions are rooted as strain in the fascia of the pelvis and lower back. Since most providers focus on “correcting or fixing" the neck, the patient can never truly get well.
Gillespie Approach Training is a great tool for any provider’s toolbox.
