The Gillespie Approach can seemingly distort logical thinking. The area of the issue the patient presents with may not be the location of its actual root cause.
An eight-day-old presented with a clicking tongue. She latched on well but would often break her suction.
When I looked at her, she had a tongue thrust. When she swallowed, her tongue came forward out of her mouth instead of touching the roof of her mouth.
She was born posterior at home after 31 hours of labor. The big issues were a wrapped cord, and she was blue for a while. On my examination, her head was tight (zero-second brain cycle), along with her throat, neck, and shoulders.
Her shoulders were so tight that they were bilaterally frozen. She was not able to lift them past horizontal to vertical while touching her ears with her arms.
When I see an infant this young, I have found that some issues like reflux, gas, and constipation do not present completely until later. There must be an intrinsic factor that gets the newborn’s body off to a good start functionally before any fascial strains kick in to cause problems.
The lower body was relatively quiet except for her diaphragm and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) area. Without therapy, I believe that mom would soon be dealing with a lot of reflux.
Something interesting happened after I helped to release that area. When I returned to the shoulders, neck, throat, tongue, and head, these tissues had significantly softened without me touching them.
Logic had told me a long labor + posterior presentation + a cord wrapped + a blue face + a tongue thrust = a lot of therapy in the head and neck area. The reality was that fascial strain in her diaphragm and LES was the root cause of her problem.
That concept is what makes the Gillespie Approach intellectually tricky for conventional healthcare providers. I could have worked those upper body structures until the cows came home without getting full resolution.
Since the fascial web connects every cell of the body together, one area can pull on any other area. She finished the visit at a 130-second brain cycle with her tongue more relaxed.
In my perfect world, the work at birth would have cleared this problem on day one. Gillespie Approach Trainings are needed for birth professionals. Come help us change lives.
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