So, You Say You Have Neck Pain?
Well, did you know that you likely also have a significant amount of low-back pain, hip pain, knee pain, and even potentially plantar fascia pain (i.e. pain in the soles of your feet)? No, you say? Well, even if you feel like the only place in your body where you experience pain is in your neck, it is highly likely that if you were to completely eradicate this pain, you would then feel pain in other regions of your body.
Brain Overload!
This is because your brain can only manage processing so many incoming pain signals from any single region of the body, at any given time. If your brain received pain signals from every part of your body that contained damaged or inflamed sensory nerves, your brain would explode from all of the incoming information! Well, not really explode…but you get the gist.
Fascia Who?
What we have to keep in mind is that the thick, Saran wrap that is called fascia, covers all of our muscles, from the crowns of our heads, to the soles of our feet. And guess what, it is all connected in its entirety! When the fascia becomes restricted, adhered, and shortened, it can then very literally pull our bones and joints out of alignment, which can then lead to pain! There is a reason that when you receive a reflexology foot massage, your head pain dissipates. It is because the fascia on the soles of your feet is connected throughout multiple layers, all the way up to the thick fascia on the backside of your scalp!
But Why Do I Care?
Well, guess what travels throughout these tight muscles and layers of fascia? Branches of our blood vessels and nerves. And what happens when the myofascia (muscles & fascia) clamps down on your blood vessels and nerves? Well, a lack of circulation, oxygenation, nutrient delivery, as well as significant tension on our nerves, all of which lead to pain.
So, What Can Be Done?
In order to truly heal pain in the most comprehensive way, a practitioner must spend time scanning the entirety of your body for the regions where you have developed holding patterns that have created changes in the structure and function of your fascia. Then and only then, can true healing begin, as we explore together the areas in your body where past memories, emotions, and traumas have become stuck in your tissues, but that the mind has long forgotten. What is fascinating is that the tissues in our bodies hold onto these memories, but since it is too difficult for our minds to comprehend, we shut them out and cut ourselves off from connecting with our bodies, so that we don’t feel the emotions and pain from past events and traumas.
Myofascial Release, Guided Breath Work, Biofeedback, Targeted PIT…
When we treat the physical body, while using the breath to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, we are then allowing the spiritual and emotional body to follow suit. The sensations and memories that come about when we are able to unlock the regions of the body that have been holding onto these emotions for years, or even decades, are incredibly freeing. In this way, we create an outlet for all of these pent-up emotions to finally be released!
Have You Ever Cried (Or Almost Cried) During A Yoga Class?
If you’ve ever been in yoga class, and you held a pigeon pose for just a few seconds too long, and you perhaps let the weight of your body just melt into the floor, you might have started crying. Is this crazy? No, because we tend to hold a significant amount of our emotions in our hips, and when we allow these regions to open up by taking deep, cleansing breaths, it allows things to unwind and finally let go.
Where Can I Experience This?
If you are interested in learning more about what a comprehensive treatment approach to pain entails, one that involves treating the totality of every aspect that makes you the unique individual you are, please feel free to give us a call, and we would love to answer any questions you may have!