neck pain

Case Study (CS3) (Bell's Palsy) (Neck Tension or Pain)

March 15, 2018

CONDITION and HISTORY

Bell’s Palsy is a (usually) temporary paralysis with significant facial distortion. Symptoms include rapid onset of weakness in facial muscles and drooping on one side of the face, pain in or around the ear and jaw on that side, drooling from that side of the mouth, excessive tearing, twitching, and inability to completely close the affected eye. The symptoms usually resolve within six months, though in some cases they may last a lifetime or result in permanent damage to the facial nerves or (rarely) blindness in one eye.

CS3 is a strong, fit middle-aged woman who works physically hard managing a horse farm. She operates farm machinery of various kinds, rides and takes care of horses, does some maintenance on buildings and fences, and so forth. She is also a farrier, which involves equine hoof care and blacksmithing. She spends many hours a day in hard manual labor: standing, bending, lifting, kneeling, stooping, and handling heavy farm equipment, feed sacks, and bales of hay.

When she displayed symptoms of Bell’s Palsy after a period of strenuous work, she was referred to me by her employer, whose neighbor I had succesfully treated for a diagnosed case of Bell’s Palsy several years before.

Upon arrival at her appointment, in addition to her facial symptoms, CS3 reported tension and soreness in her neck and back, which she believed was the result of many hours she had recently spent bush hogging. (Bush hogging refers to mowing fields using a tractor to which a rotary mower is attached at the back. The machinery operator normally spends most of their time looking back over one shoulder at their equipment as they drive the tractor around a field, often over rugged terrain.) Her symptoms were very distressful, prevented her from working, and affected her daily routines profoundly.

TREATMENT

Upon examination and palpation, CS3 exhibited a contracted muscle pattern in most areas of her body plus additional tension in her neck and face on the left side. The initial Applied Bio-Mechanics session relieved all of the contracted areas with significant improvement in her facial symptoms. To give further attention to her cranial nerve symptoms, she returned for cranial-sacral therapy two days later. Her condition improved so much after these two sessions that her teenage son told me, “Thank you for saving my mother.”

During one month’s time, she received a total of four sessions of ABM and two of CST, during which her symptoms improved almost 100 percent. (A very slight sag remained under her left cheekbone.) Though I suggested that she return for an additional treatment, she felt well and did not feel the need to follow up. She had continued working during most of this time and felt back to her normal self.

About one year later, she returned for two treatments three days apart. She reported that she had done very well since her previous treatments, but recently had felt “out of sorts.” Her symptoms included soreness in her left hip, slightly blurred vision, and a mild facial twitch. After two ABM sessions with some CST releases, all of these symptoms disappeared and have not recurred.

OBSERVATIONS

Applied Bio-Mechanics theory suggests that the body functions best when the posture is erect and symmetrical. I have treated many people who work in physically demanding fields, including cowboys, farmers and ranchers, construction workers, mechanics, heavy equipment operators, welders, and so forth, who display a variety of symptoms due to the strains on their bodies that are inherent in their work.

In this case, I believe that the symptoms were brought on due to neck tension that pulled into the cranium and affected the cranial nerves. The strain of having her head turned back over one shoulder to watch her equipment while bush hogging was likely a contributing factor.

The previous case of Bell’s Palsy mentioned (the neighbor) occurred during an extended cross-country motorcycle ride. That client is an older man in good health, but he has a stooped, head-forward posture, and I had worked previously with him for back and neck pain. The Bell’s Palsy symptoms in his case may have been due to the extra strain of hunching forward on a motorcycle wearing a heavy helmet for hundreds of miles daily.

Bell’s Palsy is believed to be the result of inflammation and swelling of cranial nerves that affect the face, and is speculated to be caused by a viral infection. However, I believe that neck and back tension should be addressed and treated first and foremost, especially in cases of arduous labor, extreme effort from other circumstances, or postural strains. Applied Bio-Mechanics with some additional cranial releases has proven very effective in my experience.

Case Study (CS2) (Sciatica) (Cervicals, Neck and Arm Pain and Tingling)

November 12, 2017

CONDITION and HISTORY

This male client was approximately forty-three years old when he came for his first appointment in 1993 for pain in his hip and legs. He was an avid tennis player and reported that a prior structural condition had begun to hamper his game and put his tennis activity in jeopardy.

Following an accident at age fourteen, he had almost lost his right leg due to gangrene. After five weeks in the hospital and surgery the following year to narrow the wide one-and-a-half-inch scar, the surgeon reported that his right leg was growing more slowly than his left. He used crutches for months, and the doctor prescribed an elevated heel for his right shoe. As the years went by, he did not always use an elevated heel. He reported that the result of that accident was a curvature of the spine to compensate for the imbalance.

Around age twenty-seven, he received a diagnosis of sciatica. The doctor prescribed medication from which he received some minimal relief from his back, hip, and leg pain. He utilized chiropractors over the ensuing years to treat bouts of sciatica as they occurred.

When the sciatica recurred in 1993 during his tennis playing years, he determined to seek a cure for his condition rather than just treatment for the symptoms. He came to my office upon referral from another client.

TREATMENT

October 6, 1993 - Sciatica

During CS2’s first session, a posture analysis determined that his legs appeared to be the same length but his hips had rotated in such a way as to cause his right leg to appear shorter. The slight curvature in his spine was most likely due to this condition. Upon completion of an hour-long session of Applied Bio-Mechanics, he reported that he no longer had back and leg pain, and he returned almost immediately to playing tennis and strength training.

He has subsequently reported (most recently in March 2016) that the sciatica never recurred after that single session.

September 26, 1998 and October 1, 2002 - Preventative/Maintenance Sessions

CS2 returned through the years for two additional sessions. He reported that he did not have any particular complaint but wanted to maintain periodic sessions as a precautionary measure and to keep his skeletal frame in good working order. Basic Applied Bio-Mechanics was the only bodywork applied during these sessions, with positive benefits in how he felt as well as improvements in his posture.

July 24, 2007 - Cervicals/Bone Spur

CS2 requested help with a cervical problem and tingling in his left arm. He reported that a medical doctor had diagnosed a bone spur in his neck, which was causing numbness and pain in his left shoulder and arm. The pain level was in the six to seven range out of ten, and surgery was recommended. Physical therapy was also suggested as a possibility to get some relief. Instead, he made an appointment to receive Applied Bio-Mechanics. At the end of the session he reported that his symptoms were gone.

December 2007 – April 2008 - Cervicals/Bone Spur Followup

CS2 scheduled an appointment on December 12, 2007. At this time he reported that he “fell back,” meaning that his previous symptoms had recurred due to the prior cervical and shoulder problem: a bone spur at C5-7, pain in his left shoulder, and tingling down his left arm. The session went very well with improvements in his pain level.

As he was now approaching age 60, we discussed the seriousness of the situation and solutions that would improve his long-term health and physical condition. He obtained six additional treatments of Applied Bio-Mechanics over a span of four months: two more sessions one week apart in December 2007; one session about a month later in January 2008; one session about ten days later in February 2008; one session about a month later in March 2008; and a final session about a month after that in April 2008. Significant relief was obtained immediately, starting December 12, 2007, with steady improvements in his pain level and overall condition as time passed.

These sessions have served as a foundation for him to live free of all sciatic and neck/nerve pain ever since (nine years as of this date) without any additional followup.

Case Study (CS1) (Scoliosis)

October 9, 2017

CONDITION and HISTORY

In the video below (recorded in April 2011), CS1 describes her condition and treatment in her own words.

This female client was approximately fifteen years old when she came for her first appointment. Her mother, a registered nurse, had noticed that one clavicle protruded unnaturally, and subsequent doctor visits resulted in a diagnosis of scoliosis. Neck and shoulder pain were her most serious complaints. She was an otherwise healthy teenager who had an interest in playing basketball on her high school team. The school nurse would not release her to play sports until the spinal curvature was within specified bounds.

TREATMENT

CS1's first session of Applied Bio-Mechanics was very successful, resulting in an improvement in posture, range of motion, and level of comfort. Her protruding clavicle and spinal curvature improved significantly during the first session and over the next few sessions diminished to the point that neither condition was outside the normal range. Her parents did not seek additional medical interventions, being satisfied after the initial ABM sessions that she was recovering optimally, and the high school nurse released her to play basketball.

Being a very active teen and playing basketball on her high school team, CS1 found that she performed best and kept her pain level down with follow-up treatments scheduled as needed. During the approximately ten years since she graduated from high school, she has scheduled maintenance follow-up treatments from six months to five years apart, on an as needed basis.

She continues to lead a very active lifestyle, including dance and exercise instruction and professional dog training along with other work and leisure activities.