A common complaint of the younger generation involves chronic neck pain and headaches. In a busy world filled with computers, deadlines and high stress environments, it's an obvious result that the body begins to communicate its needs through pain.
Laura is a 29 year old professional who came to see me with hopes to relieve a sharp pain she experienced two to three times per month. The pain shot from the base of her neck, often resulting in a very strong migraine that left her unable to find relief. Her condition increased over a span of five years, becoming especially intense after periods of heavy workload involving stress.
You can observe in the first photo, the curve in Laura's neck. There is a bulge that formed where the last cervical and first thoracic vertebrae meet. Upon touch the area was quite sensitive and very stiff.
Note the curve that the spine does at the base of her neck.
Neck, head and shoulders have found back their natural position.
As with all of my clients, we got straight to action. This therapy is highly successful when the client understands the change taking place in their body by feeling the shift. We decided to implement the One Minute Practice as it is exceptional for relieving physical pain and correcting postural misalignments. I believe acupuncture can be highly effective, however The One Minute Practice has been the fastest, most successful therapy I have experienced to date.
I explained to her the approach. We would need to release the neck, starting with the highest area of the chest. Relatively around the first five ribs.
The One Minute Practice works by relaxing muscle tension of supporting postural muscles so that the body structure realigns naturally. When the muscles of the front of the body are aligned and relaxed the muscles in the back body can let go of their fight and relax as well. When the fighting in the body disappears, so does the pain. My approach ensures that the client is trained to integrate the practice in their daily life to avoid need for another session when possible.
In Laura's first session we focused on understanding the breathing process and applying it to the areas of her body which were causing her pain. It's important to note that sometimes when a person experiences pain, the source of the pain is in another area of the body. This is where the relationship of the front and back body becomes important. In Laura's case, we applied the One Minute Practice focusing on relaxing muscles around the ribs (1 to 5).
In Laura's second session we applied the technique in more detail around the neck as well as to her back pain. We learned some postural principles to prevent her back tension, a component which was very important to ensure her independence in her healing.
Looking at the second photo we can observe that the curves have smoothed out, a result of the tension around the base of the neck being released. Once all the muscles around the neck were relaxed, the pain vanished.
Laura continues to benefit from the postural neck training as it ensured that she could maintain the postural shift alone. She applies the One Minute Practice for five minutes before going to bed each evening and has reported it is all she needs. Laura has been migraine and neck pain free since her last session.