Tag Archive for neuromuscular therapy

Cranial Base Compression in a First Time Client

Cranial Base Compression — a functional approach to leg pain

Compare cranial base compression with functional resting head position.
Cranial Base Compression affects
whole body posture!

A first-time neuromuscular therapy client came in for an initial visit this past week. Part of her issue stemmed from cranial base compression. It was an interesting presentation, and I thought it might be cool to share. I won’t share identifying information; none of the pictures you see here is my client.

Her current main concern is discomfort in her legs. She has had past neck and head issues, but they aren’t bothering her right now. She is quite aware of what’s going on in her body, has some training in a health-related field, and wants to get better.

We started with a postural assessment. “Oh good!” she said. “Nobody has done that yet.”

There were two clear patterns impacting her situation, and she could feel them when I brought them to her attention. Right now, I’m just going to talk about one. Her knee joints were hyperextended — the knee joints were behind her center of gravity line. That’s a problem. It’s an indicator of something “off,” a risk factor for future joint dysfunction, and part of her symptom picture.

A functional approach to resolving pain

Looking down at our devices can contribute to a head forward position.
How much time do you spend
with your head in this position?

Our bodies are very smart. If one major body part is *behind* the center of gravity, you can be pretty sure there is a compensating part somewhere up the chain, most likely *in front of* the center of gravity.

In my client’s case, her head and neck were forward. This is pretty common, especially for people who spend time on phones, computers, and such. Which is nearly all of us these days. Maybe even you?

Compression in the lowest part of the back of the head can be part of the puzzle in this type of situation. It was for my new client. Where our head meets our neck. We refer to that as cranial base compression. It can also contribute to other issues, by the way: headaches, neck pain, back pain, dizziness, and so on. Depends on what else is going on for that person.

Let’s look at some pictures. See how this person’s chin is oriented “up” toward the ceiling and there’s lots of space between her neck and the floor?

Compressed cranial base position
Compressed cranial base position

And in the second picture, the person’s chin / head is more level. Her neck is much closer to the floor without a big gap. This orientation is our goal.

Functional cranial base position
Functional Cranial Base Position

Cranial base compression and neck range of motion

When we first started the session, my client was unable to perform the motion of moving her neck back towards the flat surface she was lying on. She understood what I was asking her to do, she just couldn’t create the motion. I was confident she’d be able to get it back. As we worked and the compression began to decrease, she regained the ability to move her neck in that dimension. She was pretty excited!

So we continued to some other areas and ultimately finished up the session. How did this impact her main goal of more comfortable legs? Well, when she stood up after we were finished, I asked her to sense any differences in how she felt in terms of stability and balance.

She smiled & said, “My knees feel like they don’t extend back so much!” This was our goal! 🙂

The main thing we did in her session to impact that was address cranial base compression. Her head was less forward, and therefore her knees didn’t need to offset that balance as much. That will take stress off her leg muscles and knee / hip / ankle joints.

Assess. Find the reason. Help the body maintain balance.

See where I’m going with this? If we had not addressed that cranial base compression, any progress we made by working on her lower body / legs would have been short-lived, because we would have ignored the reason behind the muscle imbalance. This is an example of functional health care. One of our main goals is to restore proper function to the body, in as many domains as possible, so that its own wisdom will kick in and help the person maintain any changes we make.

There’s a bit more to to the story here, and so we will continue addressing some other factors in the coming weeks.

As a certified neuromuscular therapist since 1994, this is how I think. It applies to way more body variations than just compression of the cranial base. It’s the same type of thinking that goes into my functional health consulting work. Assess, and then address the reasons why the body is out of sorts — don’t just chase symptoms.

This particular situation is fairly easy to illustrate so you can see it. I hope you found the example helpful!

I am currently accepting new Neuromuscular Therapy clients. If you’re able to come for in-person appointments in my area (north central North Dakota) and would like to explore how this type of work might help you in your personal situation, feel free to email me: wellnessimages@gmail.com .

What’s in your gut? Wheat sensitivity?!

What’s in your gut?

In a lot of cases, part of the answer is “inflammation.” Gut inflammation may influence other parts of the body. That’s how I got into studying functional nutrition. Neuromuscular therapy clients started showing up with what appeared to be systemic inflammation. Bodywork can’t fix that. It’s nutritional. Sometimes, wheat sensitivity may be involved.

As we talked, people began asking questions like this: “Could gut upset be part of my situation even if my symptoms are somewhere else in my body (joint stiffness, mood issues, headaches, fatigue, and so on) and I poop like clockwork every morning? Where does it come from? What can we do?”

The answer: “It depends.” We explore it case by case.

What's in your gut?
Beautiful wheat fields can be found all over North Dakota!

I now live in the state of North Dakota, having moved here from metropolitan Detroit 17 years ago. I work with functional nutrition clients from this local area as well as from other parts of the US.

One thing I probably don’t have to mention about North Dakota. Agriculture is the primary industry here. The primary commodity crop is wheat. In fact, according to the North Dakota Wheat Commission, 9 million acres of our state are planted in wheat crops each year.

Wheat!?

Today, let’s look at one piece. Wheat sensitivity.

I know a lot of wheat farmers. They’re awesome people who mean you no harm. I mean them no harm by sharing this information. The truth is a lot of people do not tolerate today’s wheat-containing food products very well. Even some of the wheat farmers.

Fortunately, objective testing is available. If my clients want to know whether their body has an immune reaction to wheat (hellooo inflammation), it’s pretty easy to find out.

Objective Testing for Wheat Sensitivity

The test results pictured are from someone whose main health concern was a GI issue. I honor their courage in wanting to find out the effect that wheat might be having on their system.

Wheat sensitivity. Gluten sensitivity
Objective testing for wheat sensitivity shows multiple immune system responses.

Here’s what we learned from running a test called Wheat Zoomer. First, all the celiac disease markers came back negative. My client was happy to hear that! Next, intestinal permeability is an issue. (These markers are not illustrated.)

In addition (see graphic above):

  1. They registered an immune reaction to wheat germ.
  2. Five of the six gluten peptides explored on the test triggered an immune system reaction.
  3. They registered an immune reaction to all five of the additional non-gluten wheat proteins measured.

Bottom line: In order to tame the fire in their gut, this person needs to strictly avoid both wheat (even wheatgrass juice / powder) and gluten (including barley and rye). It’s an adjustment. Fortunately, awareness of wheat sensitivity is becoming much more common, and the social aspect of trying to explain to Aunt Tilly that you can’t have a piece of her birthday cake is getting easier.

If you suspect that gut challenges may be slowing you down, I offer two suggestions:

#1. Pot luck tip: Contribute something you can eat!

Roasted vegetable medley
Roasted veggies are nourishing and delicious!

#2. Need help figuring out what’s in your gut? We offer functional health testing and consultation. Check it out.