The Collarbone is Connected to the…–February 18, 2014

The Collarbone is Connected to the…

You slip and catch yourself with your right arm. Whew, close call but, lately your neck hurts, headaches are more frequent, and it is hard to get comfortable sleeping. Coincidence? Not really.

In the past few months we’ve seen a number of children and adults who have had collarbone/clavicle injuries. Some common concerns with them are headaches and neck stress. Neck muscle stress can take on characteristics of poor head posture, visual stress, and stiff/painful muscles. Inconsistency is also common.

What we find—the injury to the collarbone, whether broken or merely impacted, is far more complex when it is on the right side.

Why is an injury to the right side worse? The answer lies underneath the collarbone where the subclavian artery resides. When you injure the right shoulder, you put stress on the subclavian artery which often ends up stressing the right carotid artery—the one that goes to your head. The artery configuration on the right side is much closer to the surface and the branches are connected differently that the left side. Both these characteristics cause more impact to shoulder and head motion on the right side than on the left side.

So, what can be done? We use Kinetic Bridging® stretches to re-stabilize the neuromuscular connections of the arm, shoulder, and head to restore original position and function. Usually, the function can be restored in just a couple of sessions.

Winter Woes?

We’ve been helping a number of clients with winter aches and pains ranging from sciatic pain in the leg to lower back pain from skiing falls.

A slip or fall is just enough to upset the delicate balance of how your muscles work together. We are usually able to restore the stabilizing interactions in a session or two.

Reading Update

We’ve heard back from several of our young students and their reading is taking off! We have had the privilege of working with several 1st and 2nd graders this fall.

One mom reports that her daughter has progressed several reading levels in the weeks we’ve been working together. She is now in a different reading group and enjoys her reading time.

One proud young man has been able to move out of his “special” reading group into the regular reading group. This followed the period we worked together. He is very proud of himself and his self-confidence is growing!

Another young student is now reading anything and everything once her body has become more stable to enable and support efficient visual function. So wonderful to hear!

A Note from Cara

As the hours of daylight increase, thoughts of spring activities take on life.

There are so many interesting ways we are helping clients to move better this year. Every day we are reminded of the wonder that we function at all! Figuring out how children and adults move with the craziest of compensations and it’s even more amazing to see these movements change!

Whether is getting you ready for spring soccer, softball, the season’s first 5k, or putting your winter injuries back together, we look forward to seeing you again soon!