As a chiropractor, Steve Lockhart Myotherapist & remedial massage therapist; whenever i treat someone with back pain or injury I never just look at the muscles, joints or body parts in isolation, I always looks for ‘lines’ of tension that run through out the entire body. After treating 1000’s of people as a SLM practitioner and remedial massage therapist over the past decade and more recently as a chiropractor.
I am yet to treat a back or neck pain sufferer; who was tight and stiff in the neck and back; and who wasn’t tight and stiff in the rest of the body. In fact most of the time the problem in the back & neck is just a reflection of tightness elsewhere in the body, even if this overall tension is not felt by the pain sufferer, it is still there.
Here is a potential ‘line of tension’ as described by Thomas Myers 2001, Figure 1; shows a line that begins at the bottom of the feet, then the back of the legs, the entire length of the spinal column ending in the forehead. You can get a sense of this line by bending forward at your hips and reach for your toes while keeping your knee’s straight. Now repeat this procedure but this time put a slight bend at the knees, and reach forward and touch your toes.
I’m sure many of you will feel less tension or pulling into the back with your knees slightly bent. This is because the ‘slack’ is taken out of the back of the legs, which reduces the tension through the back, spine and neck. When the muscles in the feet and the back of the legs develop tension it may have a ‘pulling’ effect right through the back and neck.
This is why when i treat someone with a stiff, painful neck i also assess and treat the muscles of the legs, the spine as well as the neck itself; before correcting any localised spinal dysfunction and pain. Sydney Chiropractic & Remedial Massage s the only clinic in Australia offering the combination of chiropractic, myotherapy & remedial massage.
As a chiropractor and massage therapist with training in myotherapy (SLM), I am an expert in spinal and
musculoskeletal health. This combination of therapies allows me to treat not only the muscles in a deep, thorough and comprehensive manner using myothrerapy (SLM) but also the joints of the spine and pelvis with chiropractic care. At Sydney Chiropractic & Remedial massage we offer a hour ‘hands on’ treatment with you.
By looking and treating the body as a whole, we don’t just treat the symptoms; and this is why we are considered experts in fixing pain and injury, even where others therapies fail. to find out more about our approach used by our Sydney chiropractor, myotherapist (SLM) and remedial massage therapist; read our approach or Contact Sydney Chiropractic & Remedial Massage to to see how we can help.