If you’ve ever skimmed over the surface of the crystal-clear CURRENT RIVER you share a bond with Molly. How so? Her family manufactures Blazer Boats in Ellington. In fact, it was her dad who referred her in because of CHRONIC NECK PAIN and HEADACHES, not to mention the funky stroke-like neurological symptoms she was having. The cause? FASCIAL ADHESIONS that had essentially “TETHERED” her neck’s ability to move through any semblance of a normal range of motion.
How common is it for people to get major neurological symptoms with their Fascial Adhesions? Common! Numerous sufferers of MIGRAINE HEADACHES get similar symptoms, much of which is related to SCAR TISSUE in, on, and around the SCM (Sterno-Cleido-Mastoid) muscle.
This tells me that in some form or fashion, Molly was either WHIPLASHED (MANY WAYS this can happen beyond MVA’s) or struggled with FHP (Forward Head Posture), which did not really appear to be the case. Problems with the SCM are intimately related to problems with the atlas, which can actually irritate the spinal cord, not just spinal nerves (LIKE THIS GENTLEMAN). Let me give you another example.
I had only been in practice a couple of months when a woman came to see me from Houston, Missouri — a town about an hour away. Half of her body did not work. She drug one leg and did everything with her good arm / hand. And when she talked or smiled, half of her face did not move. She had been like this for two years and as you might guess, had been on the medical merry-go-round.
I suggested she had suffered a stroke or maybe had MS, and then asked why she came to see me when her town had three chiros — especially considering I had only been in practice a short amount of time and did not do any form of advertising (remember, these were the days prior to the WORLD WIDE WEB). Her answer? God told me to come see you.
I shot an open mouth x-ray of her atlas / axis, which was drastically subluxated. I made the proper adjustment. She got off the table 100% normal. No joke. She came back for one more treatment and then moved to another state. For the life of me I cannot even remember her name. The point? Because of its MASSIVE AMOUNT OF PROPRIOCEPTION, an abnormally functioning neck has the potential to cause some strange symptoms. In fact, this “strangeness” reminds me of a quote from Gargan & Bannister.
Drs. MF Gargan and CG Bannister are British orthopedic surgeons (Bristol), who are renowned for their decades of research in the field of whiplash injuries and treatment. Among their numerous studies, they followed a large group of whiplash sufferers over the course of several decades, periodically reporting results along the way. Although I cannot tell you which study it was from off the top of my head, I still have the quote from one of Dr. Dan Murphy’s amazing Whiplash Conferences (Little Rock in the early 90’s, with Richard Christie, JD / DC). I am loosely quoting here because my notebooks are at the office and I am writing from home….
Whiplash can result in an array of bizarre and seemingly unrelated symptoms.
I want you to read that quote again and let the magnitude of what these authors — orthopedic surgeons with decades of experience — are saying sink in. And remember, they are not talking about pain here; they are talking about patients with symptoms that do not make sense because they are “functional,” not “pathological” (HERE is the difference). In other words, other than some DEGENERATION, which hundreds of studies say is almost impossible to correlate to patient symptoms, many — arguably the majority — have nothing to show for these “bizarre and seemingly unrelated symptoms” as far as positive test results (HERE). It’s why I continue to beat the drum for making sure my patients have normal neck function.
What is the easiest way to self-check? Can you tip your head backwards in one fluid motion (not in a stop-and-go jerky fashion) so that your forehead is parallel to the floor? Can you easily put your nose over both shoulders? If so, it’s a start. But even that might not be enough once you understand the difference between SECTIONAL NECK MOTION AND SEGMENTAL NECK MOTION. In many cases the biggest culprit is FASCIAL ADHESIONS. Why the biggest?
Those of you who have spent significant time on the MMM are nodding your head knowingly as you read this. Not just because it actually makes sense but because you have lived it. The most pain-sensitive tissue in your body (FASCIA) does not show up with current advanced imaging techniques (even though that is hopefully changing — EMPHASIS ON “HOPEFULLY”). Furthermore, DR. CHAN GUNN showed us nearly three decades ago that FIBROSIS (the medical terminology for microscopic scar tissue) can be more than one thousand times more pain-sensitive than normal tissue. It’s a heck of a bad combination if you are the person who was injured. Or maybe not injured — or not overtly or apparently so — which often makes it even worse because then you are TREATED LIKE A COMMON DRUG-SEEKER.
Bottom line, if you are living with problems like Molly, or struggling with issues similar to what we discussed today, at least give us a holler and let me take a look. I make no promises except one. If I can help you, you will know quickly. Actually in many cases, you will know immediately (HERE and HERE — and HERE is a person who had been getting adjusted 3x/week for over a thousand visits before finding us). As long as your problem is not related to a herniated disc (DON’T BE FOOLED THOUGH), more treatment won’t help if the first treatment didn’t make a difference.
Simply call Cheryl at (417) 934-6337, make an appointment and let me take a look. If I think I can help, I will treat you. If not I will send you on your way. I won’t try and sign you up on a lengthy and drawn-out treatment schedule or up-sell you. I probably won’t even make you a second appointment (see Molly’s video). You come see me when you need (check those ranges of motion in the mirror though!). In our modern age of corporate medicine, I really can’t think of anything simpler.
