We have a treat for you in today’s blog post for Cervical Neck Pain!
Included in this post are 3 short hands-on videos from our series PAINLess which are “quick fixes” for Trigger Point Patterns for the general public and hands-on for therapists as an introduction to the PPS Concepts.
PPS (Pain Patterns & Solutions) Bodywork has a couple of unique solutions for Cervical Neck Pain. Today, we are going to cover:
Back of the Neck (C2-C7)
Base of the Skull (C1 Release Technique)
Back of the Neck Pain from Whiplash (Platysma)
Back of the Neck (C2-C7)
We teach what is called a Direct Correlation for Cervical Neck Pain in PPS Bodywork. What that means is that if you have pain at a specific place in your neck, then there is a specific place somewhere else to work on, that will change the pain in the neck (without really touching it). I call it “the ultimate matching game for massage”.
I am going to teach you to work on the Mohawk line of the Cranial Fascia (image above).
The Cervical Spine is backwards on this line of the head with C7 being close to the Forehead and C2 being close to the Occipital Ridge. Here is how you do the PPS work for the Cervical Spine on the Mohawk Line of the Cranial Fascia.
Base of the Skull (C1 Release Technique)
C1 is a different place all together and the reason for this is how C1 works with the Jaw and how the eyes find balance. The areas that release C1 are the Chin (yes, there is Scar Tissue here), the nose (Nasal Sutures) and the cheekbones all the way past the ears to the head (Zygomatic Arch). Sometimes, this will also include massage work on the Clavicle (directly on the bone) especially if there has been a clavicle break.
Back of the Neck Pain from Whiplash (Platysma)
If someone has had whiplash, there is an overlooked structure that can provide extensive relief to the back of the neck. It is called the Platysma and it is in the front of the neck. Again, this is a PPS Direct Correlation.
The attachment of the Platysma is on a large, thin piece of fascia on the front of the neck. In a Whiplash injury, this area will receive micro-tears from the “whipping” motion of the neck. To heal those areas, the body builds Scar Tissue which pulls inward and towards itself, binding heavily in the front of the neck and creating a force that pushes the neck backwards (military neck)
Can you see the darker area by the arrow? That is where the Platysma is located and that darkened area is most likely Scar Tissue. It creates enough force to push the neck backwards and create pain in the back of the neck.
In PPS bodywork, one of the unique things I teach you is that Scar Tissue likes to form on an anchor. Scar Tissue forms for more reasons other than just the healing of an injury or surgery. The body uses this universal tissue to correct and maintain balance.
In order to be involved in creating and maintaining balance, Scar Tissue must have something stationary to adhere to in order to stabilize the body. It uses bones and sturdy, non-contracting tissues like ligaments and fascia as anchors for this stabilization.
These areas in the body are where you will find Scar Tissue that has formed for balance. As Massage Therapists we have been trained to massage all around bones but not on top of them. Now I am sharing with you the importance of using these anchoring areas to create the changes in the muscles that seem to elude you. I will be showing you to work on top of bones and other sturdy structures in a therapeutic way.
The area of blue is where Scar Tissue forms creating the “x” your client complains of.
I hope you enjoyed these videos and I would love to see you just try incorporating these techniques into your bodywork sessions.
If you would like more training in the PPS Bodywork technique, we would like to invite you to take a FREE 1 CE Hour PPS Introductory Class available at our hands-on, on-line training center here: