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Is your neck bothering you now? Is it stiff? Do you have a numb arm? Chronic headaches? If so, you’re in good company. Neck pain affects two-thirds of the population at some point in their lives¹.

The Source

Virtually all neck pain starts from the soft tissue–the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia (the connective tissue that holds the muscles together). Soft tissue tightens and shortens after an injury, due to postural strain, or just from stress. Then soft tissue literally pulls the bones out of alignment. Eventually, it may even cause the cervical discs to deteriorate. This compression may ultimately impinge on a nerve, causing shooting pain down the arm or numbness.

The soft tissue pulling on the head often causes headaches. Every client I’ve seen who was suffering from headaches also had a tight neck. Inevitability, when the neck released, the headaches would disappear.

Acute and Chronic Causes

Accidents will often cause neck pain. Whiplash injuries from automobile accidents can push the vertebra of the neck backwards, causing you to lose the natural curve in your neck. Strains to the upper back or shoulders will often cause the neck muscles to tighten as they adapt to the injury.

On more long-term basis, poor posture can cause the head to stick forward. Your head weighs a good ten pounds, which ends up being a lot of strain on the muscles doing a job they weren’t designed to do. These muscles were meant to turn the head, not hold it up against gravity. The posture muscles of the neck and back are very small and deep. When our bodies are in balance, these muscles don’t need to work much. They don’t need to be stronger – they need to let go.

Some anatomists claim that some of your neck muscles are secondary breathing muscles. Actually, you are only meant to use these neck muscles in survival situations such as running for your life. If you continue to use these muscles to hold up the shoulders (in an attempt to get more air in the upper lobes of the lungs), you end up with shoulders up around your ears and the appearance of having no neck.

Treatment

Because of the many layers of muscles and the seven vertebra of the neck, there is a lot of room for maladaptation and tension. Treating the neck pain means regaining suppleness and mobility. If the tightness is recent, a good massage or a chiropractic adjustment might be all you need. If the tension (but not necessarily the pain) had existed for years, you may need to address the chronic tension to treat the recent pain. My recommendation is always start with the easiest, cheapest and quickest treatment, then gradually progress up the treatment scale until you achieve the results you want.

Standard exercise does not usually alleviate the pain. In the short run, there may be some improvement because you are moving your neck. But neck pain is not caused by weak muscles; it‘s caused by tension and misalignment that need to be released.

Over several decades of treating clients’ neck pain as a Rolfer, I’ve learned that releasing the chronic tension in the head, neck and upper back does wonders for healing neck pain. For some clients, much of their neck pain comes from their neck adjusting to an imbalance lower in their body. For instance, if one leg is shorter, your back and neck will adjust so your head is level. Years of this adaptation will create strain. You can loosen the neck, but often the pain will continue if the entire body isn’t balanced.

It ’s amazing how the body can heal when the stress is removed. Your body wants to feel good; it just may need a little help to regain the resiliency you once had.

¹According to Allan I. Binder, MD, a rheumatologist who published a 2007 study in the British Medical Association Journal.

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Respiratory disorders, such as allergies and asthma, can actually alter the body’s physical structure. In the case of respiratory difficulty, restricted breathing can create a misshapen rib cage. If breathing is difficult–or even scary–the body will distort around that stress, adapting by creating fascial adhesions, or scar tissue. Not taking full breaths creates the restricted structure, reinforcing the experience that breathing is difficult.

So how do we reverse this pattern?

First, you free the chronic structural and soft tissue pattern by releasing the chronic tension held in the body. Rolfing was specifically designed to remove the chronic tension held in the body’s soft tissue, and can reestablish the subtleness to allow the rib cage to move more freely.

Twenty years ago, I conducted a study on Rolfing with elite runners at Arizona State University. The biggest improvement they collectively experienced was increased vital capacity (the ability to take in more air). Even the world-class runners—including an Olympic marathon runner—experienced breathing improvements. Chronic allergy and asthma sufferers, after decades of breathing restrictions, usually see considerable improvement with Rolfing.

Stress

The other key factor with optimal breathing is to learn not to respond to stress in the old tension-producing manner.

When I had a clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, we operated a Mindfulness Stress Reduction program for hospitals and corporations. In the eight-week course, we often had students who experienced breathing problems. After a few weeks of teaching their mind and body to relax in the face of stress, the respiratory symptoms would decline. The core of the course was learning to feel, and then let what was occurring to occur. When we stop resisting our bodies, we stop tensing. For whatever reason, we learned to hold our breath when stressed; when we just let go and breathe, the stress seems to dissipate. When the tension of stress is gone, we breathe naturally.

Image by mechkad via Flickr

Releasing Stress Heals Fibromyalgia

Do you have ongoing, non-specific pain? Is this pain worse when you’re tired or stressed? If you answered yes, you may be suffering from Fibromyalgia.

If you google stress and Fibromyalgia, you’ll see that Fibromyalgia is a hot topic. For my Stressed Out blog, I wrote a post explaining Fibromyalgia and its relationship to stress. It’s the most-read post on that blog.

For years, I have told my clients that, as a culture, we live on the Fibromyalgia continuum. Virtually everyone has some of the symptoms. But the subclinical symptoms may only show up sporadically, when you’ve pushed yourself for several days.

Chronic suffers of Fibromyalgia didn’t just suddenly catch the illness. Fibromyalgia is a condition that developed because the body became run down – not because of an illness that was contracted from being exposed to a pathogen. Years of abuse–stress, working hard, not getting enough rest, and poor nutrition–can manifest as Fibromyalgia.

Exhausted and Hyper

Interestingly, all the diagnosed Fibromyalgia suffers I have seen in my practice are wired and exhausted. Most often, their soft tissue is lacking life; or, as an Oriental medical doc would say, they have low chi. Their deeper soft tissue is tense and fibrous.

Just like depression and Chronic Fatigue, which are closely related to Fibromyalgia, Fibromyalgia clients need to release their deep chronic tension to get well. That deeper layer of soft tissue needs to come back to life. It is as if that layer is blocking the chi and blood circulation from reaching vital organs and the more superficial levels.

The Power of Rolfing

Many of these clients are committed to getting well, and have seen many other good practitioners without getting better. These doctors and healthcare providers, along with the clients, can’t understand why they’re still sick.

To get well you don’t treat the problem, you treat the cause. Once the cause shifts, the problem disappears.

Over the 30 years I have treated people, I’ve had a lot of referrals from excellent practitioners who normally get great results, but weren’t getting anywhere with Fibromyalgia clients. We all learned that without these deep layers of tissue releasing the pent-up stress, other treatments, such as homeopathy and clinical nutrition, don’t get into the tissue. Rolfing releases the tension and teaches the body not to recreate it.

Once the stress, exhaustion and tension releases, all the therapies that weren’t working suddenly start to work better than the norm. These clients often prove to be some of the most successful cases for other practitioners. Rolfing can free the body to allow other therapies to support deep healing and rejuvenation.

Fibromyalgia Is Not a Chronic Disease

With the correct combination of therapies, Fibromyalgia is “curable.” As I mentioned in the post on Stressed Out.org, the medical profession is starting to recognize Fibromyalgia as a real problem: now there’s a drug for it. Of course, the drug company is not promising a cure, just a mitigation of symptoms—they want people to see Fibromyalgia as a chronic condition that requires life-long medication.

In my experience, if a person truly wants to get well from Fibromyalgia, and is willing to step outside of the normal treatment box, they will get well. The road back to wellness will take a while. It will require commitment and a willingness to feel and express old emotions. There will be times when you’ll feel worse – more exhausted and more depressed. You may even have more short-term pain. But hang in there – you will get well.

Here are videos explaining Rolfing.

Michael Solberg, MD a Dallas plastic surgeon and Rolfer, describes how Rolfing works. When I had my clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, I had plastic surgeons for clients. These fellows, without really knowing it, had a great understanding of fascia. Back then, fascia was not given much attention in anatomy classes, so not much credit was given to fascia for what it was doing. Yet without fascia surgery, plastic surgery would not be possible. Fascia allows the attachment of tissue; fascia is the web that holds everything together. (An interesting side note: Michael’s father, Ken is an old friend and “old Rolfer”. If Ken is old, that makes me old too.)

An old video of Ida Rolf, Ph.D. is a very good explanation of what occurs when injury (stress) impairs fascia, and how Rolfing releases the adhesion. Here is another old video of Ida speaking of Rolfing. These old videos are entertaining for their ancientness.

YouTube has several videos on fascia, the connective system that Rolfers release and organize. But the 2007 Harvard conference on fascia was its “coming out party”.

An old friend of mine, Robert Schleip, Ph.D, was the driving force behind conducting a conference at Harvard on the latest in fascial research. In this interview, Robert explains that fascia is the proprioceptive organ (provides a sense of the body’s position). Science is realizing that fascia is everywhere, Robert says, influencing everything. Now the forgotten fascia is the thing to study.

Serge Gracovetsky, Ph.D. speaks about his back problem; seven orthopedic surgeons giving him seven different diagnosis prompted him to research why his back was bad. He discovered that, like the circulatory system, the skeletal-muscular system needs to have cycles of rest. This is done by the work being alternated between the muscles and the fascia (connective tissue). One system rests as the other works.

Thomas Findley, MD, Ph.D. Rolfer was another organizer of the Harvard conference. He provides background on why the conference was organized, and exactly what fascia is.

There’s an 80% chance you will see your doc about back pain during your life. In the last article, you learned the distinction between acute and chronic back pain, and how to not cause either. And you learned that breathing is the key to preventing and healing back tension. This article will explore, in greater depths, what is behind chronic back pain and what you can do about it.

As a Rolfer, I tend to treat people after they tried everything else. This in not because other treatments are ineffective – it’s because the tension that is causing the persistent problem is old. After many years of repeated back problems, the entire body gets tighter and more distorted. The original problem might have been from a childhood injury. Over the years, the body has more stress, more injuries and more patterns of compensation that all add to increased tension. At some point, the body exhausts its ability to counteract the original strain pattern. Now you are worse off – you have the original tension plus years of coping with it.

The Often-Overlooked Source of Back Pain
We all know we get shorter as we age. But it’s not our bones shortening—it’s the soft tissue shortening and screwing down. Here is a quick test to evaluate what your low back is up against:

Stand up, and place your fingers on your pelvis.
Push in a little until you feel that lower twelve rib.
Optimally, you should have the space of three finger widths between your pelvis and your lower rib.

Rarely do I find that much space. Two finger widths is great, one is adequate. When you are at no space or having your ribs inside your pelvis, you have a problem.

This is where we lose most of our height. Our discs are like jelly donuts being space fillers between the vertebras allowing the spine to move. They become pancakes from this compression. When the discs compress and the tissue around them tighten, they dehydrate from lack of circulation and movement. This sets up the bulging or ruptured disc that may require surgery. This chronic tension and shortness just makes you more vulnerable to back injury and pain.

Strengthening your back will often give your short-term gain; you’ll have increased movement, and you may develop a new pattern of compensation. Over time, the soft tissue just gets tighter.

We need to go in the other direction. We need to release and lengthen the tissue. Unfortunately at this point, stretching does not work for most people. Stretching these muscles is like stretching a steel cable. We need to make the soft tissue soft again.

What Is Possible
If the body created soft tissue strain, it can usually un-create it. When the correct amount of pressure is applied to the right area, the tissue begins to release. Over time, hydration, subtleness and movement returns. The body begins to unwind as it lengthens out. The space in between the pelvis and the ribs returns.

Once the body attains a level of order and relaxation, the change becomes sustainable. All our bodies prefer pleasure to pain. When we are so used to pain, it can take a while for our bodies to trust that our backs can be as they were when we were younger.

Part of returning this vibrancy to our tissue comes from changing simple behaviors. The first is learning not to protect your back. The natural behavior of holding to avoid or reduce your back pain over time only makes your back tighter. I have seen people where their pain is long gone, the back is loose, but the person still protects out of habit. Noticing how subtlety we hold is huge. A lot of little holding all the time adds up to be significant. A lot of subtle letting go adds up also.

Rolfing is certainly not the only means to releasing chronic tension; it just may be quickest, though. Teaching the entire body to deeply and consistently relax can do a lot. As mentioned in the previous article, learning to breath and dealing with stress can significantly improve chronic pain.

It’s inevitable. Like death and taxes. Back pain.

Second to colds, the most likely reason you’ll visit a healthcare provider will be back pain. Fifty percent of Americans report back pain each year.

Are you in pain right now? Is your movement limited? Are you reducing your activities because of the pain or the fear of the pain? Let’s look at why.

A lot of back pain comes from overexertion. If that’s you, you’re lucky. Your pain will go away once your body recovers from being pushed. And there’s a good chance it won’t return—unless you overdo it again. In time, you’ll be fine.

For pain due to overexertion, traditional remedies work well. Cold compresses can reduce swelling. Warm, moist heat helps muscles that feel tight. Alternating the two can be beneficial. And of course, massage and gentle stretching relax the tightness, and the movement prevents further stiffness. Rest always supports the body in healing, and topical ointments will give you warmth and local pain relief.

Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back pain is a different animal. Pain often occurs without physical exertion; it just shows up. As the frequency and intensity of episodes increase, each incident leaves a tension residue that sets up the next attack of pain. Pain pills and muscles relaxers can help, but many people don’t like their side effects. One thing is clear: just treating the symptom is not enough—particularly when the problem is likely to return.

Prevention and Treatment
The best way to treat chronic back pain is to prevent it. Learn to lift using your legs. Sit on your sits bones. Stop slouching! It will all reduce back strain. Use ergonomic furniture that adjusts to your unique body, instead of forcing your body to adapt to the furniture. Moving helps, too – get up and walk around, take breaks.

And the most critical behavior—the one we never think—about is breathing. I know, you are breathing. The question is how well.

When I taught Mindfulness Stress Reduction courses in Scottsdale, AZ, the principal reason people came to us was back pain. At the time, we were the largest company offering these courses in the country. Most of our students for the 8-week course were referrals from hospital networks or corporate clients.

We taught the students to breath. As easy as it might sound, the first few weeks were tough. Doing very simple relaxation exercises would actually create stress. The students’ old habits prevented them from relaxing and breathing fully. Once they realized how tense they were, they saw and how much they were limiting their breath—even when they believed they were relaxed. With daily homework and coming to the weekly class, their awareness and breathing increased as their stress and pain declined.

What does this mean for you? If these very tense people can dramatically change their stress and pain in 8-weeks, so can you. The first step is to become aware of how you hold your body and your breath. If you are holding one, you are holding the other. As your breath becomes fuller, slower and more relaxed you begin to train your body not to hold stress, but to release it.

In keeping with letting go, I suggest to my clients that they do not do “back strengthening” exercises. I have not seen a back that was muscularly weak; I see many that are structurally weak. Our bigger back muscles are not meant to be posture muscles, they are designed to move us, not hold us. The constant holding makes them tighter. Rather than getting stronger form sit-ups or back extensions, practice breathing and stretching.

My next article will build on this one and begin to explore how Rolfing turns around chronic back pain.

The word is getting out on Rolfing being a beauty treatment as well as a therapy. A post on The Beauty Site explains the beauty benefits of Rolfing. More people are realizing that improving your health and your structure does make you more attractive. Being healthy always looks good.

It seems researchers discovered that subcutaneous fat might be a good thing. “Even more surprising, it wasn’t that abdominal fat was exerting negative effects, but that subcutaneous fat was producing a good effect, ” Professor Ronald Khan.

As a Rolfer, I am in the process on conducting a pilot study on reducing cellulite for women. I do believe there are multiple causes of cellulite that can be affected through Rolfing and other holistic treatments. I also believe that as a culture we have become obsessed with having the perfect body. Being healthy produces a attractive body that is sustainable . The secret to Rolfing’s affect on reducing cellulite is it reduces the stress of the body while increasing the tissue’s circulation.

You might not be able to share your cellulite with me, but you can reduce your visceral (abdominal) fat and cellulite (subcutaneous) fat to be and look healthy.

Rolfing is making the science news. Science Magazine, “the world’s leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary,” has an excellent write up about the recent First International Fascia Research Congress in its November 23, 2007 issue (vol. 318, pp. 1234-5). Go to the Rolf Institute website at http://www.rolf.org/about/research.htm to link to the full text of the article, “Biomedical Research; “Cell Biology Meets Rolfing” and “From Rolfer to Researcher”.