Judy is a warm and generous 69 year old quilter who is coming to me for neck and shoulder issues. During the intake she told me she works with a personal trainer once a week. “That’s terrific!” I said. I’m always happy when people are committed to their self-care. I ASSUMED that her trainer had her doing scapulae stabilization exercises.

During our first session I discovered while trying to work with her subscap and serratus anterior that her scapula was so protracted and anteriorly tilted that I could barely palpate either muscle.

After our session I asked her some detailed questions about what exercises she was doing with her personal trainer. I showed her about five examples of scapulae stabilization exercises. “No, she doesn’t have me doing anything like that.” Judy said. “Ah, never assume!,” I thought to myself.

Below are some issues that arise when the scapulae are glued to the thorax:

• The scapulae are not able to glide on...

Ellen, an experienced and skilled bodyworker for over 10 years sent me an email recently: “What’s the connection I feel between my hip and shoulder?”

I love that question and the answer is both for your clients and you! I’ll begin with a case history from a recent client:

Janet came to see me for painful flexion and external rotation in her right shoulder. She could flex to 180 degrees but it was painful.

One of the tests I did was for a high iliac crest. Her right hip was higher in both standing and seated. Before I did any work on her shoulder muscles, I corrected that misalignment with an MET technique. I retested her flexion and her pain decreased by 50%.

Let’s dig a wee bit deeper….

QL attaches to the anterior layer of the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF). The diaphragm, and psoas  major exhibit fascial connects to this layer also.  The giant latissimus dorsi connects to the thoracolumbar fascia and the iliac crest. The thoracolumbar...

Recently a new client came to me with a complicated pain pattern: right hip, low back, and SI joint.

Several months ago she had an ovarian cyst burst; she was in the Emergency Room for over 12 hours with 10+ pain. She was convinced she was dying – even gave all her passwords to her boyfriend. She did get her surgery and is fine now – except for the pain.

When I hear a story like that many thoughts go through my mind but the three biggies are:

• Iliopsoas: (When our nervous system is in sympathetic arousal it  activates the psoas muscles – as it is the psoas’ job to jump into action to curl your bodies up into a ball and freeze, flee away in fear or fight to the death.)
• Tread lightly
• Possible neuroplastic pain (her brain/nervous system still thinks she is in danger and hasn’t regulated yet so pain is what the brain produces to keep us safe.) The body reflects our subconscious.

I knew that creating safety for her was the most important thing I...