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AHP PERSPECTIVE April/May 2001 Table of Contents

BLENDED SOMATIC APPROACHES FOR PTSD AND FIBROMYALGIA: A Client Case Study

— Jocelyn Olivier

Brenda came recommended by a former student who had done extensive body work with her to address the onset of wandering pain syndromes in her physical body over a four-year period. Her right arm, which she needed for work, ached all the time; her hip sockets were losing their rotational range and were in fairly constant pain. Her neck was torqued to the right, her hips were turned in, her ribs pulled right down inside her pelvic bones; one shoulder was higher than the other and pulled forward. Carpal tunnel symp-toms, TMJ symptoms, and recurring episodes of pain were all part of the syndrome. Brenda had discovered a book on fibromyalgia that described her pain patterns exactly.

We made progress beyond what she had previously achieved from many sessions of bodywork and chiropractic treatment by beginning to work with the psychological stresses contributing to her energetic lifestyle. The torsional patterns of spasmatic torticollis, coinciding when she was fifteen years old with huge emotional pain around a first love, were still in her neck some thirty years later and were the site of bone spurring and immobilization. After about four sessions, she remembered that before this recent structural "collapse," as she called it, there had been a near-death experience by electrocution while on retreat in India. Apparently the shock to her system had exacerbated all the existing patterns of neuromuscular imbalance that were already there in her body.

As we delved further, there had also been the traumatic deaths of her husband and child, and the need to cope single-handed with the care of her remaining children.

Chronic Neurologic Breakdown

Considerable skepticism challenges the existence of fibromyalgia as a disease condition. There are no solutions offered for chronic fatigue. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is usually medicated in hopes that it will abate. All these syndromes are manifestation of the same neurologic breakdown.

A Functional Explanation for Hypervigilance

When a person experiences a severe shock to the spine or the emotional system, there is an activation of the "startle" reflex, a neuromuscular reflex pattern that is common to all mammals. It fires the extensor muscles in the back of the neck, in the lumbar spine, and the psoas running from the front of the spine to the front of the legs. The firing of these muscle systems in the human mammal puts you "on your toes" ready to run or fight.

If there is not a subsequent release back to neutral after safety has been re-established, there are predictable symptoms that can generate out of these firing patterns:

• 1. compression and pain in the area of the sacrum,
• 2. sciatic pain down the legs,
• 3. pain in the ankles or bottoms of the feet,
• 4. weakness in the hands or arms,
• 5. tendinitis in the elbows,
• 6. restricted range of motion in the shoulder joints,
• 7. fearful anticipation of the next traumatic event or the occurrence of the next flare of uncontrollable pain.

In many instances, a threat to survival will cause your instincts to activate the adrenal system to make a supreme effort, a formula that, if you do survive the situation, achieves a kind of magical association with the ability to survive. One unconsciously associates survival with the maintenance of the status quo of adrenal "overdrive." These folks have a hard time relaxing, getting to sleep, or staying asleep. Physiologically their muscles become sore and tight from the constant exertion of hypervigilance. They exhibit the classic symptoms of post traumatic stress. When the muscle patterns of fight/flight are firing, the emotional being looks outside for the reason to be afraid. This generates the tendency to a fearful personality, anticipating unremitting pain, and vulnerability to suicidal thoughts.

This same symptom picture is true of those suffering from fibromyalgia. During an informal six-month study we did in 1994, 100% of the subjects interviewed had experienced a period of sustained and unremitting physical or psychological stress. It is my contention that this prolonged activation of the hypervigilant function of the adrenal glands causes first a fixation in the sympathetic nervous system, hence the inability to access the parasympathetic functions of sleep, digestion, and healing. Later, in some people, there is a breakdown of the energy-generating metabolisms—as in cases of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.

The Treatment

In conjunction with the Neuro-Muscular Reprogramming needed to resolve the problematic coordination patterns, we began to engage several energetic applications to address the shock and trauma at the physical and energetic levels.

One of these approaches is simply to release the hyperextension at the base of the spine with traction while the client engages in curling their tail between their legs the way a dog would when cowering. This consciously activates the flexors while releasing the extensors. Changing the holding patterns in this way will immediately contribute a sense of calm to the client’s inner state.

After the activated traction release, use the acupressure points at either end of the meridian that run up the spinal column. The client can hold their own points. One finger touches the cleft of the upper lip, and at the other end a finger contacts the tailbone at the top of the cleft of the buttocks. Wait for a pulse that beats in the same rhythm simultaneously at both ends of the spine. If you work hands-on with clients, it is more effective initially for the practitioner to hold the points.

Two other relevant somatic releases contribute to resolving the hyper-arousal syndrome:

1. One is the adrenal release of calming the nervous system by touching simultaneously a point on the shoulder blade and one on the hand. This sequence can also obviate migraine headaches if it is applied at the beginning of the tensioning event.

2. The second is the emotional stress release points on the frontal eminences of the cranium, midway to the hairline above the middle of the eyebrows. They too, are held until simultaneous pulses are felt in both hands.

The beauty of these treatments is that clients can apply them as self-help techniques and learn to sense when their own symptoms of stress arise and then alleviate them. See Brenda’s Story.

Brenda’s story:
NeuroMuscular Reprogramming was my saving grace through this process.

The hands-on bodywork gave me my body back little by little, reconnecting parts that were non-functioning, and reduced the pain, allowing me moments of freedom and hope. The guafinasin therapy is alleviating the recurring flare-ups, but the bodywork we do is unravelling the patterns that set in to the neuromuscular system. I believe the tensioning is an effect brought on by an accumulation of traumas, emotional grief, and not being able to handle stress. My energy bank was empty, so I had to run on adrenaline and will. Over the years this exacerbated a chemical predisposition to fibromyalgia.

In the beginning we were taking out shock and trauma. The kinesthetic tools used to release these effects from the nervous system helped this happen faster.

The combination of the Neuro-Muscular Reprogramming with the neurological chiropractic was what turned it around. I would not have made it anywhere with the chiropractic alone. It was the NMR that enabled me to reclaim and hold on to the ground I gained in each session. Living through re-activations of the traumatic events turned out to be a necessary part of the process.

As we slowly unwound Brenda’s patterns causing the painful contractions, and addressed the emotional incidents contributing to those patterns, there were chaotic episodic reactions back in the direction of the traumatic holding patterns. Any exposure to cold initiated the contraction responses. What is working in this case is a blended approach of myofascial release, NeuroMuscular Reprogramming, and emotional stress release. Even though Brenda had "processed" these incidents psychologically prior to working somatically, the patterns still exist in the physical body and therefore in the energetic and emotional body as well.

In order to be effective with people suffering with physical symptoms resulting from traumatic incidents, we must work on the body and the psyche and the nervous system.

Jocelyn Olivier is founder and director of Alive & Well! Institute of Conscious BodyWork Inc. in San Anselmo, CA, 415/258-0402. Over 27 years she has developed Conscious BodyWork: NeuroMuscular Reprogramming, a missing link in the process of rehabilitation. She also developed another specialized program in Synergetic Conscious BodyWork which addresses the emotional and energetic treatment of the physiologic effects of stress. These programs are offered at Alive & Well! She is a past president of the AHP and helps coordinate the Somatic Community. She produced and directed Body Wisdom, the 1999 International Somatic Congress.

AHP PERSPECTIVE Apr/May 2001 Table of Contents

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