If someone you know suffers from chronic pain, tension or some other non-responsive complaint, perhaps the culprit is a mechanical restriction. Typically, these restrictions result from physical trauma, such as falls, blows and whiplash. Mechanical restrictions may also result from pregancy, birth and emotional trauma, past infection, or surgery. The good news is that if the underlying problem is mechanical, it may be easy to find and release.

Inherent Motions

The cranial bones, sacrum, and internal organs all have their own inherent motions (motilities) around their own unique axes. For example, the heart's ideal motility is akin to a pendulum in a grandfather clock, swinging easily and symmetrically across the thorax. This motion can be palpated through the sternum and ribs, and is key to optimal function. Imaging techniques show that gentle, specific manipulations can restore and enhance motility.

Of all the organs, the heart is, arguably, the most critical. The heart's importance as the seat of life, the seat of the soul, a major part of our emotional brain, and pump are well known. But most of us give little thought to the implications of the heart as a pump. To pump effectively, the heart needs easy access to oxygenated blood and unobstructed arteries.

However, life involves gravity, velocity, and interpersonal history. We fall. We collide. We wound--and are wounded by--family, friends, and foes. We have infections and surgeries. These experiences can put restrictions on internal organs, including the heart and blood vessels. For example, the acceleration and deceleration associated with a vehicular collision (whiplash) is likely to leave lesions and spasms in the vascular walls, perhaps in the abdominal aorta or one of the carotid or vertebral arteries. These spasms put a drag on the heart's motility and typically persist until manually released.

Similarly, if our history includes abiding guilt or a broken heart from the loss of a parent, pet, or a lifelong dream, this injury may manifest as a mechanical restriction in the heart. If it does, the heart will develop a pathological affinity for a neighboring organ or structure, such as the liver, stomach, lung or nearby blood vessel. Over time, this affinity can become an adhesion and, if not released, a fixation as our body reorganizes pathologically around our history.

Damage Control

Initially, the body responds to mechanical and emotional trauma by trying to dissipate it. However, when the trauma exceeds the body's dissipation abilities, the next strategy is to concentrate the trauma as much as possible. And there it lies, in some cases undiscovered for decades.

In its infinite wisdom, the body has a well-developed sense of which structures are most critical -- primarily the circulatory system, nervous system, lungs, and kidneys. When residual trauma threatens a critical organ or structure, the body will recruit whatever it can, including muscles and the skeletal system, to minimize the consequences.

Symptoms typically arise when the ability to compensate has been exhausted, can present far from the location of the restriction, and are often mistaken for pathology. For example, the symptom could be chronic shoulder tension or a bulging disc. In such cases, we often mistakenly assume that the body has somehow failed (failed to heal, failed to respond to massage, chiropractic, injections, muscle relaxants, etc.) when, in fact, the body is functioning perfectly, recruiting less critical structures to protect something more critical.

What's a Body To Do?

Mechanical restrictions put unnecessary wear and tear on vital structures like the heart. Untreated, these restrictions can drastically--and needlessly--reduce the effectiveness and service life of affected organs. For most of us, life is already too short as it is. If your body isn't up to par, don't wait. Get help now. If you are considering surgery, at least talk to someone trained in manual therapy first.

We can't change your history. What's done is done. However, mechanical restrictions are often relatively easy to find and release-which means we can restore our body's ability to compensate. Typically, no matter how mysterious the cause, once prolapses, twists, adhesions, or fixations are found and released, vitality and a sense of well-being improve--often dramatically-while symptoms depart or moderate significantly.

Energy work, nutritional therapy, personal growth, prayer, meditation, and other approaches may work well, but, generally speaking, physical restrictions respond best to mechanical approaches. This is why manual therapies like CranioSacral and Visceral Manipulation are so exciting and rewarding. We may catch problems long before symptoms arise. That's true prevention. We may resolve conditions long after others have given up. Some clients are able to avoid surgery. Prevention, again. For those who've had surgery, we may minimize the likelihood or effects of complications, if any. Finally, these therapies are safe, gentle, effective, and nearly always pleasant.

Myofascial, massage, acupressure, and physical therapists and rolfers are among those most likely to offer CranioSacral and Visceral Manipulation in Alaska. If you have questions, please call. If some faraway friend needs this work, one of the 50,000 colleagues in my global directory may be just down their street.