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Body Memory Recall Patient Case Studies
by Jonathan Tripodi, BA, BS, NCTMB
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Chronic Neck Pain
Incontinence
Sacral Iliac Pain
Right Hip & Neck Pain from Suppressed Birth Trauma
Hiatal Hernia & Constipation
Subject: 45 year old woman
Chief Complaint: Chronic Neck Pain
I recently treated a forty-five year old woman with complaints of chronic neck pain. She had experienced relief with massage, chiropractic and acupuncture but the symptoms kept returning.
On her initial visit, I noticed her forward head and shoulder posture. When I brought it to her attention she replied "My mother always told me as a child to stand up straight and keep my shoulders back". I asked her to find out from her mother at what age she noticed the first signs of her forward head and shoulder posture and if there were any stressful events occurring at that time.
While treating her, I felt strong protective responses in the respiratory diaphragm, abdominal psoas bilaterally and the pec muscles. It seemed that these three tensions were pulling her head and shoulders forward causing her trapezious muscles to spasm.
While treating these three areas, her muscles relaxed, her breathing expanded and her body began to shake. I explained to her that the shaking was her body releasing stored stress and to allow her body to shake as much as it needed. The more she shook, the more I felt her body relax. I educated her more about how we hold stress from past experiences long after the experience is over. I gave her articles on Body Memory to read at home.
On her follow-up treatment, I could see a visible difference in her posture. She held her neck and shoulders much more upright. For the first time in years, she reported having four days in a row without neck pain. Her mother said she noticed the forward posture when she was two years old - just after her father and mother divorced. She realized that she had been protecting herself from a broken heart and the fear of loss ever since.
During her next six BMR treatments, she was able to release her fears and tears that surrounded that painful event. The protective tensions diminished and her neck pain resolved. She now practices yoga to maintain her new balanced posture.
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Incontinence & Body Memory
Subject: 45 year old woman
Chief Complaint: Neck Stiffness
History: Multiple injuries/Concussion
I recently treated a fourty-five year old woman with a history of multiple head, neck and shoulder trauma in a BMR 1 class. I was demonstrating a cervical unwinding technique and she volunteered. A history and evaluation was done prior to the demo. The most significant trauma was a concussion at age eleven resulting in bed rest for ten days. Also, she had delivered two babies naturally at home. Her labors were over 20 hours each and she pushed for four hours with each one (thirty minutes of the pushing phase is considered normal). Notable evaluation findings were restricted cervical range of motion, forward head carriage with rounded shoulders, moderate thoracic compression and hyperextension of the knees with forward pelvic carriage.
The treatment began with gentle cervical traction. Protective responses began to release around her neck and extended deep into the thoracic and pelvic tissues. After the demo, she reported feeling very relaxed and students noted a dramatic improvement in her cervical range of motion.
The next day in class, she reported having a vivid awareness during her treatment of “how much my labors had hurt me” she said. Following that awareness she experienced a sense of understanding and acceptance regarding that experience. The second day after her treatment she reported to the class with utter amazement that her urinary bladder incontinence that she had suffered with since the birth of her second child 20 years ago had completely resolved.
Two years later, I followed up with her. She reported that her incontinence remained resolved and that her exercise routine included jumping jacks and rebounding on a trampoline without leaking urine. She doubted that she ever would have connected her incontinence to the body memory of tensions in her neck and thoracic spine and the emotional suppression of injuries from her labor. After twenty years of incontinence, she did not believe it was something that would have ever resolved.
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Sacral Iliac Pain & Body Memory
Subject: 28 year old male
Chief Complaint: Left Sacral Iliac Pain
History: Exercise/ Martial Arts
The client was a twenty eight year old male approximately six feet four and 190 lbs. He presented with complaints of left sacral iliac pain and right sided compression of his torso. “My body keeps shortening down between my ribs and right hip. It’s not painful but I want to change the pattern before it becomes a problem.”
I had the client stand about six feet away and face me so I could view his full body posture. What jumped out was that his body seemed to lean towards his right side. Both plantar arches were normal but his left iliac crest seemed higher. The slant was even more obvious when I viewed him with his back towards me.
Suspecting a leg length discrepancy, I had him lie on the table in supine position. I compared bilaterally the relative length of his medial maleolus, ASIS and iliac crest levels. All levels were equal except the medial maleolus.
It appeared this client had been born with a true longer left leg. I encouraged him to get a second opinion, but the measurements I took seemed to conclude a longer left leg, which would require a quarter to half inch lift in his right shoe.
He was astonished. “I am a massage therapist and have had a lot of treatment from many different health care practitioners but no one has ever noticed this before.” This explained how the non-impact exercises he had been involved in since he was a kid, such as yoga, weight training and Chinese martial arts, probably allowed him to remain adaptive to the uneven pressures in his body without overt symptoms.
I started his BMR treatment with leg pulls. His body began to unwind into positions that placed tremendous stretch into his left sacral iliac joint, hips and quadrates lumborum bilaterally. At one point, his body curled into a ball followed by guttural contractions and soft cries. After the treatment, he expressed experiencing pinpoint pain in his left sacral iliac during the unwinding that felt like a poker was being jabbed into it. “When I was curled up, I felt like I was in the womb. My father was abusive to my mother during her pregnancy. Although I have forgiven him and he is a different man today, I could feel the anger well-up inside of me.” he explained. The awareness and the releases seemed to have a relaxing effect on his body, especially in his hips, diaphragm, belly and low back.
The client saw a chiropractor the next day who concurred that he had a true longer left leg. She initially prescribed a partial heel lift and gradually increased the height of the lift to exactly even the imbalance.
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Right Hip & Neck Pain from Suppressed Birth Trauma
Subject: 35 year old female
Chief Complaint: Chronic Neck Tension & Right Hip Pain
History: Traumatic Delivery/ Martial Arts
I recently treated a thirty-five year old woman with complaints of chronic right hip pain and neck tension. While lying supine, I evaluated her pelvic alignment. Her right ilia to was rotated forward and elevated higher than her left by about an inch. This sever torque on the right side of her pelvis was accompanied by enormous tension in her right quadratus lumborum, psoas, gluteal and quadricep muscles. She also presented with an abdominal scar from a c-section birth that was performed after prolonged labor.
For the first three treatments, I treated her abdominal scar, legs, psoas and diaphragm. She reported little to no change in her symptoms and the torque in her pelvis appeared worse.
I began the fourth treatment with gentle neck traction and a suboccipital release. She relaxed some. I followed with a thoracic inlet and diaphragm release. She seemed to relax more. I finished with an abdominal scar release. Her arms and legs began to tremble. I explained to her that the trembling was release of stored stress and encouraged her to allow her body to tremble as much as it needed. Intuitively I got the hit to add more pressure over her pelvic bones. As I added more pressure, the trembling increased, then subsided and was followed by light moaning and tears.
I re-checked her pelvic alignment. It was perfectly balanced. The tension along her spine and neck had dissolved.
She opened her eyes and said "I didn't realize that I felt guilty about not delivering my child naturally. In the doctor’s attempt to help get the baby out, he pushed down on my pelvis just as you did."
I acknowledged her courage to feel and let go of the memory. “While at home, ask yourself what you need to do to be at peace with this experience.” I suggested. Rather than try to figure out the solution, allow the answer to come to you."
On her next visit, her pelvis remained balanced. She expressed feeling calmer and lighter inside. After sharing the memory with her daughter, she felt resolve from the birth trauma. We concluded our treatment with squatting exercises to program and strengthen her body to maintain her pelvic balance and upright posture.
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Hiatal Hernia & Constipation
Subject: 35 year old female
Chief Complaint: Hiatal Hernia & Heartburn
History: Constipation
A thirty-five year old female came to me with complaints of hiatus hernia and heartburn. She was about five foot five inches and 155 lbs. Her massage therapist told her I could perform a manual, visceral release technique that would draw her stomach back down out of her diaphragm.
Upon initial evaluation, I noticed the client’s belly was distended, hard and tight like an over-inflated basketball. I expressed to her that I could do the hiatal hernia technique but the results might not last because her belly was so under pressure that it would push her stomach back up through her diaphragm again. It seemed her belly was more the source of the problem and her hiatal hernia was the symptom.
With more inquiry, she reported that her belly had been distended for many years and she suffered with chronic constipation. “I have a bowel movement once a week, sometimes less often.” Her diet consisted of fast food, little to no veggies or fruits. She was on multiple medications for years for high cholesterol and heartburn. “I recently went off all my meds and began taking apple cider vinegar, which seems to be helping the heartburn and the constipation.” She did not exercise and had difficulty bending over because of her belly. She also had begun Rolfing sessions with a local therapist.
I suggested she might benefit more from other complimentary treatments rather than more bodywork. I provided her with the following suggestions.
- See a colon hydro therapist for a consultation.
- I offered her an exercise video that incorporates gentle full body movements with deep breathing that would massage and stimulate her colon and other abdominal organs.
- If she did not have time to eat fruits and veggies, I recommended she consider green supplements offered at the health food store.
- I gave her a recipe for blending a fruit and veggie smoothie.
- I encouraged her to explore natural remedies for reducing cholesterol or find out from her physician or pharmacist if her current meds have the side affect of constipation.
I charged her for a consultation instead of a treatment. If her symptoms did not improve with Rolfing and the recommendation I made, I recommended her to schedule with me again for BMR.
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