NMR Efficacy

Problems Come Apart in Layers

Published: 7 November 2023
Written by Jocelyn Olivier
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Categories: General Interest, NMR Classes, NMR Efficacy

Problems Come Apart in Layers: Because Muscles Come in Layers

LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TODAY…!

The Origin of the Issue

This client is dealing with a complex situation involving a Scoliosis pattern and a blow to the left top of the head sustained in a protest demonstration 50 plus years ago at the age of 21 at the hand of a policeman’s baton. The blow knocked her unconscious. The spiral that it put into her spine may have been the source of her scoliosis. A routine screening for Scoliosis as a teenager in school elicited no remarks about Scoliosis.

Progress Over Time

When we first began work 1 ½ years ago her upper cervicals were radically torqued to the right and compressed such that the base of her neck had no room to rotated to the left at all. Now her head sits on top of a much longer neck and the sub-occipital torque is a small remainder of a lifetime of patterning.

Shoulder Problems and Their Source

Shoulder problems almost always have a contributing source in the reciprocal function of the SPS. Lack of rotational movement in the upper thorax can cause weakness in one or both shoulders. Today we focused on the left shoulder restriction.
My client thinks this restriction is due to overuse at an earlier age due to bracing with that arm for her work. I don’t agree. I think the weakness and dysfunction in that shoulder caused the effort of a weak muscle to go rigid through use. Remember: Muscles that are weak become rigid and sore when used excessively, and do not respond to massage. Relaxing is not appropriate for muscles that are weak and overworked.

Layers of the Problem

She has residual restrictions in her left shoulder joint and excessive holding in the arm pit area.
This problem has come apart in 4 or 5 layers: first the vertical support of the thoracic/cervical column; second the small muscles of the shoulder joint; third the big muscle support of the lateral shoulder such as tricep and lats and anterior serratus; fourth, deeper into the joint, the posterior deltoid has taken over for stabilization to the core (Rhomboids, Ant Serratus and Traps).
Fifth, we HAVE to make sure the rotations at the suboccipitals and those at the top of the thoracic column (Serratus Posterior Superior) are both reciprocally functional and not undermining one another. We’ve corrected this before so it wasn’t the focus of today’s work but it did have to be checked against all other inhibitions found today.

Rule of NMR: Muscle Coordination

RULE of NMR: Remaining dis-coordination in associated muscles; those used for bracing a structure to get life’s work done, can trigger the body to reconfigure the whole coordination confusion. Next time you’ll have to repeat things. Once you get all muscle coordination coherent, that doesn’t happen. Could it really be that simple? In my experience YES, over and over again.

Sympathetic Dominance

Published: 23 February 2023
Written by Jocelyn Olivier
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Categories: Brain Function, Hacking Your Nervous System, NMR Efficacy, On The Path, Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic

How do you know that someone is Sympathetic Nervous System Dominant?

There are lots of signs that you are Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) dominant: Muscle tics in the eye lids, rapid blinking of the eyes while responding to movement instructions, labored or quick breathing, chronic tension in muscles, especially those in the back/extensor side of the body, and cognitive delays in response to instructions just to name a few. A person with SNS dominance will apologize and tell you they did not understand what you wanted them to do.

 

How do you measure ‘Sympathetic Tone’?

I look for common clues that indicate problems with the fundamental coordination system such as the inability to rotate the T/L junction with reciprocal ease in both directions, cognitive confusion, orientation confusion such as not knowing the difference between right and left, looking confused or misunderstanding simple directional instructions, with 2 out of 3 reciprocal rotator functions ‘off’ or inhibited.

 

Signs that your client’s ParaSympathetic Nervous System (PNS) is coming back online:

Gurgles and squirts in the viscera; yawning; spontaneously swallowing, dropping into a sleep state instantaneously, twitching in peripheral muscles, softening of formerly tight muscles.

Why work so hard to get muscles to relax when you can just get the ANS (autonomic nervous system) to slow down? Sympathetic Dominance may be contributing to your client’s muscle tension and inhibiting corrections in stored movement patterns. Clients with Sympathetic Dominance need Brain Function Facilitation in order to shift into the ParaSympathetic.

 

From the NeuroMuscular Reprogramming Instagram.

How Do We Know if Someone Needs Brain Function Facilitation?

Published: 14 February 2023
Written by Jocelyn Olivier
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Categories: Brain Function, NMR Classes, NMR Efficacy, Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic

In my intake forms I look for signs of Multi-System Breakdown.

When there is a history of trauma and visceral or cognitive effects ongoing Sympathetic Dominance may be a contributing factor. For some people the hindrance is cognitive and for others it’s structural/functional and for others it has evolved into metabolic disturbances disrupting digestion, absorption, elimination, and healing.

40 plus years ago I studied Educational Kinesiology and have incorporated what I learned into my work with clients’ structural problems…

The inclusion of approaches to shift clients toward the Parasympathetic side of the nervous system is part of Mod 1 Intro to NeuroMuscular Reprogramming.

 

How Do We Shift a Client Toward the Parasympathetic?

Actually, it’s the clients who must do the work. I introduce a few breathing practices, and the incorporation of a couple of simple techniques from Educational Kinesiology which have become very popular with Chiropractors in the last decade as they choose to expand their clientele to work with kids who have cognitive processing problems.

NeuroMuscular Reprogramming NMR® incorporates some of the basics of Brain Function Facilitation and teaches it at a level that can make a big difference to clients progress toward their goals of reduced structural pain and improved ROM.

 

Lesson 1: First Important Consideration in Corrective Bodywork

 

What Can Be Done About Frozen Shoulder?

Published: 4 December 2022
Written by Jocelyn Olivier
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Categories: Handling Stress, NMR Efficacy, Stress, Techniques

The Emotional Component

I have heard that frozen shoulder can follow an emotional trauma.  A former student came in to see me as a client. She had recently gone through two losses of people dear to her.  She developed frozen shoulder.  I’ve also heard that frozen shoulder will go away on its own after a couple of years. Can that process be speeded up? Yes, it can.

Any condition with an emotional component as history requires checking for Contralateral Coordination Dysfunction. Muscle testing reveals ALL shoulder muscles are weak. Brain Buttons turned on some of the muscles, but the shoulder is still dramatically dysfunctional. Many external rotation functions are inhibiting the internal rotator of the Subscapularis.**

Once internal rotators were working, we worked adhered and rigid shoulder tissues.

4 NeuroMuscular Reprogramming NMR® treatments

4 neuromuscular reprogramming treatments one month apart has almost completely removed the restriction and pain.

Now that the emotional factors have been addressed, in session 2 we were able to deal with some of the peripheral dysfunctions created by the main restrictions in the shoulder. We also began to work with the support and function of the neck muscles and how they contributed to the shoulder dysfunction.

In frozen shoulder, the muscles of shoulder depression dominate those of elevation. The client cannot lift their arm. Neither can they internally or externally rotate to a full potential ROM.  External rotators are usually inhibiting internal rotators to begin with… 

Resolving Scapular Adhesions in this case of Frozen Shoulder:

First, I addressed Scapular Adhesions, specifically…
Lt Rhomboid AND Lt Coracobrachialis inhibited Lt Teres Maj, Subscapularis

PMC inhibits Post Delt; Traps; Supraspinatus

The next layer of dysfunction:

Lt Subscap inhibits Lt Infraspinatus AND Supraspinatus (int rot’n inhibits ext rot’n) This was revealed after decompressing the shoulder with traction and tissue manipulation to reduce tissue rigidity.

More neck work resolved Lt Scalenes inhibit Rt Scalenes.
Lt OCI inhibits Rt OCI
Rt OCS inhibits Lt OCS
Lt Rec Cap inhibits Rt Rec Cap
(Yet another seeming reversal in dysfunction is now apparent as the neck compression issues of rotation and counter rotation are resolved.)

(Next session we need to connect the low back to Lt neck and shoulder.)

The Final Session: Pain on movement is gone, but details remain

Lt Sterno-Clavicular Joint is stuck (immobilized).
Infraspinatus inhibits Subclavius; Serratus Posterior Superior (SPS); Subscapularis
Ant Serratus inhibits Ant Deltoid. (Remember that Infraspinatus and long head of Tricep inhibited Lt Lat and Infraspinatus was the most fixated muscle in the superficial shoulder
area.)

The synergist of Subclavius, PMC is likewise inhibiting Subclavius; also P. Delt and Bicep.

Now we begin to see the layer of dysfunction under the layer we’ve been able to work with.
Subscapularis inhibiting Teres Major; Teres Major inhibiting Subscapularis (how can this be? An increase in the ROM in the joint reveals YET ANOTHER layer of dysfunctional synergistic muscle relationships.)

Teres Minor inhibits PMC AND Subclavius (once again we are looking at reciprocal inhibitions).

Rt Obliquus Capitis Superior (OCS) inhibits OC inferior (OCI); Lt eye tracking. Rt Eye tracking inhibits Lt OCI. Needs more work.

Did extensive tissue mobilization throughout the structure of upper chest and all through the arm muscles.   

Client is quite satisfied with her progress but still can’t ‘lift’ her hand behind her back to the range it was before.  These details will continue to progress with more work, but 4 sessions is extraordinarily fast to accomplish freedom from pain on movement.

NOTES:   *In the case of True Frozen Shoulder, the medical approach of forced manipulation under anesthesia is called for.

**(PT approaches given for frozen shoulder begin with exercising the external rotator functions of the shoulder. Since external rotation is usually dominant in frozen shoulder this would seem counter indicated.)

 

 

3 is The Key to Learning

Published: 28 November 2022
Written by Jocelyn Olivier
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Categories: Brain Function, Handling Stress, NMR Efficacy, Self Help Techniques

3 is the Key to New Learning.

The Body Learns Through Repetition.

The first level of learning is getting the message through to the muscles. This involves neurological learning. Neurological learning boosts the brain’s learning facility which is usually knocked out by stressful experience, accident or trauma. When you try something new for the first time, your coordination system doesn’t know how to do it. When you try it again immediately there may be a glimmer of ‘almost’ understanding. It is only on the 3rd try that your coordination system begins to really ‘get it’; and OWN the new movement possibility. Sometimes it takes even longer than 3 repetitions to get it, but 3 is the maximum number of ‘trys’ that should be engaged on the first time around.

Repetition Exhausts the Nervous System.

Unlike the muscles, the nervous system becomes quickly exhausted when pushed too hard to do new activities. It is important to understand and expect that anything you just tried, your body intelligence will continue to integrate even as you sleep. (This has been validated in movement physiology research). When you perform the same activity the next day you may find it much easier.

First you have to prepare the body for new learning.

This is where NMR starts.  

The 1st Important Consideration in Corrective Bodywork: https://vimeo.com/395854829:

New NMR Trainings begin January 13 – 15th 2023 in-person or Live Streaming via Zoom. 

Find them at NeuroMuscular-Reprogramming.com/events.

For more information on our upcoming trainings, you can visit our Facebook Event Page, and remember: 

3 is the Key to Learning.