A young woman, I’ll call her Mary (not her real name), came to see me this week because she’s had terrible chronic spasms in her shoulder and neck for over three years. None of the medical professionals she’s gone to has been able to release them and it’s gotten so bad that she hasn’t been able to go back to college this semester, and she’s getting very depressed because she’s also not having fun like the rest of her friends, she just sits home in pain.
Mary’s shoulder was so tight that it looked like she had a golf ball under her skin at the top of her shoulder, and she couldn’t turn her head to either side. I’ve worked with a lot of people over the past 24 years (thousand actually) and her shoulder was among the worst I’d ever seen.
The good news was that the doctors had cleared all of the serious possibilities, and in the past the only relief she had ever gotten was during a massage and an Atlas/Axis chiropractic adjustment. This confirmed that muscles were the most logical cause of her pain.
As we worked together I found that all of the muscles that go along her spine (erector spinae) were very tight, and her pelvis was rotated down in the front. Her quadriceps were like shortened, tight ropes of muscle, which were pulling down on her pelvis — causing the pelvis rotation. It took a LOT of work to release the muscles, but they did start to loosen, and then I worked on all of the muscles that have an impact on the pelvis. Then I taught Mary how to do the self-treatments on the muscles at the front of her neck, called the scalenes. It was very painful, even the slightest pressure caused pain, but that’s one of the benefits of self-treatment, you can adjust the pressure to be perfect for yourself and then gradually go deeper and deeper. Mary told me that she not only didn’t have a curve in her cervical spine, but that it was actually a reverse curve that the chiropractor has been treating and having some success at moving. After 1 1/2 hours she was turning her head much better and the pain wasn’t as severe.
Then we began to discuss nutrition. I’m really grateful that Steve Chaney, PhD is the Director of my Shaklee team. Steve is the Professor of Nutrition and Biochemistry at UNC Medical School (I’ve mentioned this before, but it makes me so happy that I wanted to mention it again). I learning about nutrition and the Shaklee products, but Steve is an expert on both. He called and spoke to Mary and found out that her diet was seriously lacking calcium of any kind, and also devoid of vitamin D. Mary didn’t eat green vegetables, and she didn’t drink milk. They had a lengthy telephone consultation and Steve recommended several of Shaklee’s products, but especially Osteomatrix and Vitamin D for the missing nutrients that build bones, and because a lack of calcium in the diet will cause the muscles to spasm for no apparent reason. He also recommended Alfalfa because of it’s anti-inflammatory properties, and Vitalizer as an overall multivitamin.
When Mary went to her chiropractor immediately after our session, the doctor was amazed at the ease of adjustment. It’s so logical that when the muscles are released they aren’t putting pressure on the bone, so the bone moves easily.
Mary lives in New York, near my daughter Anne-Marie, who is an excellent muscular therapist trained in the Julstro techniques, so she’s going to continue her weekly treatments, both massage and chiropractic.
I feel in my heart that Mary is going to get 100% better, it may take a little while, but she’s definitely on the road to recovery.
If you or someone you know, is suffering from joint pain or repetitive strain injuries, I hope you’ll go onto my website and read why muscles can cause any number of problems including; headaches, neck pain, tinnitus, low back pain, sciatica, pain in any of the joints, and even plantar fasciitis (foot pain).
Wishing you well,
Julie