30/01/2026
A reflecting post - mid back sore relation with acid reflux.
Today I treated one of my long-term clients.
It felt like an ordinary session — and at the same time, not ordinary at all.
She told me that since the day she painted her house, about four or five weeks ago, her body has not felt the same. Her rib cage feels uncomfortable, her mid-back aches, and there is a sense of pressure in her lower back. When she exercises, she feels as if her breath cannot fully expand her chest.
I last treated her three weeks ago. At that time, after the painting work, her neck and upper back had become stiff, and her breathing already felt restricted.
During that session, I spent a long time working with the muscles and fascia between her ribs, gently separating adhesions and restoring movement through her cervical spine.
This time, she returned with similar breathing issues — but something else was different. Her energy felt lower. She no longer wanted to go to the gym, because movement now made her feel worse instead of better.
As I worked, I noticed her entire spine felt guarded and rigid. The ribs on the sides of her body could not soften or expand. When she lay face down, I used a technique I often rely on — placing my fist gently beneath the diaphragm and working with her breath and body weight to invite the upper abdomen and diaphragm to open.
Normally, this space responds. This time, it did not.
So I chose to slow down. I asked her to turn onto her back, and I gave my full attention to her sternum, ribs, and diaphragm.
When my hand rested just below her sternum, over the stomach area, I began to sense something unusual beneath the skin. The tissue felt thick and uneven — like tangled ropes resting above the stomach.
She asked me softly, “Can you feel that?”
“Is that normal?”
She could feel it too. She told me she had already seen a doctor and had an ultrasound, and that everything appeared normal.
In that moment, the picture became clearer to me. When imaging shows nothing, often what we are meeting is not disease, but soft tissue — connective tissue that has lost its order, where space has become crowded and confused.
I asked her if she experienced acid reflux. She said yes.
That gave me another quiet clue.
Reflux isn’t only about stomach inflammation or excess acid. For acid to reflux upward, thoracic spine mobility often needs to be reduced, and the space around the diaphragm needs to be restricted. When that happens, the cardiac sphincter of the stomach can’t close effectively, allowing acid to travel upward. In that sense, “reflux” is also a problem of spatial structure.
When an organ is irritated or under stress, the connective tissue around it tightens, pulling space from nearby areas. The body, in its wisdom, protects what it feels is most important. Behind the stomach lies the mid-thoracic spine — exactly where she felt the deepest soreness.
Treatment approach
Release tension → Create space → Reorganise tissue pathways
1. Releasing tension
I placed my hand gently over the stomach area and slowly sank in, following the direction of tension as I felt it. I allowed her tension to guide my hand to where it needed to go — layer by layer, repeating the process again and again.
2. Creating space
I then used an electric cupping technique — Medicupping™ — to restore space in the upper abdominal region. Unlike traditional cupping, I use relatively gentle suction with continuous lifting. The goal is to gently elevate the tissue and bring space upward.
In the split second (milliseconds) when the tissue is suctioned, I decide which depth I want to address underneath. Longer suction targets deeper layers; shorter suction works more superficially — usually within a range of about 0.2 to 1 second.
With continuous suction provided by the machine, the ways the cups can be used are almost多樣的: pulling, lifting, twisting, rotating, compressing, tilting, scraping, shaking. This allows tension to be released and adhesions to separate, while minimising pain and significantly reducing post-treatment soreness that might otherwise last for days.
3. Reorganising tissue pathways
Once I could feel that the layers were no longer stuck together and the tissue had become soft and fluid again, I continued using Medicupping™ to reorganise the tissue patterns and fascial directions — working repeatedly along the sternum, intercostal spaces, and diaphragm.
Finally, I stopped the machine and returned to using my hands, feeling for elasticity, tension, density, thickness, and softness — confirming that the tissue had regained its natural space and orderly arrangement.
The client curiously placed her hand on her own upper abdomen.
“Wow — it’s so different.”
“My breathing feels much easier.”
I was genuinely happy to see such a clear and effective improvement.
Before she left, I shared two simple practices I often use myself — gentle throat vibration and eye movements — to help create space for the vagus nerve and calm an overactive nervous system.
I look forward to hearing how her body continues to respond when she returns.
This way of understanding pain has been shaped by my learning over the past six months. I no longer see only muscles, imbalances, or movement patterns. My attention has widened to include the quiet relationships between organs and structure, between breath and core, between space and the nervous system.
I am learning to listen not just from the outside in, but from the inside out — from organs to rib cage, from hands to shoulders and neck — gently organising the pull, the twist, and the flow of fascial space.
Thank you to every body that has trusted me.
Through silent tissue patterns, you continue to tell me your stories — and I continue to learn how to listen.
Chi
