Alfreds Bowen Therapy Care

08/07/2024

06/09/2022

There exists, way in the back of your hard palate, a small but consequential little muscle known as the tensor veli palatini. Among it's jobs is opening the eustachian tube. I have found release of this muscle to be wonderfully effective in dealing with all sorts of middle and inner ear problems: ear infections, vertigo, pressure from congestion, hearing loss and more. I had a case once where a client came in with a severe ear infection. Releasing this muscle resulted in an audible hissing sound as the pressure equalized, relieving roughly 75% of her pain along with it. It's not the easiest thing in the world to get to, but it can be done, and you can even do it yourself. With your index finger, slide back on either side of the roof of your mouth (you have a tensor veli palatini on both sides) until you feel a little spiny prominence. Now slide from there a little bit towards the midline of the mouth. This will land you right on the muscle. Massage it with your finger tip as needed. Try it!

06/09/2022

A common cause of iliotibial band (ITB) tightness is entrapment of the deep fibular nerve. It often gets hung up between the muscles of the lower leg creating weakness that the hip and ITB are left to compensate for.

03/09/2022

Teeth grinding or jaw pain?⠀⠀
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You may not be using incorrect muscles to support your jaw and face.⠀⠀
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Symptoms of TMD can include:⠀⠀
• Jaw pain⠀⠀
• Muscle spasms⠀⠀
• Headaches⠀⠀
• Ear aches⠀⠀
• Difficulty opening the mouth⠀⠀
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The masseter is the primary facial muscle used for chewing solids food, which attaches to the lower jawbone and cheekbone. If you clench your teeth and feel along your jaw, you will feel a bump raise itself from the side of your face.⠀⠀
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If you use your masseter muscle and ‘clench’ the jaw at resting posture it may leave you more vulnerable to clenching.⠀⠀
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The problem is using the wrong muscles for jaw posture. The masseter and temporalis muscle are controlled by the trigeminal nerve or (V).⠀⠀
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The muscles you should use are from your XII cranial nerve or hypoglossal nerve. These control the tongue.⠀⠀
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So, is your clenching issues to do with low tongue posture: ⠀⠀
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Constant pressure on the teeth can cause teeth to shift, become crooked, create a bad bite, and even result in habitual teeth grinding (which can create a whole host of problems on its own).⠀⠀
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Those who rest their tongues on the bottom of the mouth may suffer from more neck pain, jaw pain, and bad body posture overall.

Additionally, low tongue posture can change someone’s appearance and make the face take on a longer, flatter shape or cause the chin or forehead to jut forward.⠀⠀
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How to feel correct tongue posture?⠀⠀
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• Smile – The other way you can find your ideal tongue position is to smile really wide (we’re talking about really cheesy smile), raise your eyebrows, and try to swallow without unclenching your teeth. You should feel your tongue rise to the roof of your mouth into its ideal resting position.⠀⠀
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• Notice the back of the tongue and where it hits at the back of the throat. This should be sealed to the soft part of the throat or the soft palate.

This is where it should be when you're not speaking, or eating.
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Do you suffer from teeth grinding, jaw pain or headaches?

03/09/2022

A less frequently considered source of carpal tunnel symptoms is the rotator cuff. Instability in the shoulder often results in spasm of an elbow muscle called the pronator teres. It can compress the median nerve, creating carpal tunnel symptoms.

24/08/2022

Pain is a request for change in the body. You can heed that request, ignore it, or even chemically BLOCK it. The change is still needed regardless and you may end up paying a steep price if you ignore it long enough.

24/08/2022

A shoulder hike NOT caused by a bending of the spine is often caused by an entrapment of the dorsal scapular nerve under the rhomboid muscle. The body hikes the shoulder to take tension off the nerve. Scapular winging is also common.

18/08/2022

Between the transverse processes of adjacent vertebrae live the intertransversarii muscles. On the front side of the spine, these muscles are directly deep to the psoas (hip flexor) muscles. This interface is a common area for adhesion, leading to limited range of motion, chronically tight hip flexors, hip pain, and back pain. With Active Release Techniques (ART®), I'm able to get BETWEEN the psoas an intertransversarii and restore proper relative motion. It's definitely not an area most have ever had worked.

18/08/2022

Here's an experiment. Lightly clack your teeth together. Feel where they touch. Now tilt your pelvis forward and back, checking how your teeth meet in each position. It changes. This is because pelvis alignment influences jaw position... and vice versa.

16/08/2022

INTRODUCTION :

A Baker cyst is a fluid-filled growth behind the knee. It causes a bulge and a feeling of tightness. Also called a popliteal (pop-luh-TEE-ul) cyst, a Baker cyst sometime causes pain. The pain can get worse when with activity or when fully straightening or bending the knee.

A Baker cyst is usually the result of a problem with the knee joint, such as arthritis or a cartilage tear. Both conditions can cause the knee to produce too much fluid.

Although a Baker cyst may cause swelling and discomfort, treating the underlying problem that is causing it usually provides relief.

SYMPTOMS :

In some cases, a Baker cyst causes no pain, and you may not notice it. If you do have symptoms, they might include:

Swelling behind the knee, and sometimes in the leg
Knee pain
Stiffness and inability to fully flex the knee

CAUSES :

A lubricating fluid called synovial (sih-NO-vee-ul) fluid helps the leg swing smoothly and reduces friction between the moving parts of the knee.

But sometimes underlying conditions can cause the knee to produce too much synovial fluid. When this happens, fluid can build up in the back of the knee, leading to a Baker cyst.

This can be caused by:

Inflammation of the knee joint, which can occur with various types of arthritis
A knee injury, such as a cartilage tear....
There are several ways to reduce your pain and discomfort if you have been diagnosed with a baker's cyst: Ice your knee for about 20 minutes two to three times a day, as long as pain and swelling persist. Using a heating pad once a day or taking a warm bath can also help relieve swelling.