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One of the most striking features of Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA) is that we are unconscious of muscle contraction while it is going on. It is a startling experience to discover that we are actively doing something without knowing it.”
Scoliosis can be a genetic condition that begins in childhood or develops later in life due to muscular imbalances as a response to injury and avoidance of pain. What happens is a tilt to one side known as a “C” shaped curve or an “S” shaped curve where both the lower and upper spine are curved in the opposite direction. One shoulder can be lower, head tilted as well as the pelvis giving the appearance of one leg shorter than the other. The affects of scoliosis are not just pain, it affects gait and breathing too.
You might expect that the injury would be something dramatic, like a broken leg, but every day occurrences like injections, bee stings and burns trigger what we refer to as the “Trauma Reflex”. Falls, car collisions and surgery all trigger this neuromuscular response of protection and avoidance.
But there is another consideration as to how we come to have a curve in the spine and that is the slow build up of habituation as a result of actions and movements that we make everyday that shorten the waist muscles and ribcage creating the imbalance in our spine, head, shoulders and pelvis.
Notice when you stand do you favour one leg, if so notice if that favoured side’s hip slides up, have a feel of your waist muscles, are they tight on that favoured side? How about when you sit, do you lean onto one buttock more, or do you curl up on the sofa, always the same way? Do you sit one leg crossed over the other? Notice how these sitting habits tighten your waist muscles. Have you balanced a toddler on your hip? This too, if repeated often will cause a tilt in your pelvis and tighten the waist muscles.
When I’m working at my laptop, I catch myself leaning onto one elbow when I’m studying something close up on screen, this not only pulls my ribs down, but pulls the hip up too, tightening my waist muscles. Think about how you sleep too.
What about your sports and hobbies? Consider golf, tennis, I once worked with a client with hip pain, who had been a hurdler at school and University. I could see her right hip was higher and her right waist muscles were shorter and tighter. Even our “handedness” creates repetitive pulls in our ribs and shoulders pulling down on one side. Sewing, painting baking even and the one thing we probably all do too much of is texting and scrolling on our phones, catch yourself the next time you are on your phone are you leaning in some way, is there an imbalance in your shoulders to look at your phone, then consider how many times a day, a week you might do that. This will give you an insight into how, through habituation SMA develops.
The Somatic approach for Scoliosis is to first focus on releasing the muscles in the waist, by the technique of Pandiculation. The waist muscles attach the pelvis to the ribs, if these muscles are tight, the pelvis hikes up on one side and pulls the ribs (and shoulder) down, creating the “C” shape of the spine.
You can learn to release these muscles with me in person or online or join my online group classes.
New in the On-Demand Library
Last week’s class “Deep Dive into Arch & Flatten and Arch & Curl” which releases tension, stress and anxiety left students with a deep sense of peace and relaxation. It’s a back to basics class and a great place to start if you are new to this practice. You can access it here
This week in Class and News
In class this week we’ll be exploring twisting to untwist. As part of the trauma reflex we can be stuck in a twist, one shoulder being more forward and likewise a twist in the pelvis, we’ll be going deeper into these patterns to release them.
My Beginner’s Series is almost ready. Founder Members will receive free access to this and make use of the step by step instructions for each movements as well as the new six short videos. Please do tell all your friends and family about this course, it will be a good health investment at £30.