Adhesive Capsulitis: What Causes Frozen Shoulder, and the Most Effective Treatment Adhesive capsulitis is more commonly known as frozen shoulder because the condition involves a gradual “freezing” of the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint). Over a period of weeks or months, the joint becomes painful and immobile. Initial onset to full recovery can take several [...]
Why Stretching Doesn't Relieve Iliotibial Band Syndrome Iliotibial band syndrome is a painful inflammatory condition of the knee joint that often plagues runners, hikers, and cyclists. Stretching is typically recommended to lengthen the iliotibial band and relieve the condition, but as you'll learn in this post, static stretching has little to no lasting effect [...]
12 Causes of Chronic Inflammation In my last two posts I've been talking about chronic inflammation. First I discussed how diet can cause inflammation and chronic pain, and then I discussed what chronic inflammation is and how it can cause many health conditions including cancer, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes. This week, we'll learn [...]
What is Chronic Inflammation, and Why Is It Killing Us? If it seems like you hear a lot about inflammation, you’re right. It’s become the latest buzzword in the health world due to research showing the link between inflammation and many chronic conditions including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and depression. Ever since these [...]
The Causes of SI Joint Pain and Dysfunction The sacroiliac joints are at the true center of our skeleton, so they bear the brunt of any imbalance or sudden force that occurs in our body. In this post we'll discuss the most common causes of sacroiliac joint pain and dysfunction: imbalanced posture and movement, [...]
What's Causing Your Snapping Hip Syndrome? Up to 10% of us experience snapping hip syndrome at some point in our lives. The condition is most often caused by connective tissue snapping over bone as we flex and extend the hip joint. For some people, snapping hip is painless and simply annoying, but for others [...]
The Placebo Effect on Pain Perception and Healing The placebo effect is a general term that describes the physiological effects of believing that we're going to feel better or heal from a condition. The placebo effect has long been discounted in Western medicine—when placebos work, we're just imagining that we're getting better, we're not actually [...]
Breathing in Clinical Somatics exercises Many students ask me how to breathe correctly when practicing Clinical Somatics exercises. Your breathing pattern is more important in some exercises than others, depending on whether or not the exercise includes extension (arching) or flexion (curling) of the spine. In this article I'll describe why diaphragmatic breathing is important, [...]
Unlocking Your Body: Your Personal Process of Releasing Tension and Pain Many people ask me how long it will take them to release their chronic tightness or get out of pain. I wish I could answer this question, but the truth is that everyone's patterns of muscular tension and pain are so unique that [...]
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: Anatomy, Causes, and Treatment with Clinical Somatics Thoracic outlet syndrome might sound a little scary, but most cases are functional—meaning they can be prevented and often eliminated completely. When tight muscles or poor posture compress the thoracic outlet, you may experience symptoms such as pain and numbness in your shoulder, arm, [...]
The Functional Cause of Sciatica Sciatica often occurs along with back pain, which 80% of Americans will experience at some point in their lives. By the time your doctor diagnoses you with sciatica, the cause may appear to be structural—most commonly, a herniated disc pressing on the root of the sciatic nerve. However, as [...]
Fix Forward Head Posture with Pandiculation Forward head posture is becoming an epidemic due to constant use of smartphones and computers. When we look downward over and over, the muscles in the front of our neck, our chest, and our abdomen become chronically contracted—and they keep us stuck in forward head posture all the [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is the gamma loop? The gamma loop (also referred to as the alpha-gamma loop) is a feedback loop in our nervous system that regulates the level of tension in our muscles. The way the gamma loop works can get a little confusing, [...]
The Anatomy of Your Tension Headache If you're reading this post, you may be one of the 45 million Americans who suffer from chronic headaches. Headaches are one of the most frustrating pain conditions because the causes are so varied and can seem completely mysterious. In fact, over 150 different types of headache have [...]
The Life-Changing Link Between Anxiety and Muscle Tension Anxiety is thought of as a psychological disorder, but it actually involves many systems of the body. Anxiety is a true “somatic” condition: It is typically brought on and made worse not by any external source like a virus, but by our internal psychological and physiological [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: Did you know that Plantar Fasciitis starts in your lower back? Plantar fasciitis is a very painful condition—I've had it, and it's awful. It's considered to be a disorder of the connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot. However, the pain [...]
10 Façons choquantes dont votre posture affecte votre santé Notre posture (la façon dont nous nous asseyons et nous tenons debout) est rarement génétique ou hors de notre contrôle. C'est simplement le résultat d'une tension musculaire chronique qui désaligne notre squelette. Cette tension musculaire s'accumule avec le temps en raison de nos habitudes de mouvement quotidiennes [...]
7 Raisons pour lesquelles chaque athlète devrait faire Somatiques Cliniques Si vous n'avez pas entendu parler Somatiques Cliniques avant, vous avez été absent. Ces exercices incroyablement efficaces recyclent les schémas musculaires automatiques profondément appris et annulent des années de tension et de douleur musculaires chroniques. Les bienfaits des exercices changent tellement la vie que chaque athlète doit être [...]
Vous pouvez écouter le podcast de Sarah sur ce sujet ici : Pourquoi les étirements ne fonctionnent pas De douze à vingt et un ans, j'étais danseuse de ballet. C'était tout ce que je faisais et tout ce que je voulais faire. Étant extrêmement discipliné, je m'étirais pendant une demi-heure chaque soir avant de me coucher pour pouvoir obtenir plus [...]
Combiner votre Somatiques Cliniques et pratiques de yoga L'une des questions que les étudiants me posent le plus souvent est de savoir s'ils doivent ou non continuer leur pratique de yoga tout en faisant Somatiques Cliniques exercices, et si oui, comment s'y prendre pour combiner les deux pratiques. J'adore le yoga et je le pratique régulièrement. Tout ce que j'ai appris et [...]
