Our muscles are designed to both contract/shorten and to relax/lengthen. When our muscles forget how to relax, we get tighter and find our movements becoming more limited. This chronic tension can also lead to joint and nerve pain.

We can reteach our muscles how to release the chronic tension that is keeping them shortened by going into that tension and slowly releasing it. With practice, we can become better and better at sensing what it means to turn a muscle “on” and “off.”

Our joints can become stiff and painful if the bones do not maintain alignment and the space within the joint is reduced because of chronic muscular tension. This creates unwanted wear/tear on the joint and can lead to inflammation (bursitis) and arthritis.

How can somatics help?

• Learn where the muscles are tight/over-working and how to release this chronic tension so the joint has proper space and alignment for pain-free movement. 

• Frozen Shoulder/Rotator Cuff Impingement: often due to a bracing in the shoulder joint (chronic tension in the chest, upper back/neck) and associated with an imbalance between the left and right sides of the body.  

• Sacroiliac Joint Pain: often due to an imbalance of muscle function between the left and right sides of the body, influencing the alignment and restricting the movement of one side of the pelvis. 

• Jaw Pain (TMD)/Clenching/Grinding of Teeth: often due to chronic muscular tension affecting the muscles that connect the lower jaw to the skull. Poor posture, chronic stress and imbalances between the left and right sides of the neck can all lead to chronic muscular tension in the upper body. Learning to release this tension will improve posture and align the head on top of the spine which will free up the movement of the jaw. 

Our nerves are like wires that send signals from and to our brain so that it can regulate our movements, digestion, EVERYTHING that our body does. Our nerves need appropriate space where they pass through for a clear signal to be sent from one part of the body to another. Chronic muscular tension can narrow the passage way through which nerves pass. This can lead to pinching of a nerve or poor communication between different parts of the body making coordinating movement difficult.

How can somatics help?

• Learn where the muscles are tight/over-working and how to release this chronic tension so the nerves have the proper space to pass through and the bones have proper alignment for pain-free, easy movement. 

• Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: due to a lack of space at the collarbone where nerves that originate from the neck, pass through to innervate and control the arm/wrist/hand.  Muscular tension in the front of the body pulls the head/neck/collarbone/shoulder forward narrowing the space this set of nerves passes through creating impingement and therefore pain in the elbow/wrist/hand. 

• Sciatica: This nerve can get pinched in a couple of place: At the spine - because of chronically tight back muscles that pull on the vertebrae and reduce the space for the sciatic nerve to leave the spinal column. Or, at the back of the pelvis because of chronic tension in the piriformis which reduces the space for the nerve to pass through as it heads toward the leg. In either case, this can lead to pain radiating down the leg.

• Low Back Pain: When the low back is chronically tight,  this puts pressure on the spine and influences the intervertebral discs and nerves running from the spinal column into the lower half of the body (hips, legs, feet). 

Symptoms include dizziness and neck pain related to issues with the cervical spine.

How can somatics help?

• Thomas Hanna, a pioneer in somatic movement said in his book The Body of Life, “The vestibular system is the sanctuary of the standing function.” In other words your inner ear is essential in helping your brain sense up and down and therefore where you are in space. The position of your head and neck (a.k.a, posture) influences how the inner ear does its job. 

• The cervical spine (neck) play an important roll in our balance and coordination. Over time chronic muscular tension in the body can pull the head/neck/spine out of alignment and therefore distort the brain’s sense of center. The overworking that results in the neck muscles can cause or contribute to headaches and neck pain.  

• Learn movement patterns that will help you reset and maintain postural alignment (tall spine with head balanced on top) so the body has a clear sense of where it is in space  and to reduce the likelihood of experiencing neck pain and dizziness.