ADVANCED TRAININGS
in Clinical Massage Therapy &
Advanced Structural Bodywork
Continuing Education with Kyle C. Wright
Charlotte NC • Jacksonville, FL • Asheville NC
Suboccipital Compression / Restriction & Headaches
This seminar enhances your understanding of the atlanto-occipital and the atlanto-axial joints. The C-1 vertebra (Atlas) articulates with the posterior underlying surface of the occipital bone.
Motions of rocking and tilting the head occur from vertical fibers of the obliquus capitis superior and the rectus capitis posterior minor muscles. These primary muscles are often in a state of chronic excess muscle and nerve tension (C.E.M.&.N.T.) as they’re often recruited as the body’s “last-ditch” effort in maintaining the eyes level with the horizon. Of course, there is a supporting crew of superficial muscles synergistically functioning along with these deeper, primary muscles.
The C-2 vertebra (axis) has a distinctive landmark projecting superior, named the odontoid process or the dens. It is the odontoid process of C-2 that C-1 articulates with. The C-1 Atlas rotates around the C-2 Axis, producing approximately 50% of cervical rotation.
The posterior sub-occipital muscles are headache producers with pain patterns wrapping around the head from the posterior occipital region to the temporal region. People suffering from this type of headache pattern often feel as if their head is being squeezed in a vice.
When a person sustains a motor vehicle accident, cervical “whiplash” can occur. A whiplash (micro tears within muscles) increases neurological activity within the central nervous system. This increased neurological activity causes muscles to spasm and shorten, vasoconstricting the blood vessels, stopping the bleeding within the muscles.
The severity of the impact, amount of trauma to the muscles and the person’s general state of health, often determines the amount of time it takes for healing. Postural imbalances often facilitate sub-occipital compression, especially when loss of the cervical is present.
There will be No Pain involved during this workshop.
No Pain = More Gain