Teen with Severe Period Pain and Neck and Back Pain
Today I want to talk about teens! A new, highschool-aged client came in last month hoping for help with severe period pain that had been getting worse over time. Each month, she was having pain for 3-4 days, including stabbing sensations in the front of her pelvis. How miserable!
She also needed help with back pain. Being “blessed in the chest,” (as she put it) there was extra strain on her neck, back, and shoulders, creating painful muscle spasms. She said these spasms would come and go usually 3X a week, and at worst last the whole week. Her pain was at a 6-7 out of 10 (max) and nothing seemed to help.
I really felt for her, having to live with these pains (along with some other issues), in addition to stressful teen life. I was also really hopeful that I could help, because teens tend to respond really quickly to treatment!
When I evaluated her, a few things stood out to me: her right hip was rotated inward, and her uterus was also being pulled right, by a tight ligament (the broad ligament) that anchors it to the hip bone; there was a lot of compression between her last vertebra and her sacrum (tailbone); there was a lot of tension at her stomach and the respiratory diaphragm; and a misalignment where her skull sits on her spine (a common forward head pattern that puts a LOT of extra strain on the postural muscles around the spine).
I worked with her to relieve the tension in her pelvis and help her uterus find a better position (these ligament releases are painless, by the way). I worked on the compression in her lumbar spine, and used Visceral Manipulation techniques to reduce the tension around her stomach and diaphragm (which can also create a lot of tension on the neck and spine). Releasing the tight connective tissue at the junction of her skull and spine allowed her head to align itself better over her shoulders, relieving that strain.
When I saw her again yesterday (a little over a month after her session), I was anxious to see how her last period had been. She gave me a big smile and told me that she did not have ANY cramps this time! I was so thrilled. I then asked about the back pain, and she said she hadn’t noticed any! It was so much fun to take a moment to celebrate this with her, before she got back on the table to reinforce these positive new patterns, as well as working on some lingering issues.
Working with teens is really great. They often find the CranioSacral Therapy techniques to be a relief on a deep level, dropping into a super relaxed state, or even falling asleep. It helps regulate their nervous systems, teaching them to get to sleep more easily, and how to more easily switch from “fight/ flight/ freeze” mode “rest/ digest/ heal/ connect” mode. Teen life is often stressful and overwhelming. Lots of kids get headaches, sleep poorly, experience anxiety, and don’t know how to let go in healthy ways. On top of that, hormonal fluctuations and physical pain issues make everything even worse!
It makes me very happy to be able to support them, and I am sharing this mainly to let you know that there is help out there for the teen(s) you love!
