halcyon house

a worker owned cooperative holistic wellness center

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Category: Physical Therapy

  • Your fight or flight muscles (part 3) – accessory breathing muscles

    Your fight or flight muscles (part 3) – accessory breathing muscles

    What other muscles get activated during the fight or flight response?

    In the two previous blog posts, I described how the psoas and masseter muscles can be part of the tension pattern experienced by over-activation of our fight or flight nervous system (sympathetic). Other muscles that are often involved in this pattern are our accessory breathing muscles. These are muscles in our neck and chest that are used when we are not breathing diaphragmatically with rib cage expansion. It is a normal response to engage these muscles when we need to assist our breathing (like when exercising vigorously) but is not optimal for relaxed breathing. This is often referred to chest breathing as the rib cage elevates instead of expanding.

    The chronic overuse of these neck and chest muscles leads to fatigue, tension headaches, neck pain, jaw tension and upper back pain. By breathing in this way, you are also stimulating your flight or fight nervous system in an ongoing feedback loop. It is important to have a breathing assessment if you have any of these symptoms.

    Breath re-patterning is an important part of a holistic approach.

    At Halcyon House, both Jennifer and I will assess your breathing pattern as part of our treatment assessment. We will recommend breathing practices that will assist you in regaining optimal and efficient breathing.

    Part 1
    Part 2
  • Your fight or flight response (part 2)

    Your fight or flight response (part 2)

    What other muscles get activated during the fight or flight response?

    In April’s newsletter, I discussed how the psoas muscle tightens during a fight or flight response as protection and a way to escape. This month, I’d like to discuss how the masseter and temporalis muscles can also become active during a stress response. Have you ever caught yourself clenching your teeth together during a stressful event. The masseter and temporalis act together to bring the teeth together. This function is for chewing food. However, this action can become a habit in response to stress.

    a diagram of the muscles of the head including the temporalis muscle and masseter muscle.

    The over-activation of these muscles can cause: Tension headaches, especially at the temples Jaw/TMJ pain Teeth wearing Painful chewing Jaw locking or cracking.

    At Halcyon house, we have several treatments that can help with this including:

    • Nervous system regulation/awareness: noticing when we are clenching
    • Relaxation techniques: learning to relax the body to reduce overall tension
    • Breathing practice: optimal breathing promotes a calmer/less reactive nervous system
    • Acupuncture: fascial acupuncture points
    • Massage: myofascial release of tension patterns in muscles and fascia
    • Craniosacral therapy: nervous system regulation
    • Neuromuscular re-education: establishing optimal use of these muscles, both contracting and relaxing.
    Part 1
    Part 3
  • What are fight or flight muscles?

    What are fight or flight muscles?

    These are muscles that activate when we are in a sympathetic reaction (fight or flight). This can be in reaction to something in our environment that doesn’t feel safe, something happening internally (a physical stressor) or in our mind (stress).

    One of these muscles is the Psoas. This muscle does several actions that support us in fight or flight. It helps lift our knees up to run (flight) or defends our core (fight). If these muscles activate and then turn off again, we might not feel any consequences. It’s when these muscles turn on and stay on that we will notice symptoms. These could include hip pain, back pain, restricted breathing, fatigue and nervous system dysregulation (anxiousness, depression).

    The tightness of the psoas muscle will also be increased with prolonged sitting.

    The Halcyon House staff have many practices/treatments that will support you in releasing tension in the psoas:

    • Acupuncture
    • Massage
    • Craniosacral therapy
    • Somatic based movement/yoga
    Part 2
    Part 3
  • What is craniosacral therapy?

    What is craniosacral therapy?

    We’ve been asked this question many times since I began offering this service at Halcyon House. Here’s a brief description of a very nuanced therapy:

    It is a hands-on technique that was developed by Dr. John Upledger (Osteopath) in the 1980’s while working at the University of Michigan. He explored the nervous system

    connection from the brain through the spinal cord (cranium to sacrum). This connection was through a connective tissue covering called dura mater and cerebral spinal fluid that flowed inside it. He discovered that by moving the bony parts of the system, it allows the

    fluid to move more freely. He found that you can feel this as a physiological rhythm. This craniosacral rhythm can be felt through the practitioner’s hands with very light touch.

    What can someone expect when having a craniosacral therapy session?

    • Lying in a comfortable position on a massage table with clothes on
    • Very light touch in different parts of your body to assess
    • Focused attention to areas of the body that present with restriction
    • You might feel physical or emotional responses during and after the session
    • A return of your system to homeostasis (general health/well-being)
    • Relaxation

    Typically, I will recommend sessions every 2-4 weeks for 4 sessions to assess the effectiveness. You should notice progression/improvement over this time. I will also provide you with additional practices that you can do between sessions to support this progress.

    Interested in a session?

    Robin Davidson
    Sara Sheppard
  • Vagus Nerve

    Vagus Nerve

    What is the vagus nerve and how does it work with your nervous system?

    The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that travels from the brain stem, into the neck, chest, and abdomen. Its main function is to provide the nervous system with information about how we are doing. If we use a car analogy, it is the brake of our nervous system.

    The primary practice that I use to affect the vagus nerve and calm the nervous system is diaphragmatic breathing. Put one hand on your chest and the other one on your abdomen to feel where you are breathing. Ideally we want to decrease or still the movement under the hand on the chest. Under the hand on the abdomen, feel the rising and expansion as you inhale and an inward release on the exhale.