Monday, August 30, 2010

Case Study

(s) My client is a 55 year old female. She's in good shape and eats healthy. She's suffering from migraines and bouts of insomnia. She also claims to get very anxious at times. Her right rhomboid is sore as well as the right shoulder. She thinks she has frozen shoulder and tendonitis on that side. Her main goal is to relieve shoulder pain, stress relief, better sleep, and general relaxation.

(o) My client relaxes easily, partly due to her being comfortable with me and partly because she is looking forward to some quiet time. Her traps, neck, rhomboids and levetor scapulae are constantly tight and dense- these muscles include teres minor, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis. The erector spinae group of muscles down the back always seemed to have knots in them. This was more so on the low back. Biceps in the arms felt a bit more tense in the right arm. The IT band was problematic and tight. Rectus Femoris also tight with knots/ "speed" bumps. I could not do a deep clearing stroke on the legs. Throughout the massages I noticed the right shoulder gained more range of motion and flexibility. The IT band also let up over time. She was seemingly happier and more relaxed. She didnt slouch or slump her shoulders as much as she was before. She also said she felt more energized, pain reduction in the shoulder, and could sleep better at night. It took about 3 sessions to really notice a significant difference in how she felt.

(a) Throughout out time together I made sure to move very slow through the head/scalp massage to relax my client. I taught her 3 centered meditation for during the massages and to use outside of our sessions. On days that her anxiety level was high I would do a nice foot massage first and do some energy work to draw the energy down. When she experienced headaches I would work the pain path in the arms, including points LI 11,10,9, and 4. I also incorporated the S.I points 11 and 12 and L.I 16 all located around the shoulder to help with the shoulder pain. Energy work in the arms to draw the energy out through the fingertips and open up the pathway for the pain to travel out. Lung 1 and 2 were also included into the treatment plan, more towards the end. I used the LV/GB grasping down the legs to open up the meridians. This will help wood imbalance, manifested in the nails being ridged. The upper back got extra attention around the rhomboids and made sure to work S.I 10 on the scapula. Deeper pressure was often applied the erector spinae and focused more on the low back. When shoulder pain and headaches were at a high i would focus more on the arms, shoulders, neck, and back, and skip the legs completely besides compression. All these teqniques seemed to work for my client over time with pain relief and over all sense of well being.

(p) I plan to keep working with this person for as long as I can. I would like to assign and teach some Qi Gong movements to help her low back, which would include: Reaching for heaven and earth, accept the moon qi, and painting the world. Rowing on the lake would also be good for range of motion in the shoulders. I would also like to use the 9 points to revive the yang for depression issues and to restore energy. I would like to draw up a 5 element chart and map out imbalances to help her further. My client is very curious about chinese medicine, and would love to see some more results. I would also like to do a moxa/kidney treatment that we recently learned to help the low back and kidney qi. I will encourage her to use the meditation daily, especially before bed. I would like to practice Smiling Heart Qi Gong with her as well because its my favorite Qi Gong and opens the heart center

In conclusion I would say that I could see a significant different in body tension and some internal changes. Its amazing what a month and a half of consecutive massage can do. I am excited to learn more about Oriental Medicine and use it in the practice. I feel like the things i have learned here at OHAC are beneficial to my practice and make a tremendous difference. They can be life changing and are always positive. I cant wait to see what other positive changes I can make in my life and others.

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