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November 28, 2005

Caution: Martial Arts Blows Can Cause Concussions

While I was home with family over the Thanksgiving holiday, I got a chance to work on my cousin who had sustained a concussion after sparring in Tae Kwon Do. Luckily, they had gotten craniosacral treatments following the injury, but I wanted to get my hands on them and feel what was going on for myself.

The blow had been to the back of the head at the occiput. After arriving home, they got dizzy and nauseous and had a family member take them to the emergency room. Concussion was not readily detectable and they were sent home. As the week went on, things did not improve, and, in fact, continued to degenerate. At a doctor's appointment Friday, concussion was diagnosed and care proceeded from there.

I heard about the injury and contacted my Aunt strongly suggesting that craniosacral therapy be part of my cousin's care. As luck would have it, my cousin's physical therapist was trained in craniosacral therapy. However, over a year after the original insult, my cousin occasionally experienced a dizzy spell.

Upon palpation, there was tension in the right side of the neck. I attributed this daily usage patterns. I placed my hands on all of the handhold positions on the head and the story unfolded. As my cousin said while I had my hands on their parietal bones, "It's all coming back to me now." Happily, all of the bones were moving freely and the cranial rhythm was deep and slow.

I tested the hyoid bone and found a residual tension pattern that was unusual. The left side of the hyoid was not as free moving and the tension pulled from the right side of the occipital bone. It was a tension pattern that would not necessarily be addressed using the standard 10-step protocol and I was sure this was from the original injury. I held both ends of the tension using the direction of energy technique.

Unfortunately, as the release was occurring, more guests arrived and my cousin became agitated about being found horizontal on the living room floor. I reassured them that it was just family, that they know of my strange proclivity for draping people across the floor at a moment's notice, and my cousin relaxed somewhat. Following the release they jumped to their feet and was immediately experienced a dizzy sensation that harkened back to the original injury.

Posted by linda at November 28, 2005 8:14 AM