Hi Everyone,
Saw a client this morning for her first Somatics session. I did a Lesson 1. She has lots of pain in the groin area, both legs, and her right leg feels like it "locks" sometimes. She walks with no rotation, her pelvis especially.
When I got to the glute release, I was amazed at how there was no rotation at all. As soon as I moved her leg, her pelvis went with her. I did km of glute and low back, then did the glute release - not much happed with the latter. I decided instead of doing anything else with that protocol, I did hip release, both legs. Right leg frozen, left leg a bit of movement. She did get a slight increase in range.
While I was working with her right leg, I thought of going upstream, meaning next session with me, she needs to work on rotation in torso - to free up her muscles there.
So my question is - would a Lesson 2 be more appropriate or should I work more with the lessons from the somatics book, # 3 and 4, bringing her into wash cloth? I know a lot will depend on what she comes in like in 2 weeks, however, I'd like to think about this more and could use some guidance.
Thank you,
Nancy
There are 5 Comments
Frozen pelvis
I didn't add - when working on her right thigh for external rotators - I could see what I'm thinking is a quadracep "jump" when she reached a certain point. It did it a few times and she said that's what happens when her leg "locks". I haven't been able to look it up yet in an anatomy book. I had her trace it back to where it would start and she indicated the hip crease. From my limited knowledge of the quads, it looks like it would be one of the middle ones or the middle one.
Frozen Pelvis
Definitely a lesson 2, maybe modified if necessary? Have you worked with her hip hikers on that side? Kind of like a modified side-curl?
Frozen pelvis
Thanks Cheryl,
I'm thinking she needs mw and km before the Lesson 2. Yes, the side curl/hip hiker would be good, thanks!
What are you seeing as far as patterns
Nancy,
For whatever reason, I'm not getting a clear sense from your descriptions what kind of pattern you are seeing in her posture. Are you seeing someone with strong Trauma reflex? Red-Light? It sounded at first to me like you were describing someone with a lot of Red-Light.
Regardless, if she could lie comfortable on her front, than I don't think going the standard route of Lesson 1 first is a bad idea. She probably needs it anyway as well. Just because there were things that didn't get helped by the moves of Lesson 1 does not mean it wasn't an important set of steps for her to experience and develop from.
There are always going to be things in a particular lesson that don't get better, don't seem to be helped by the moves in the lesson, or seem like they would be just perfectly addressed if only you'd done Lesson blah blah. Often you would find that those wouldn't have gotten better if you hadn't first done the lesson you are doing. So, it's important to take a long-haul approach, and to not stress to much about the micro-misses or -failures within each session. Think of the things that are challenging or "impossible" in a given session as data to add to your overall picture and dossier on the client that you are getting to know, and use them to inform your plan for the next session(s) -- even make notes (the "P" for Plan in SOAP notes) if you think that will help you.
I would like to know more about what you are seeing in this client's big pattern/posture. I might be able to offer more specific input.
-Steve
Frozen pelvis
Hi Steve,
If anything, I'd say she is more green light and trauma mix (I can forward photos if you'd like). She looks stiff as a board and when she walks, she is crazy tight, it's like she doesn't have the rotation in the spine, so she moves the hips forward to take her step. I really don't see red light in her. Her body just seems frozen.
I'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks, so working on at least pieces of a lesson 2, mw and km so see if some freedom can be achieved in the torso for rotation.
Any other thoughts are welcome - always.
