Melting Muscles - Patrick Moore

The following is an excerpt from the Melting Muscles Workbook. The workbook is comb- bound so that it can lie flat on your massage table, with exercises in large fonts so that you can read along while you are practicing on someone.

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The sequence below follows the seven hour class. You may read this in advance of your workshop, in order to prepare. The treatment below seems very complicated in writing. Don't worry, during the workshop it is presented intuitively, hands-on, and even people with learning disabilities learn it very quickly. Read it again after your workshop to cement your understanding

You may also be reading below to teach yourself without the class. If you have questions, feel free to email

Treating the Muscles

that control the

Atlas and Axis

while following the motions of

Natural Variance in Muscle Contraction

Let’s start with the more difficult Atlanto-Axial (AA) joint, which provides head rotation between the atlas (C1) and the axis (C2).

Chiropractor’s offices are filled with people waiting to have their head forced into rotation. In fact, some Chiropractors specialize, only treating the atlanto-axial joint. They can afford to specialize because the whole body relaxes when this joint relaxes. Maybe we will soon see massage and physical therapists specializing in the atlas and axis only.

The head can move 90° to either side, made up of 7° from each of the other 6 neck joints and 45° just from the AA joint. That is a lot of mobility for one little joint that is also holding up a bowling ball. Add to this, the stress of emotion; the AA joint allows the “no” motion, so any time there is emotional incongruence regarding saying, or inhibiting saying “No,” the muscles crossing this joint will be contracting. It is no wonder these muscles are guarding.

EXERCISE: Pure rotation of the head

While the recipient lies supine, sit on a stool at the head of the table. Put your hands partially under the head, supporting it but not lifting it. Your hands should not quite be touching each other. Rotating the head right means the person’s nose would move to the right while the back of their head moves to the left. Since their head is resting on your hands, your hands have to slide to the left across the massage table. The neck can rotate 90°, flatly facing the wall, but we only want to go half that far so that we are only dealing with AA rotation and not the other 6 joints.

Does it rotate more easily to one side than the other? Tell yourself which side is easier. Maybe one side will not even get to 45° before resistance is felt. If you feel resistance before 45°, tell yourself how many degrees it is. Practice this maneuver on several different people before going on to the next maneuver.

THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE AA JOINT

C2 sprouts a prong, and C1 has extra space near the front to surround the axis. Atlanto-axial rotation is C1 rotating on C2, like a ring rotating on a finger. “Head rotation” is not really the head rotating on the neck, but C1 rotating on C2.

MUSCLES THAT ROTATE THE AA JOINT

The Obliquus Capitis Inferior is the main rotator of the AA joint. There are other muscles that rotate the head, but they cross more joints. The obliquus inferior is the only rotator muscle that attaches specifically from C1 to C2. When you feel the head “wanting” to rotate right, the obliquus capitis inferior on the right is the most likely culprit.

The obliquus inferior attaches the spinous process of C2 to the transverse processes of C1. Lets assume the left obliquus is contracting more than the right one. If no stronger muscles are preventing rotation, the obliquus causes C1 to rotate right, and since the head is on C1, the head rotates right. In the second photo below, the AA right-rotators are still contracting harder, but the person wants to look straight ahead and uses other, stronger muscles to do so (this is a common situation). Therefore, the tight muscles will force the SP of C2 to move to the right as you see in the second photo.

This phenomenon is how a Chiropractor assesses the AA joint. He takes an x-ray through the person’s open mouth where he can see that the spinous process has moved to the person’s right. Ironically, it is because a chiropractor must pay off the expensive x-ray machine and training that he cannot afford to spend more time with his patients. Fortunately for us, the atlanto-axial joint can be easily assessed using one’s hands.

We have three ways to assess the muscles crossing the AA joint. First, with the person supine, we can place our hands under the head, rotate the head left and right as in the previous exercise, and we will find that the head moves much easier to the right. Second, if we support the head and wait for cranial motion, and the person’s eyes are closed and they are laying down so they don’t care if their head rotates, the tighter right-rotators will pull the head to the right. When the person is prone with their face straight down in the face cradle, we can feel the row of spinous process to see if C2 is moved to one side, in relation to an imagined straight line up the back of the spine and head. Let’s practice.

EXERCISE: Feeling your own C2SP and obliquus muscle

Lie face up on the floor or massage table. Reach behind your neck and find your C2 spinous process. C2 is the last lump of spine as you follow the spine up to the head. The C2 SP is easy to feel because it is much is larger than the other SPs (in fact, C1 has no spinous process, so you’ll feel a dent where it should be, just before you reach the head). Turn your head slowly from side to side and convince yourself that C2 does not move during AA rotation. If you rotate more than 45 degrees it will begin to move.

Now put one hand on your forehead, so your head can not rotate. Feel the C2 SP, then feel the mat of muscle which attaches to its left or right side. You won’t be able to feel an individual muscle (at least I can’t), but you can tell your finger is on muscle, not bone. Try to rotate your head L, relax, try to rotate R, then relax. Feel the muscle bulge up under your finger? The obliqqus on the R will harden when you try to turn R, and the one on the L will harden when you try to turn L.

EXERCISE: Palpating C2 and the obliquus muscle on your partner.

The recipient will be face-up. Using your right hand, reach under their neck and feel the row of spinous processes that go up-and-down. The last, largest SP before the head is C2. The mat of muscle adjoining the sides of C2 includes the obliquus. Put your left hand on the person’s forehead and rest your left elbow on the table, so that the person’s head will not move when they try to rotate. Ask them to try to rotate their head to the right, relax, turn, relax, etc. The muscle on the right will bulge on and off, like a lighthouse beacon. Now still with your right hand, reach an inch farther under their neck and feel the obliquus on the left. Ask them to try to turn their head to the left, and so forth. Make sure you can feel both the left and right obliquus with your right hand. Then switch hands. Make sure you can feel both their left and right obliquus with your left hand.

Make sure you understand the exercises up to this point before going on to the next part. You may need to take a break, and start reading from the beginning again. It gets more complicated. It is not so important that you can visualize all the bones and muscles, just that your hands can do the job. So relax your left-brain a bit and let your hands take over.

Rotate the person’s head to the right. Now the weight of the head is on your right hand. Your left hand is free. Reach under the neck with your left middle finger and feel the right obliquus (pink in the first photo). When reaching under, you will first feel the spinous process of C2, then go past it, and begin feeling on the far side of C2SP. Now that the head is rotated, C2 may be difficult to find, it will be much farther under then neck than you expect.

In this depiction, C2 has stayed in the same place while the Right TVP of C1 (white crescent) has moved closer to it, so that the right Obliquus muscle (pink) is in its shortened position. Your right hand is holding the weight of the head. The fingers of your right hand must spread to give room for your left middle fingertip to find the Obliquus muscle. Complicated? It will seem simple once your hands have done it a few times.

Someone looking in from the right side should be able to see the finger of your left hand, as you can see in the photo above—my left middle finger is pressing her right obliquus. Use cross fiber motions to find the muscle but even if you cant feel the fiber, your curled fingertip still in contact with C2 assures you your fingertip is in the right place. Then press into where the obliquus must be, and wait for melting. On some people the obliquus muscle will be easy to feel. Whether you can feel the fibers or not, be patient and you will be able to feel your finger sinking in—this is the muscle melting. It is very important we know how to palpate and press this muscle in its shortened position, so practice on several people until you are sure.

Rotate the head to the left. It is important to begin with your hands under the head, but a certain distance apart, so that once the head is rotated 45 degrees, your left hand will have complete control of the head. The person must feel that your hand has control; otherwise they will not relax the rotation. Now reach all the way under the neck with your right hand to feel the shortened left obliquus muscle. Practice this maneuver on several different people before going on to the next maneuver.

EXERCISE: Finesse: While the head is supported on one hand, the head will have a tendency to flex—that is, the chin will drop toward the chest. To prevent this, your fingers must be supportive under the neck. While the head is rotated to one side, practice flexing and extending the head just a little (make the head nod a small “yes”), to prove to yourself that you have the head balanced and supported. This balance must be maintained throughout the next maneuver! If the person does not feel this balanced support from your hand, the person’s cerebellum will feel the need to help you move the head, and under this condition, the muscles will not melt.

When you begin the maneuver, your hands make a contract with the person’s cerebellum, that you will control movement. Therefore it is important that you do not let go of the head until the maneuver is finished, five, ten, sixty minutes from now. If you must take one hand away for repositioning, make sure the other hand is still firmly in contact with the bones of the head so the person’s brain knows you have not left your post.

EXERCISE: Pinning C2 while returning the head toward neutral.

Rotate the head to the right, so that your right hand has complete control of the head. Reach your left hand under C2 to feel the right obliquus muscle. You may need to spread the fingers of your right hand, Spock-like, to make a space for your left fingers to feel the muscle (shown in previous two photos). Your left fingertip is still pressed into the obliquus. Begin rotating the head back to the left, by sliding your right hand right across the table. Curl your left finger so that it is preventing C2 from following the head. Finish moving the head back to neutral, shake your hands out, and we’ll do it again with an added step.

This time when you are returning the head toward neutral, not only are you pinning C2 from rotating, now press your left thumb against their head, squeezing your thumb and fingertip slowly closed as the head rotates. Once the head has returned halfway to neutral, get a new grip with your left thumb, now using the thenar pad of your thumb on their mastoid process. Squeeze your thenar pad closer to your middle finger as the head finishes returning to zero. It feels like you are squeezing two bones together between your thumb and middle finger. Don’t squeeze too hard. You are not trying to forcibly lengthen the right obliquus; only to monitor it’s lengthening. If you still don’t know which muscle is lengthening at what time, don’t worry. Your hands can do the maneuver, and over time they will teach it to your forebrain if you really want to know.

Once the head is back to zero, shake your hands out, then do the same maneuver to the left. Practice this maneuver on several different people before going on to the next maneuver.

EXERCISE: Palpating your own SCM

Grip it between your thumb and the first and second knuckles of your index finger. There are two parts to the muscle; the easy part to grab is thinner. Take a bigger bite with your fingers and get the deeper fibers.

Doesn't that feel good?

Now try reaching across with your opposite hand and gripping the far SCM with thumb and two fingertips.

Now palpate the SCM on your partner lying supine, first in neutral, then in 45° of rotation. How do the shortened muscles feel different than the lengthened muscles?

EXERCISE: Cranial assessment of the AA joint

(Melting Muscles is not dependent on following cranial motion. You already have skills for assessing and correcting the AA joint. The following practice just makes it more relaxing for both you and the recipient.) When following “cranial motion” (natural variance in muscle contraction), your movements will be so slow that an observer glancing over would not notice any motion is happening.

Place your hands under the person’s head and wait to feel if the head “wants” to rotate one way more than the other. If you do not feel anything, slowly begin rotating one way (sliding your hands the opposite way) to get it started. If it doesn’t start one way, try the other way. Just try one way, and if this is not the way that would be natural you will feel the head sort of resist your motion, then you know to go the other way.

If you don’t feel “motion” here are two ways to “get the ball rolling.”

Create extension and flexion of the head in slow motion. This is a normal motion. Once the motion has momentum, the head will pull away from this normal motion. It may pull into right or left rotation, so follow whichever way it goes.

Look down the body to see which way the head visually rotates, assume this is the way the head will “cranially” rotate first, and begin rotating it this way very slowly.

EXERCISE: Combining cranial motion with the AA maneuver.

Once the head has shown which way it “wants” to rotate and you have helped it into rotation, you reach under, palpate, and press the obliquus muscle on the far side. For example, if the head “wanted” to rotate right, one of the head right-rotator muscles must be contracting greater than its left-rotating counterpart. Our first hypothesis will be that it is the right obliquus muscle. Press this muscle and wait. If you feel it melt, and the head “wants” to return to neutral at the same time, our hypothesis was correct. If the muscle melts but the head does not yet want to return toward neutral, another right-rotator muscle must be still contracting more than its left counterpart. Take your left hand out from behind the neck and grip the left SCM, which is currently shortened, and wait for melting. If it melts and still no rotation back toward neutral, go back to the obliquus and melt it again.

90% of the people will return to neutral within 10 minutes, though many will be much quicker. In your practice, do not go over twelve minutes on this maneuver. If it has gone long enough, and you think it probably won’t release, think a silent message to their brain, “I am finishing in sixty seconds, if you don’t resolve by then, I’m just moving on.” If the head still has not begun moving, do not return the head to neutral, but gently take your hands off, leaving the head rotated on the table. Move on to massage the rest of the body, without comment.

Once the head returns to neutral, deliberately cause midcervical extension, the first maneuver you learned on day one. Once extension had begun, let the head float to see which direction it will go. Guiding the motion is okay for a few seconds, but then listen for the person’s cerebellum telling what is most important on its agenda. The head may return to rotating the same way, or rotate the other way. If you still have not spent ten minutes, go ahead and do another rotation correction. When the neck will flex and extend three times without rotating, the rotation forces have returned to natural balance. A balanced AA joint is a rare event, worthy of celebration! That was the hard part--the rest is down hill! You deserve a break!

R e v i e w o f A A t r e a t m e n t

Assessing the AA joint:

Prone, by feeling the bone over to one side

Supine, by feeling which way ROM is easier

Supine, by waiting for cranial motion.

Treating the AA joint:

Melt obliquus prone or side-lying

Treat obliquus using super-duper correction

Set the pace yourself

Follow the cranial motion’s pace

If has not returned to zero,

Treat SCM.

If still not returning, treat all 3 again.

only 12 minutes max, move on.

If returned to zero, do midcervical extension and flexion

Repeat if necessary, until 12 minutes up.

Treating the Muscles

Atlas and Axis

Natural Variance in Muscle Contraction

This ends your free sample!