Recovery from Physical Trauma, head injury, concussion, back pain

Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on the bodies and minds. 

                                                                                                              Peter Levine, Ph.D.

I integrate a variety of hands-on bodywork techniques to facilitate physical and emotional recovery from head injury, concussion, neck or back pain after car accidents, surgeries and other traumas, and we work together to renegotiate movement and restore a sense of safety and stability within the body. These techniques include Somatic Experiencing® (SE), Craniosacral Therapy, traditional massage therapy and soft-tissue rehabilitation techniques. 

Can Massage therapy release trauma in the body? Can massage help with PTSD? What is Somatic Massage? Can Craniosacral Therapy help symptoms of physical trauma, like head injury, concussion, or back pain after a car accident?

If you wonder about those questions, or relate to any of the following, it is possible that doing some trauma-resolution work, in addition to or in place of touch-work, at least at first, would be beneficial:

• How long is recovery from an accident going to take? I feel like I should be "back to normal" by now...
• I never had this pain before, but ever since the accident, this pain is constant
• Can you have mental trauma after an accident? 
• I am now over-cautious or avoid certain situations: (getting on the highway, taking left turns, getting behind the wheel, going down steps, certain types of people, kinds of relationships, etc.)
• I am more nervous, anxious, fatigued or emotionally volatile since IT happened, even though I've recovered physically
• Avoiding thinking or talking about an accident - saying or thinking "It wasn't a big deal" even though you are still affected
• Feeling an un-nameable fear or sense of dread, even though no immediate threat is present
• Emotional numbness
• Avoiding activities that previously you enjoyed or were easy, but now cause a level of distress or difficulty.
• Nightmares or flashbacks, disturbed sleep patterns

Somatic Experiencing and Integrated Bodywork can help. 

If you have been in a vehicle accident or are suffering the ongoing effects of a past injury that has left you feeling physical pain, it can often be coupled with an overall sense of unease, anxiety, and hypervigilance that keeps you from feeling fully present and relaxed. No matter how much you try to "fix it", "figure it out" or "tell yourself to relax", you find you can't just think your way out of it. This can be especially difficult and ineffective when a head injury or concussion is involved. 

Often the physical repercussions that result from falls, crashes, or other sudden impacts (whether are major or minor) can result in restriction, both physically and figuratively. It's as if the body keeps replaying a split-second moment in which it had "no way out", or no other choice. It continues to repeat a pattern that was useful then, to protect you, but now that the overwhelming moment has passed, that survival response is no longer useful, but rather, inhibitive, and often comes with emotional patterns that serve to create a feeling of "being stuck". 

The body can also respond from this same fight or flight perspective in some surgical and/or birth-giving situations, in which a "medically necessary" procedure (whether or not it is consciously chosen) overrides what the body is actually experiencing and fighting against. It might be unable to complete natural survival responses due to anesthesia or positioning. As a result, that intense energy remains unused for its in-the-moment purpose and instead serves as repeating, unconscious cycle between the body and brain, alerting you to threat when none exists, even though the surgery or procedure itself has passed. 

Trauma can be defined as occurring when a potentially life-threatening event (whether real or perceived) causes a split-second response in which your body does the very best it can to protect you. That response may be not as effective as one you might desire or choose to execute if you had the time; rather, the body and the mind are, in that moment, overwhelmed by intense stimulation. The nervous system disorganizes, breaks down and cannot reset itself. The muscular system (and all soft tissue in the body, including organs) then experiences a repeated feedback loop of contraction that is detrimental to overall health, and the whole body organism stays on high-alert, causing physical pain, mental exhaustion and emotional distress.

MY OFFICE IS LOCATED AT 333 GRAND AVENUE, SAINT PAUL, MN.