My new blog

This is a link to my new blog about my Buddhist path. I'm posting it here right now because there is a post up that links to Somatic studies of the human startle reflex. http://outbreath.livejournal.com

Neck Humps and the Bison

This article is on how I teach students about why they may have a hump on the lower neck. Please note, it is vital to see a good doctor and movement/bodywork person (Pilates, Rolfing, etc) to make sure of why you have a hump and how to properly address working with it. There are some reasons beyond the one I'm writing on which can cause a hump in this region. Please do not read this article as advice for how to self-treat.

People who sit at a desk for a living often have humps develop at the base of the neck. This is also something I see presenting with people who are tall. After ruling out other issues which may cause a build up of tissues and assessing this is mostly habitually created, I give them my Bison Teaching.

How it presents:

Looking at the client standing I will see her head shear forward of her chest. This brings the weight of the head out of its optimal spot balanced above the shoulders making the head weigh more for the body to manage than is necessary. I'll generally see a build up of fascia at the base of the neck around C7. Head shears will also cause internally rotated shoulders, as they fall forward with the head. Problems begin to add up for the arm nerves due to impinging in multiple ways. First, the roots are compressed, to some degree, at the spine where the compression is originating. Second, there will be nerve compression through the shoulder joint due to internal rotation causing compression of the joint which limits full ROM. Additionally, the muscle sleeves are not going to be easily sliding surfaces and therefore will create compression down the entire arm to the hand. All of these factors also mean the bones won't have their fullest range of motion from the humerus, through the lower arm, wrist, hand, and fingers. It's like a landslide of trouble when the head shears away from the center of the body.

When laying supine it is necessary to prop their heads to avoid a shearing of the space where the distortion is taking place. They'll often report discomfort in laying supine with the head on the floor.

These clients tend to report having neck tiredness after work. Some are treated for carpal tunnel. Many have low back issues as well. The neck and low back are mirrors of one another because they both share the forward spinal curve. As the saying goes, What goes on above goes on below. This means quite often someone with a neck thing will also have low back things, and low back issues are also echoed up into the neck. This is not true for every client, but in situations of a shearing at the neck the low back is also being pulled out of its curve and so symptoms will often appear as a feeling of tension.

Back to the hump at the neck, in order to explain to my client in terms she can easily understand I give them my Bison Teaching. Sometimes I use props like my daughter's Playmobil Bison which bends the head down from the hump at the neck.

Head as high as a bison can lift it.


Head shearing to the ground.



I am sure to show through mimicking the body movement and showing with my own body how the base of the neck is strained from the head shearing forward of the shoulders. I have my client put her hands on the muscles surrounding this portion of my spine when I am in good posture, then she can feel the lengthening and tension when I let my head hang forward. I have them do the same with their own necks, warning them to be very gentle and not go to full range in either direction to reduce likelihood of injury.












































To the client after assessing her posture:

"You know what a bison looks like, right? It has a hump at its neck. It is fascia building up because the head is so heavy it requires extra support. A male bison's head weighs about 500 pounds. That's a lot. In fact, a bison can't lift its head above its shoulders. Much of a bison's life is spent with its head to the ground as it grazes on grass. Because the head is forward so much its body makes extra support.

Fascia is the fabric of our body. It is our webbing. You can think of it as connective tissues which we need to stay juicy and sliding in order to have full range of movement potential. When our body gets stuck in a habitual position the body tires from managing it and begins to solidify the area with fascia to act as strapping. This strapping then limits our movement which can also translate to reduced nerve pathway communication. We are literally hardening in order to manage the extra weight of our heads. Once it settles into our body we are stuck in place unable to get out of the forward shear and yet not find much relief from it. As we age it weakens us in our upper body, makes it hard for us to do movement practices, and in a deep way affects how we feel about our world. Our body postures and expressions lock emotions into our body. Being in a collapsed posture tells your brain/body you are less happy, not surviving as well as you could. The ribs sunk on the lungs causes us to breathe less, and feel less enlivened.

Our peaceful friend the bison seems agreeable to how his body is, but when we live a bison life, head thrust forward all the time, we loose a lot of the quality we could otherwise have in our lives."

What can we do to unwind this? It may not be possible to unwind it completely, but we can certainly improve it a great deal. If the client is young and still having a regular menstrual cycle (meaning plenty of estrogen available to make her tissues juicy and changeable) I encourage her to watch the women in her family for their posture and compare her own to get to know the potentials of her journey. Seeing your mother, aunt, grandmother locked up in a posture you are budding into can be a quick connection to improve interest in changing postural habits long-term. I teach her how to stand in a balanced, easy, harmonious posture. I give movement work specific to her unique presentation. I always encourage some form of Structural Integration work (Rolfing, Hellerwork, and similar practices), as well as suggest she begin engaging regularly in some kind of full body integrated movement (Pilates, Yoga, dance, Tai Chi, martial arts, etc) to put her body into harmony and balance.

Working in sitting I encourage younger clients to feel the juicy balance their spine can find. In supine (on back) I teach them to feel how the area of the neck causes the chin to shear out of alignment when the head is flat on the floor and teach them to prop themselves correctly to find good support. When rolling the head up from the floor I teach them not to shear forward out of the spot they naturally want to shear from, but instead to find length through this area and roll through the ears (atlas on skull). In prone (on stomach) I teach them to float their chest and head up without tensing the base of the neck. Side bending without letting the head fall forward is tricky for these students and is a good practice to teach them length of spine is more important than distance covered (they won't feel as if they went as far, but the spinal work will be better for them).

If the client is past menopause there is far greater chance she will not be able to unwind it as much as the younger client. Her tissues will be less juicy, more hardened. She risks more injury in movement due to the compression over years deteriorating the function of the area, as well as the lack of estrogen to support collagen. I encourage, and sometimes require, these clients to get a bone density test if they haven't prior to my working with them. If they haven't or refuse then I teach them movement as if they have osteoporosis until I confirm they do not have it. I also ask if they've been checked for cervical arthritis. I tend to treat them as if they do have cervical arthritis even if they don't due to the compression of the vertebrae (spinal bones). I also understand the muscles in the mid and lower shoulder girdle will not function correctly to preload the humerus (upper arm bone) in the socket and they will probably move from the top of the shoulder instead of anchoring the humeral head before lifting the arm. When clients lift the arm without proper support and activation they tend to impinge the shoulder at the acromion process (shoulder joint). I spend a lot of time educating them about the anatomy of their shoulder girdle, give them a lot of muscular and movement training to wake up sleepy parts, and take them through a lot of somatic movement practices to imprint more efficient movement in their daily activities.

I always encourage some form of Structural Integration work (Rolfing, Hellerwork, and similar practices), as well as suggest she begin engaging regularly in some kind of full body integrated movement (Pilates, Yoga, dance, Tai Chi, martial arts, etc) to put her body into harmony and balance.

In sitting work I help them find their sitz bones and float their head up and out of the pelvis. I am never interested in stretching these clients into the fullest range they can find. I feel it risks injury. What I encourage and cue is juicy, easy space between the joints, a feeling of lightness, effortless movement patterns. I teach them about their postural muscles giving lots of imagery. Supine work I always prop their midback through head. Depending on how intense the shear is and considering other possible issues, how I work with prone is varied. I only take the head up from the propped 'floor' (against gravity) while using additional support, usually through a hand towel under the head in a hammock set up. I often don't go into full prone and instead work with diagonal lines so the weight in gravity is lessened. I can do this with a kitchen counter, my Pilates equipment, and in a seated position hinging forward through the hips. I'm most interested in helping these clients have less injuries from daily life. I teach them juicy ways to twist, ways to work through their hands with less effort, how to move from standing to sitting in chairs and all the way to the floor, and back up and out with the least amount of work.


My teacher Marie-Jose Blom invented some remarkable props. I use three kinds in my work with these clients. The first one is the posture pillow.



I often use two Sacral Wedges folded up under each shoulder. I tend to heat them up a bit so their shoulders can find the warmth and let go of holding patterns. I often put one warmed Sacral Wedge on their chest to let go of chest holding.



The other prop of Marie-Jose's I use with these students is the Cervical Disk. This is especially wonderful in supporting their neck for bridging exercises. You can also put it on top of the Posture Pillow if the slant isn't enough to support the shear. In addition, the Cervical Disk allows for me to affect how they hold their head on the top of the spine. If they have a little twist to one side I can give a little more padding to the empty spaces on the opposite side so their suboccipitals and other connecting muscles can relax control.



Me propped how I will for someone presenting with a hump, though I may add more elements depending on the woman's unique presentation.





Questions I ask while assessing her posture: Do other women in your family have this posture? Do the older women have humps? What kinds of symptoms did they show? Have you had your bone density checked? If yes, we discuss the findings. If no, I encourage them to get one and explain how less estrogen after menopause causes us to lose bone mass. Do you sit a lot during your day? Do you work at a computer? How many hours? Do you sit in a car for long drives?

Imagery I use: Can you feel how your spine can be so easy in this movement? Can you allow each bone and muscle to feel its way naturally through space? Think of Ida Rolf's Sky Hook, can you imagine it is hanging you by the top of your head and all of your joints are easily moving under it? Can you allow your ribs to support the weight of your head? Can you let your ears hear what is happening alongside and behind you? What is happening in your peripheral vision? Breathe through your nose easily. Allow your jaw to relax. Can you let your ribs be balanced easily over your hips? Can you let the femur (big leg bone) be deep and juicy in your hip joint? Can you be present with yourself in this one moment? What do you feel through your hands? What do you feel through your feet? Can you notice the weight of you here? What is touching? Can you sense the back of your body? Can you feel an internal movement begin which is followed by the muscle sleeves. Can you receive this movement pattern with curiosity? Can you feel joy in moving? Feel how alive you are in this one moment, in this movement and breath.

As a final piece, I made a small video showing a seated Pilates exercise we call Forward Push Through performed on the Reformer. This is about sequential rolling through the spine (and other movement principles). I show a balanced roll down, a head shear forward and back up, and another decent roll down. Please take note, my movements are not always perfect. I am subject to my own movement issues. However, you can see a great difference between taking the head first, followed by moving one bone at a time to that of shearing the head in front of the ribs before finding articulation. This is how I see the hump present in clients, the shearing instead of articulating. I work with it in a number of ways including education, movement and somatic exercises/experiences, and imagery.



To contact Melissa Macourek email mjmacourek@gmail.com. For more information www.melissamacourek.com