Having trouble falling pregnant or suffer hormonal issues?
10 February 2014
Are you having trouble falling pregnant? Or do you suffer any of the 6,000 or so medically diagnosable conditions where hormonal imbalance is considered a major factor?
There’s just a chance one of my specialised remedial massages may help.
Obviously there can be numerous medical, physiological or psychological and other factors involved in pregnancy difficulties and other hormonal issues, but sometimes the simplest ANATOMICAL issues that MAY be causing or contributing to those are often overlooked.
Here’s why and how MY remedial massage may assist.
The longer and harder you try to fall pregnant, the more physical and mental stress you put yourself through. Or that stress can come from a variety of other factors. Stress in itself will have an effect on your hormones.
Remedial massage is a great stress reliever. Just about everyone knows that. On its own, however, a basic massage and simple stress relief almost certainly is not enough.
One thing often forgotten or overlooked by many health practitioners of various types is one of the FIRST things they learn in their anatomy and physiology studies – an age-old law that “Structure (anatomy) governs function (physiology).” If the structure is not right, the function of the body won’t be.
For example, something most people don’t realise is that hormones may be affected if your jaw is out of alignment!
Think about this. When you breathe, your chest rises and falls slightly and that creates a very subtle, almost imperceptible movement of your spine right down to your sacrum at the base of the spine.
This movement creates a gentle pulsing rhythm at the sacrum in conjunction with a gentle rhythmical movement of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in the skull and down the spinal chord. The skull’s Sphenoid bone plays vital roles in this rhythm and in the chemical health of the CSF and your hormones. The rhythm at the sacrum is mimicked back via the CSF up into the skull into a place called the sphenobasiliar junction. It is a very complex process also involving the whole respiratory system.
Put simply, however, this entire rhythm process helps to regulate your hormones. But because there is no SIMPLE medical test or scan – where a doctor just signs a form and gets the results back a short time later – to detect and measure sacral-cranial rhythm and its hormonal influence, it is rarely, if ever, considered by the medical profession as having any potential impact on your hormones.
So if, for example, a person was unknowingly breathing unevenly, this rhythm could be impacted and that could disrupt your hormone regulation.
Obviously, an electrocardiogram (ECG) can easily measure heart rhythm, but breathing also involves LUNGS, among various other things. A question to consider, “Is the rhythm generated by the heart and lungs similar to what reaches the sacrum and is mimicked back to the skull via the CSF?” It may not be if spinal and other muscles are too tight and the spine cannot move and flex as it should. Perhaps you have some spinal deterioration, injury or disease.
Simply taking your blood pressure using a blood pressure machine won’t show any slight variations in heart rate. You may, however, be able to detect some subtle differences by feeling your own pulse at the wrist.
Now here’s where it gets interesting from a purely ANATOMICAL point of view – and you need to remember that the medical profession mainly focuses on the physiology (function) of the body rather than the anatomy (structure).
The Vagus nerve – probably THE most important nerve in your body – controls, among many other things, HEARTRATE and LUNGS. That’s YOUR BREATHING.
The Vagus nerve, as with any nerve in the body, can be impinged by the Temporo Mandibular Joint (TMJ – jaw joint) opening unevenly. If the jaw is not in its correct alignment, as it opens it can impinge the Dura Mater.
This is the outer of three membranes (Meninges – as in Meningitis) around the brain and down the spinal chord through which all nerves must pass to supply all your organs, muscles and other bodily functions with instructions from the brain.
There could be a number of reasons why your TMJ might be out of alignment – including stress. Occasionally it is a dental issue, sometimes it is due to whiplash injury, but more often than not it is purely muscular and one that I can usually easily fix.
One of the things that very few health practitioners of any type ever consider during routine or other examinations/assessments is your feet being out of alignment. That could include ankles or arches rolling in and/or out, bent toes, etc. In fact, there are FOUR arches in the foot (medial, lateral, transverse and metatarsal) – not just the medial or inner arch you think about.
Also consider that the ENTIRE weight of your body initially rests on your ankle joints so they play a vital role in the body’s balance, position and movement and therefore any compensatory muscular and postural effects ordered by the brain.
Whenever you walk, run, jog, etc., the big Tibia bone in your lower leg and the Femur bone in your upper leg rotate via the knee joint. It is very subtle and you don’t realise it is happening. Those two bones are meant to rotate in synch but they can only do that if your ankle joints are in their correct NEUTRAL position. The ankle joints WON’T be in NEUTRAL if your ankles and arches roll in or out or you have other foot alignment issues.
When the Tibia and Femur rotate out of synch, it puts pressure into a couple of big ligaments in the hip joint, which forces the hip out of its correct alignment. Because the hips are the ANATOMICAL or STRUCTURAL centre of the body, any misalignment of the hips will cause postural and muscle imbalances right up into the neck, shoulders and even the jaw – and back down the legs to the feet.
It is the combination of all those factors that can then pull the TMJ out of alignment, which in turn may impinge the Dura Mater. That in turn may affect the Vagus nerve, distorting your breathing and the sacral pulse and in turn impacting on your hormones.
So, simply put, if your feet are out of their correct alignment, it may be affecting your hormones – a possible reason you have trouble falling pregnant or suffer other hormonal imbalances.
The 6,000 or so diagnosable medical conditions where hormonal imbalance is a major factor include headaches, migraines, depression, emotions running rampant, hair loss, Alzheimer’s, moods, allergies, various diseases, behaviours, acne and thousands of others.
So all the above could also apply to any of those conditions.
There also could be postural and muscle imbalances, starting anywhere in the body, that in turn pull your TMJs out of alignment. A comprehensive remedial massage where the focus is on the areas that are ACTUALLY tight (not necessarily where you might feel sore) is a great fix for those.
(If all the above sounds far fetched, I suggest you read this article again slowly and research each individual aspect I have mentioned).
With EVERY new remedial massage client, I check feet, hip and jaw alignment. I can do that literally within about a minute and I have a special technique whereby in almost all cases I can have your hips realigned – painlessly – within about two minutes.
A simple jaw test that takes less than 30 seconds can identify if your jaw is likely to be impinging any nerves. This test will not identify what or how many nerves, but the test clearly indicates jaw impingement to a greater or lesser degree. About 30 to 40 per cent of my clients have jaw alignment and nerve impingement issues they were not aware of.
I give a comprehensive, thorough remedial massage that takes all the above and many other things into account. The massage not only leaves you feeling relaxed, but also helps stretch and loosen tight muscles and improve overall muscle and postural balance – and realigns your hips and jaw.
With your first remedial massage, I also give you an additional 40-50 minutes FREE to get your medical history, do various assessments and spend time explaining various body interactions, including the above.
I would not want to offer any false hope about my remedial massage helping in your quest to fall pregnant, but surely when you consider all the above it is at least worth a try.
David Hall ©
TOWNSVILLE REMEDIAL MASSAGE THERAPIST
Townsville Massage therapist based in Mount Louisa and specialising in Remedial Massage therapy for all types of muscle and/or joint aches and pains, headaches and migraines and preparation for or recovery from a range of sporting, fitness and recreational activities. I guarantee the best value for money remedial massage in Townsville. CALL NOW on (07) 4774 6973 or 0438 774 819 to book an appointment.
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