(614) 653-8111 Sharhartnett@aol.com
TMJ and Clenching

TMJ and Clenching

Does anyone know how to resolve TMJ and Clenching Problems?

I would really like to tell you that there is an easy fix for the pain in your jaw, but that isn’t always true.  While some cases go away by themselves over time, others continue to get worst.

TMJ

TMJ

TMJ is a disorder that can cause stress and pain to the temporomandibular joint and surrounding soft tissue.

With more that 15% of adults living with fascial pain, earaches and ringing, jaw pain and headaches, it may behoove the person suffering from this condition to try various methods to get the help they need.  If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms while opening, closing or moving your mouth, or while sleeping or awakening in the morning, you may be in need of some support to restore and rebalance the positioning of the head, neck and mouth in relationship to healthy postural alignment throughout the body:

  • difficulty opening and closing the mouth.
  • jaw pain while yawning or chewing.
  • pain or ringing in the ear area.
  • hearing and/or feeling popping or clicking sounds.
  • headaches.
  • tenderness around the teeth and gum areas.
  • teeth grinding
  • jaws get stuck or locked.
  • any swelling in the face

These are all common symptoms of what is know as TMD (Temporal Mandibular Disorders).

With a background focused mostly in Structural Integration and Craniosacral Therapy, I have found 5 things that seem to help clients improve and resolve this condition.:

  1. Myofascial Structural Therapy to improve how the head rests over the body.
  2. Craniosacral Therapy to improve movement within the sutures and to create balance in the cranium.
  3. Stretching and Movement Exercises.  Not only are neck exercises crucial for improving neck posture, but also the pelvis needs to be freed up and  symmetry between the legs established in order to help self-correct TMD.  Some great options would be yoga, Feldenkrais, Continuum, gyro tonics and free dancing.
  4. See a dentist for a bite appliance.  However, from a bodyworker perspective, I suggest one for the lower teeth rather than the top which is usually recommended.  Wearing any type of appliance on the top that restricts movement of the maxilla only inhibits healthy movement of the cerebrospinal fluid.
  5. Meditation to reduce stress. The Central Nervous System Stress can play a big factor in mouth disorders by creating tension in the musculature. Letting go of stressful beliefs through inquiry (www.the work.com) or something like breathing exercises or a walk through nature can be very helpful.
  6. Explore options with your pillow.  If you sleep on your back, you don’t need one.  However, if you sleep mostly on your side, there are some nice posturepedic options available.
  7. SomatoEmotional Release helps clients to feel deeply into their bodies and let go of unhealthy energy patterns of stress.

Three things to avoid:  Chewing gum and holding your cellphone in your neck.  Stop slouching and find length in your spine while reading or sitting at a computer.  

If you are in the local Columbus Ohio area, or would like a free  15 minute phone consultation, please feel contact me.

Sharon Hartnett CST, LMT, SI

(614) 653-8111

www.massageincolumbusohio.com

 

Neck Pain Relief with Myofascial Massage

Neck Pain Relief with Myofascial Massage

Neck Pain can occur for numerous reasons.

It could be the aftermath effect of an accident, poor postural strain,  a pinched nerve or the result of an illness. Whatever the reason for your pain and discomfort, what matters most is finding the best method that will work to help alleviate your symptoms.

There are some basic things that you can do at home:

  • Taking a warm epsom bath full of Magnesium Sulfate can help wonders.
  • Put two tennis balls in a sock and place them on the back of the neck while lying on the ground.  Relax.
  • Place your hand on the back of your neck and press where it hurts.  Stretch slowly and gently away in the areas that feels good.  Overstreching could make it feel worst so listen to your body.
  • Ask your sports trainer to give you some strength building exercises.  Very important for long-term recovery.
  • Breath and gently turn head in easy directions that are unusual.  Various planes of motion benefit.
  • Use a Stillpoint Inducer from Upledger for a minute or so, thereafter increasing time each day to help diminish pain.
  • Buy a neck traction machine and use as needed.
  • Eat healthy foods and exercise.  Stay away from processed food and perhaps check in with a functional physician or nutritionist to make sure you are using food as medicine.  Changing your diet can help fight against arthritis.
Neck Pain Relief

Neck Pain Relief

Things that you can do outside of this are:

  • Find a good Physical Therapist who does manual work as well as giving you exercises.
  • Swedish Massage helps with Circulation and Lymphatic Flow.
  • Find a Structural Integration Therapist who works with posture and movement to help you getting better aligned.
  • Craniosacral Therapy helps to relieve dysfunction along the spine and cranium, often helping to relieve pain symptoms.
  • Chiorpractors vary in their methods as much as Massage Therapists.  Ask questions and state what you want.  Some can apply abrupt moves and others can manipulate much more gently.
  • Myofascial Massage works with the muscles and the fascia primarily.  By lengthening the layers releasing trigger points and knots, clients often feel much better.
  • Sometime emotional issues needs to be expressed.  Speak with a healer or counselor about what is going on in your life and work towards resolution.

Listening to your body and taking a holistic approach to health is your best option.  If you are suffering from neck pain,  take this opportunity to turn it around.  There is no reason why you should neglect your self-care!

Sharon Hartnett LMT, CST, SI, Brennan Healer

(614) 653-8111

Columbus, Ohio

 

 

 

 

Somato-Emotional Release

Somato-Emotional Release

What is Somato-Emotional Release (SER)?

SER begins with an atmosphere of trust, respect, and gentle touch.

Often when I work with clients for a period of time, long-held negative beliefs and residual trauma energy can start to come to surface.  This may be a small gentle reminder of an uncomfortable feeling, a tear running down a cheek or a deep anxiety or stress that has energetically been frozen within the cells. We call this an “energy cyst from a Craniosacral Therapy perspective.  The energy from the historic trauma isolates itself as a compensation but it not entirely let go.

The Upledger  Craniosacral approach to working with Somato-Emotional Release involves a very natural type of presence and touch into the Cranosacral system that supports the process of releasing old trauma’s such as:  car accidents, PTSD, warfare, violence, divorce or any type of experience that feels overwhelming.  If the cycle of feelings does not complete itself, it remains until given the opportunity to heal.  By dialoguing with the Craniosacral System, the true intelligence within will lead the way to self-correct into health and wellbeing.  Craniosacral Therapy is a professional therapeutic modality that balances, restore and brings greater awareness to clients.

Craniosacral Columbus Ohio

Craniosacral Columbus

The old painful messages melt away and give way to the Present moment.

By taking the road of self-discovery with CST, new awareness will help you to make better choices in your life with more clarity and heart.  Bringing the physical, feelings, beliefs and heart into coherence opens the door to health and wellbeing.

Sharon Hartnett Craniosacral Therapist Columbus

614 653-8111

Serving the Columbus, Ohio Area

For information, go to my main page. 

 

 

 

Listening with Craniosacral Therapy

Listening with Craniosacral Therapy

In Daily life,  most people stay busy, and it’s easy to become distracted.

One of the best things that I like best about Craniosacral Therapy, is that it creates a sacred space for silence.  During a session, clients lay on a table fully clothed, close their eyes, and relax.  Stress is let go. In the quiet of the moment, many layers of consciousness have the time and ability to arise and be expressed.  For many people, this means that they have a unique opportunity to be mindful, introspective and have an experiential of unfolding.  Wonderful healing can take place, along with integration and growth.

 

I believe that this state of Grace in awakening is always available to us, however; it’s easy to miss due all the things we schedule or how we decide to live.  It is in our best interest to balance action with receiving,  thereby giving us the chance to live in “Being”.

As a Certified Craniosacral Therapist,  my priority is to align with “listening” and help my clients to find their Inner Physician through resonance.  What this means is that I focus on the CST rhythm primarily as it allows me to emphasize around the brain and spinal cord and how they relate to the rest of the body.  By supporting balance, strength, rate and symmetry, the client optimizes through inner dialogue in the moment.  In many instances, one can feel this as the therapeutic pulse picks up and sounds its healing potential.  In other cases, tissues release and energy is flows or an electrical buzz travels under the fingers.  In addition to the CSR (Craniosacral Rhythm), there are so many other things going on that intuition can lead me towards-the beating of the heart, the way the body moves with each inhale and exhale,  the sound that loudens or softens as the body changes,  all of these have a voice that the wisdom of the body is ready to reveal.  By using the fascia and the bones as my prime manual tools,  change is encouraged and a sense of wellbeing is the end result.

Another reason why I recommend Craniosacral Therapy to many people is that it is very gentle.  This type of hands on therapy can be used during pregnancy, right after birth to seniors with sensitive skin and/or health issues.  We use about a nickels worth of pressure until the tissue takes us deeper.  No forcing or tough manipulating.  Yet believe it or not-  profound change can occur through this quiet listening and supporting through the craniosacral system.

If you are needing some help with energizing, or quieting CST is quite helpful.  If you are in pain- helping restrictions or adhesions to dissolve opens the pathways to healthier dialogue.  The body is a whole being and awakening it to its possibilities is exciting as it brings one back to center and wellness.

FAQ Page

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

Worthington, Ohio|Serving the Columbus Area

614 653-8111

To find out more about Craniosacral Therapy, check out my main page.

 

Sports Related Knee Injury

Sports Related Knee Injury

Knee injury is one of the most common sports related reasons that bring patients to the doctors office.

knee injury

knee injury

 

Be proactive if you feel any pain, notice popping sounds, see any swelling or can’t walk properly.  It is important that you don’t put off getting the proper treatment for knee injury if you want to avoid long-term negative repercussions.  If you are fortunate, with your physician’s recommendation, you can apply basic first aid, and take some Ibuprofen and everything will heal nicely.  However, you don’t have to stop there.  Structural Integration with its fascial massage can be very helpful in alleviating any stress around the knee, the quads, and the hamstrings.  This can be done for minor ailments, or once your doctor recommends if surgery if needed.  The body is miraculous at healing itself.  However, the new tissue that is laid is not going to give you the same mobility you once had in many cases unless the fascia is spread, balanced and lengthens, allowing for more natural alignment.

If you are interested in playing sports and performing to your optimal level,  Structural Integration can be very helpful in supporting you to relate movement to your activities with higher performance.

Working with the fascia can be done starting with the superficial layers to help ease the pain around the joint.   As the work is deepened, it unlocks habitual patterns, and also those that resulted from the injuries.  Often clients feel the positive effects from doing a series of session more than with other types of basic massage.  That is because the adhesions and rotations, once they are released, stay that way,  allowing for more freedom and flexibility.

If you have had a knee injury and are looking for a therapy that can make a difference, call Sharon Hartnett LMT at (614) 653-8111 in  Columbus, Ohio.  

www.massageincolumbusohio.com

 

 

 

Healing… How Long Will It Take to Feel Better?

Healing… How Long Will It Take to Feel Better?

Curious about how many healing sessions you need to resolve pain issues?

Well, the truth is no healer or therapist can give you that answer if they are being honest.

What we can offer is that we will use whatever tools and compassion we have to help you along on your journey back to health.  And if you are looking for the best massage therapist, healer, health coach that can help you to re-connect to that force inside of you that can shift things toward wellbeing, the best thing you can do is interview, try new healing modalities, and make a commitment to stay with your own process as you learn from each relationship and experience.

 

Healing

Healing

 

When you interview possible massage therapists, the first thing you want to do is check in with your own intuition to see if you feel comfortable with yourself when you meet.  If his/her presence sets the space as a comforting and an honest environment for you to open up, then that is a good indication.  Next, it is important that you feel like your needs are really heard.  Some therapists have routines and just do their thing.  It is much more helpful to clients if each session is set up as a unique and moment-to-moment type of therapy.  That way the dialogue between you and the therapist is based on the body’s own wisdom to self-correct through positive intervention.  On the same note,  in regards to communication,  let your therapist know what pressure works best for you.  Often the body will say one thing, but the ego has a completely different itinerary.   Both of these need to be alignment for the best results. Lastly, look online for testimonials and google reviews.  There is a huge difference between beginner practitioners and people will experience.  You do actually pay for what you get for the most part when it comes to massage and healing.  This is not to say that you won’t receive a good session from someone right out of school, but they won’t hold the same depth and width of hands on experience.

I have lots of clients who tell me that they have tried everything and nothing works.  Well-  that can be a challenge if the client doesn’t learn and see the benefits of each interaction.  What I can say is that if you are in pain,  that is your body or spirit telling you that something needs to change and your own system doesn’t have the answer yet.  With this said,  the history in the biology has often taken a lot of time to go awry,  it takes time to work through restrictions, compensations and such before getting to the Source sometimes.  Open your mind to new things.  Allow yourself to trust your intuition and the people you work with. With time and patience, and good work- things can and often do change toward the positive.  

Stay committed to your healing process.  Nobody can fix you, but plenty of people and life itself will help you to heal.  Dance in the new relationships you make, and don’t let anything or anyone take you off course from yourself.

Pain is an indicator that lets you know that something needs to change.   Trust what is being created and let go of what you no longer need.  Whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual-  with positive intention- you can find your way back to Source.

Sharon Hartnett LMT

(614) 372-6598

www.massageincolumbusohio.com