Releasing Neck Whiplash using Body Realignment

Neck whiplash is one of the most difficult conditions to treat and certainly to fully cure. Even if the immediate symptoms can be relieved to a certain extent, long term discomfort or pain is a frequent legacy, as is the emotional content of the injury which lingers; for example, fear and nightmares, which can be as debilitating as the pain.

Caused, usually, by a car accident where the head is flung forwards and backwards, a whiplash injury leads to protective splinting, primarily in the neck muscles, which blocks circulation and energy and compromises normal muscle dynamics in the neck, shoulders and back. This can lead, long term, to further compensation patterns manifesting throughout the body. Body Realignment, whose main element is the technique ‘Bio-mobility’, is a painless and effective method of treatment which has been known to fully relieve all emotional and physical symptoms.

With Bio-mobility, it is possible to work on a client with whiplash injury from 72 hours after the accident. Originally trained as a State Registered Nurse, I have always been aware of the difficulties caused by whiplash and how hard it is to treat. But I have, over the years, successfully used Bio-mobility to treat many clients where whiplash injury was still evident in their muscle-holding patterns. Sometimes they have been unaware that an old car accident was responsible for their present neck or back pain or headaches, but the body does not lie; during a Bio-mobility treatment the releases are so extreme that when an old whiplash injury surfaces, the pattern is unmistakeable.

Because, in Bio-mobility, the body releases in the position in which it was injured, to release whiplash the supine client will first be put into the forward release position in that the upper thoracics are lifted, whilst being supported, right up off the couch; all the relevant muscle groups are then freed by work to the key points. Then, relaxing onto the couch again, the client must move so that the shoulders come to the end of the couch. The neck is then gently put into rear extension, the head supported on a pillow on the therapist’s lap, and the neck by their hands as the release process continues. This looks uncomfortable but in Bio-mobility there is absolutely no discomfort during treatment. When the client is in this position, they are comfortable and relaxed because they are being supported in the original injury position.

Every Bio-mobility session must treat the whole body, as each release will have a knock-on effect throughout the inter-connected soft tissues; in this way ‘layers’ of damage are removed at a time.

I have worked with Bio-mobility for some ten years, combining it with deep tissue massage and body unwinding; these form the substance of Body Realignment and this is what is taught by the Body in Harmony School of Massage and Bodywork.

The training is divided into two diplomas (Body Realignment and Advanced Body Release) of eight and four months’ training respectively. These are post-graduate courses for massage-trained therapists. The emphasis is not just on clinical expertise but on the self-development of the therapists, raising their own body/energy awareness and developing their ability to tune into the client at a profound level.