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It’s all connected. More and more science and Western Medicine is coming to grips with how one area of the body can affect another. Some times directly, sometimes through indirect paths unexplained.

Today I will talk about a paths of tension and restrictions that can effect areas above and below. Let’s start in the middle and the source of life itself. Diaphragm and the breath. Effected by areas below, one example is the psoas. A muscle deep in front of the low back, pelvis and wraps around to attach on the thigh bone. It’s fibers also embed into the diaphragm so tightness and restrictions can actually effect the ability for the diaphragm to expand, then effecting the breath. 
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The diaphragm and our ability to breath is also effected by the neck. The diaphragm is innervated by the phrenic nerve exiting the neck at levels C3,4, and 5, meaning anything that impairs the nerves pathway starting from the neck down can also impact the strength or efficiency of our breath. 

If we don’t breath well- well that can lead to a host of all sorts of problems, lack of sleep, muscle fatigue, general fatigue, efficiency of process toxins… it goes on and on. 
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So my friends take care of your neck to take care of your breath. Start today with this video- always a favorite on how to release neck tension and work on posture. 

Upcoming is the Upper Back and Neck Workshop at Prana 5/4 1:30-3:30

Hi, I'm Dr. Alison McLean, DPT

I believe wellness practitioners deserve to live the freedom they teach.

Not someday. Not after one more certification or one more full caseload. Now. We entered this work to help people heal — and somewhere along the way, we became the most burned out people in the room. Seeing clients back to back, skipping meals, missing family moments, quietly wondering if this is as good as it gets. What they didn't teach us in school is that the business model we inherited was never designed to give us freedom. It was designed to keep us busy. There's a version of your practice that doesn't require your sacrifice as the cost of admission. One where your income isn't capped by your calendar, your clients get your best, and you actually have a life outside the treatment room.

That's the world I'm building — and I'd love to help you build it too.