Why I Look at the Pelvis When Your Neck Hurts

You come in with a sore neck and I look at your pelvis. Most people find that odd.

"That's not where it hurts."

Fair enough. So let me say why.

The sore place is usually the place that worked hardest

Feel a stiff muscle and there are two kinds.

There is stiff because it has no strength, and there is stiff because it has been used too much. They feel different. The first is dull under the thumb; the second braces the moment you touch it. It is a muscle that has been working without a break, so it can't bear anyone else's hands on it.

The place people come in complaining about is usually the second kind. Not stiff from idleness — stiff from never getting to rest.

Which raises the next question. Why couldn't that muscle rest?

Muscles don't work alone

Standing, the job of the muscles at the back of your neck is to hold your head up. If the head sits over the shoulders, that takes little effort. If it juts forward, they have to pull, continuously.

But why did the head go forward? If the upper back is rounded, the neck goes forward. And why is the upper back rounded? If the pelvis has settled backward, the upper back rounds.

If one muscle at the back of your neck has been working all day, the trouble isn't the neck — it's that you have been standing that way from somewhere lower down.

So release the neck alone and it is easy for a day and back within the week. Release it, and live the same day in the same posture, and that muscle works all day again. (If your adjustment keeps coming undone — maintenance is half the treatment)

So in the consulting room

First I look. How you stand, how you sit, how far your head turns before it stops.

Then I feel. What is stiff and what is slack, and which side braces first when I press. Fingertips see more than eyes sometimes.

Then I decide where to release. Sometimes the sore place first; sometimes the place that has been sending it work. Stiff tissue softens on its own given the right stimulus. I use that property. (Chuna without the crack — the story of thixotropic chuna)

Whether I read it right, your body tells me. If the interval before it returns gets longer, I read it right. If it doesn't, I need to look somewhere else.

That said, don't put it all down to posture

If your arm tingles or loses strength, or the pain is steadily worsening, the order is different. Then imaging comes first.

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Look only at the neck and the neck doesn't mend easily. But that isn't a great insight — it is just asking once more why that muscle had to be struggling alone.

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Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young (PhD in Korean Medicine Pathology, Kyung Hee University · former Research Professor of Herbology, Kyung Hee University)