Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain

@bude MFR helps problems caused by fascial restrictions. For example, I do get spasms in my neck and shoulder that affect my spine. I also have a scar from cervical spine surgery in my neck that tightens up periodically. Doing MFR and stretching, helps relieve this and get my body moving better. I sometimes find myself unable to turn my head or with some pain in my jaw that can be brought on by stress. In addition to working on MFR stretching, I also address my emotional well-being by going out and doing some fun things to give myself better things to think about. All of that helps me. I learned a lot from my physical therapist who showed me various ways to self treat with MFR stretching.

Do you know what is the cause of your back spasms?

Thank you for sharing

No, that is part of the issue. I fell against a railing over a year ago. I have degeneration in the back and have for years but did not start getting the spasms until after the fall. I have done PT, trigger points, nerve blocks, prednisone, ablation, Chiro, massage, acupuncture, etc. Only the nerve blocks seem to help for the very short time that they are serving the purpose - to do the ablation. I stumbled onto a discussion here regarding intercostal nerve issues and the symptoms were almost identical to what I had been experiencing so the last nerve block was with a steroid in that area to hopefully make it last longer but not a lot of improvement with that either. Nobody can seem to tell me what is causing it. Is there somehow that I can find that out so we are treating the correct issue?

@bude Do you have a recent MRI of your spine? That is a first step to determine if you have nerve compression in your spine from an injury or arthtritis. Injuries also affect muscles and form fascial scar tissue. MFR could address that, and you could try it and see even without knowing the cause. I do hope the Chiropractor had imaging done before working on your spine. I won't let a Chiro touch me because I know how easy it was to rupture a bulging disc. All I had to do was turn my head and it popped, then it caused bone spur growth and I was on a path to later surgery as I came to discover. If you have ruptured disc, MFR won't fix that, but it could help posture and movement which can decrease pain by keeping things ergonomic and where they belong. If you have vertebrae slipping and sliding past each other because of deteriorating discs, that is probably a job for a spine surgeon.

Would you consider a consult with a spine specialist to assess your current status?

Only therapist in my area charges hourly--does not accept insurance.

I did have an MRI. Nothing except the degeneration seems to be showing up on the x-rays and the MRI. I also saw a physiatrist and he didn't seem to think he could be of help for the issues I was experiencing. My PT person & massage person thought I might have a rib out of place or at least an issue with the rib area. I asked a number of times if the MRI could show if there was nerve or muscle damage because that is what it has felt like but the answer has been no or not quite a straight answer about it. I think the focus has been mainly on the degeneration because they can't see anything else significant showing up.
I only went to the Chiro twice and I did send him the x-rays & MRI prior but I couldn't deal with the pain of it. When the affected area gets aggravated I can't even get up from a bed. I maneuver quite well during the day but have the biggest issue when I try to turn over in bed or do any kind of twisting or turning. And I am not in significant pain. The pain is mainly when those muscles on the right side spasm.
At the last nerve block we talked about an impinged or pinched nerve. Apparently if the nerve is very small it cannot be seen.
Yes, I might consider a spine specialist since everything else that has been tried has kind of been shooting in the dark it seems.

@bude Do you have the radiology report that goes with your MRI? That may give details about what can be seen. Degeneration could be something like arthritic bone growth that can close down spaces where nerves exit the spinal cord or it could be something compressing the spinal cord if a disc is collapsing. You need the details on the report to understand what conditions may be present. Sometimes pinched nerves do cause major muscle spasms. Because I get muscle tightness through my chest, I sometimes have a rib start to twist if it gets bad. Myofascial release does fix that by stretching everything, and a shifted rib is very painful. I also have a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome which makes one side of my chest and neck too tight. MFR and stretching helps that and tends to equalize both sides of my neck. Nerves exiting the spinal cord can be seen on MRIs. You could also have a pinched nerve somewhere else in the body. Neurologists do testing to find these pinched nerves because it slows down the speed of electric transmission in the nerve. They send a shock and measure how fast it goes between 2 points. Often a spine specialist sends patients to a neurologist that they like to work with for testing, so if you want to consult a spine specialist, you may want to see them first. If you are having nerve blocks, they must know something about which nerve is compressed and where it is. I always read my medical records so I understand. Often you can do that on a patient portal.

I have read all of my medical records but may need to do so again. I was told the nerve/nerves exiting the spinal cord are large enough to be seen but the very small nerves are not easily seen. I think you are saying to see the spine specialist first? And I assume I would need a referral for that. I believe they were targeting the nerve blocks to where I was experiencing the pain along with the info from the x-rays & MRI.

Jennifer, thanks for mentoring this discussion but sadly "Boo" on not recommending MFR if one has cancer. Is this John Barnes recommendation? I have a prostate cancer lesion and need MFR desparately for my post TKR scar tissue. Oh well, I can't find a MFR practitioner anyway in my neck of the rural desert!

@josgen I think that recommendation comes from John Barnes. I think the concern may be that if you stretch and move tissue that mobilizes the fascia, it could cause cancer cells to be freed if they are present in the area being treated. Since cancer can metastasize and move around the body, it may be a risk. You wouldn't want to help cancer cells move and spread. It would be a good question to ask your cancer specialist if that could present a risk to you in your situation depending on the locations. I think the fear is that you don't know if cancer is spreading and may be present in other areas so they are cautious about it. That information came from my physical therapist and it may be a general recommendation. My dad had prostate cancer that was treated with an implanted radioactive seed and it never spread. MFR does help get the body moving and functioning better.