Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/694071
3 Watch Til Luchau's technique videos and read his past articles in Massage & Bodywork's digital edition, available at www.massageandbodywork.com, www.abmp.com, and on Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page. "SCM Differentiation Technique" The SCMs are sandwiched between layers of the deep cervical fascia (green), which wraps the entire neck. Image courtesy Advanced-Trainings.com. 2 The SCM is surrounded and perforated by numerous sensory and motor nerves, lymph vessels, and vasculature (the external jugular vein is visible on the SCM's surface, making it crucial that your work here be sensitive and gentle). Image from JBM Bourgery, Traité Complet de l'Anatomie de l'Homme: Comprenant la Médicine Opératoire (1830–1849). fascial layers seem to be involved in many cases of chronic neck pain. In a recent randomized clinical trial comparing the cervical fascia in people with and without chronic neck pain, the fascia of the SCM (and medial scalene) was, on average, significantly thicker and stiffer in those with pain. Fascia-oriented manual therapy was seen to improve both these measures; tissue thickness, stiffness, and reported pain all decreased as a result of hands-on fascial work. 4 SCM DIFFERENTIATION TECHNIQUE In the Advanced Myofascial Techniques series taught by the Advanced- Trainings.com faculty, we use the SCM Differentiation Technique in our "cold" whiplash protocol, which is most appropriate only after any initial autonomic reactivity and muscle spasm have diminished (usually several weeks or more after the initial injury, though sometimes longer). It can be used cautiously and very gently with mild "hot" whiplash, but only when there is an absence of muscular spasm so as to avoid aggravating the already irritated condition. This technique is also useful any time we want to increase the client's ability to move the neck and head without undue contraction or dominance by the SCM, since the technique's purpose is to gently differentiate the outer layers of the neck and simultaneously teach new, easier movement possibilities. C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 109 Sternocleidomastoid Superficial fascia Deep cervical fascia Vagus nerve Levator scapulae Splenius capitis Trapezius