In the never-ending quest to alleviate my migraines, I bought a special angled pillow that lets you sleep on your side while your arm just kind of hangs through a whole in the middle. I did this because I’m a left-sided sleeper, always have been.
Until my neck subluxated and now I can’t sleep on that side without compressing some vital nerves and blood arteries. I also can’t sleep on my back right now because the pressure compresses my occipital nerve. Basically sleeping has been a nightmare recently, but that’s not the point of this post.
The point was I brought this up in physical therapy to talk about how great this pillow is because I can now sleep on my right side without the stupid thing going numb or waking me up because it hurts. And my PT was like wow, great! How did you sleep on your left side for so long without it being an issue?
And I said, oh that’s easy. I just tuck that shoulder out of the way.
And she said, …what?
And I said, yeah, I just tuck it out the way. Not like my right shoulder. That one doesn’t move as well. It just hurts, I think there’s something wrong with it.
And my physical therapist asked me to demonstrate what I mean when I say I ‘tuck my shoulder out of the way,’ and haha, you’re never going to believe this, turns out I’ve just been casually pulling my left shoulder out of the socket for, oh, let’s see, 30 years? And then napping on it like hmmnm yess comfy.
Anyway. I looked up from my demonstration and my physical therapist was making this face:
The funniest part for me was that I refused to believe I was dislocating it. I was like no, see, it just moves like that, and as I reached to manually manipulate my shoulder with my other hand she reached out, put her hand over mine and in the gentlest, firmest voice said, “No.”
I felt like a toddler being gentle parented by a mother doing her absolute best to use her “gentle” voice and not yell after watching their child lick a fork and attempt to stick it in an electrical outlet.
Turns out that rheumatologist who said I had zero hypermobility and just needed to exercise more was full of shit. We already knew this. But it’s good to have it reconfirmed.
Also, did you guys know it’s not normal to be able to tip your head back and touch your shoulder blades with the back of your skull with zero resistance from your neck? Wild. Anyway. I’m sure that’s not compressing anything vital or relevant to my crippling migraines…
Who’d have thought this post would be a hit on the autism/adhd/hypermobile website.
Anyway. Stop over flexing your necks, I know you’re all doing it. Also I’m being sent for a neck MRI lmao.
Wait is the head not supposed to reach the back or something? Genuinely curious here
This is not my x-ray, it’s Kaitlyn Jenkins (@/chronicallyhopefulpod on instagram)
“Normal” range can vary a lot and some people can go farther back than that without causing issues. I think up to 60 degrees is considered within “normal” range but don’t quote me on that, I’m in pain and trying to remember what my PT told me yesterday.
As we can see on the right, the person with EDS and cranial instability is going much much farther back. Kaitlyn is considered severe enough she’s had numerous surgeries and wears a neck brace and you can see how Not Good it looks.
My neck goes back about the same if I let it. Which explains some things… Basically:
Again, everyone is different and some people can have greater range of motion without it being a medical issue, but in my case it very much is.
It’s important to note that hypermobility (whether it’s EDS, NOS, etc) isn’t always what you expect. It’s not necessarily that you can kick higher or go beyond the splits for cool dance and sporting things. It can mean that things move in ways they shouldn’t, doing harm that you may not feel at the time. When I move my foot or ankle, my tibia doesn’t exactly stay where it’s supposed to up by the knee. It’s got way more play up there than is healthy.
(via alexseanchai)